Picking the Best Flea and Tick Pill for Your Dog

There are many options for flea and tick pills for dogs. Learn more about the top flea and tick pills for dogs, including those available with and without a vet prescription.

By
Dr. Jennifer Bailey, DVM
-
Published:
6
The best dog flea pills can help your dog avoid the itching and scratching associated with fleas.
The best flea pill for your dog will depend on their health, size, age, and where you live. Credit: Kypros | Getty Images

Scritch, scritch, scritch. Your dog is scratching at himself—again. You thought you found and killed all those fleas and ticks that were biting him. But his scratching tells you otherwise.

To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid member.
JOIN NOW

Join Whole Dog Journal

Get full access to Whole-Dog-Journal.com – more than 4,000 articles – for just $20.
Join today and save 30% off our full price.
Already a member?
| Forgot your password? | Activate Web Access

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

6 COMMENTS

  1. Do you think that is wise to recommend all these chemical grenades that can cause skin irritations and can make dogs lethargic??
    I am using essential oils for years and never had a bug on any of my dogs. Something does not add up. They even keep the gnats away.

  2. Thank you for the detailed content in your articles, which generally feel objective & balanced.
    I give my dog’s vaccines & preventatives from my veterinarian (…which I think is relevant when reading my points below).

    Three points:
    1. It is surprising to omit that none of the Isoxazoline products contain any tick repellent – unlike the topical tick products.
    2. Please include details of how quickly each of the tickborne diseases can be transmitted from tick to dog.. especially when these are *shorter* than the tick kill time.

    3. You manage to list the potential side effects of Isoxazoline without mentioning the word ‘Death’. Some might regard this as incomplete reporting.
    There are several highly active Facebook groups, containing tens of thousands of members, dedicated to discussing adverse reactions and fatalities potentially linked to medications containing Isoxazoline. There are over 57,000 people in the one group ‘Does Bravecto Kill Dogs & Cats?’ group. Members in these groups share tragic personal stories, report neurological side effects (such as seizures and tremors), and discuss the history of FDA alerts regarding Isoxazoline-class drugs.

    I’m left wondering why none of these facts was included…

  3. It’s always good to mention that a natural substance can potentially harm our pets (or us). Even water and air can do so. Pharmaceuticals on the other hand are put on the generally safe and effective pedestal until too many animals (or people) get hurt, then come manufacturer warnings during the ads while a nice clip plays which distracts you from hearing it all.

    Our dogs had to try 4 of the listed flea and tick repellents. Every time after the third dose they got incredibly strong seizures. In the beginning we thought they’d die. We soon recognized the drug seizure connection. And thanks to a tooth pain for which I entered the world of THC and CBD, I had both oils (in organic form) at home. I mixed a tiny amount of the THC oil into some CBD oil and put a drop of that mixture onto the tip of my finger. I transferred this small amount to the gums of our dogs when they had those flea/tick drug ‘side’ effects/seizures and every single time, the dogs snapped out of these strong seizures within just a few seconds . Since we trusted our veterinarian, who indeed was a great vet, we had the chance to try this THC/CBD application for flea and tick medication-induced seizures on multiple occasions with several of these recommended drugs and on both of our dogs, which never before and never after we discontinued these seizure-inducing pharmaceuticals had seizures again.