Advantage by Bayer is manufactured to compete with to Frontline Topspot. Both Frontline Topspot and Advantage are excellent products to solve flea problems. However, Frontline Topspot holds a larger market share partially because Frontline Topspot also kills ticks. Bayer, in my opinion, responded out of greed and not what was best for our pets by making Advantix. They took an excellent product, Advantage, and added a old chemical to create Advantix.They now have a product that killed both fleas and ticks. On the surface this  appears to be a great idea, but the problem is with the added chemical ,permethrin.

 
Permethrin is a  chemical that veterinarians sold heavily in the 70's and 80's to kill fleas and ticks.It was commonly found in sprays, dips and shampoos.At one point, a Permethrin based product sold as Defend. In that time period, they were the best and safest products available. In the late 90's that changed as new products entered the market. Today permethrin based products have major efficacy and safety issues to address.

Efficacy Issues

• All forms of permethrins work for a short period of time in spite of labels boasting  two to four weeks.
• Sunlight causes these products to breakdown quickly.

Safety Issues

• It is labeled for dogs only.It can not be used on cats: Permethrins  kills cats.
• It is not user friendly to you and I. The recommendation when using these older products is for you and I to wear gloves while handling. You see these products could be absorbed into our skin causing illness.
• A small percent of the dogs treated have had bad toxic reactions.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published an article on ten cats poisoned by permethrins applied to the dog. Yes, cats that had close contact with dogs actually absorbed permethrins from the dog's skin and died. However, the article did not identify which products these permethrin came from. I am amazed at the identification of permethrin poisoning in these cats. It is not easy to prove this. There are probably a large number of unidentified and unreported cases in the cat.

Now Bayer has added permethrin back to Advantage to create Advantix and more sales. The question, unanswered, is safety to children and other individuals who are handling these animals. I do not know the answer clearly about safety to you and I. In my opinion,  I would use the safest products available. Botton line is if ticks are a problems, I recommend using Frontline products.

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