At first glance it would seem to be a “no brainer” when comparing the use of spray preparations to spot-on ones in the treatment of animals with fleas; surely the latter are easier to use and far better overall? However change is the only constant in life and the pendulum is swinging back to the spray thanks to new technology keeping ahead of the field.
The common perception may be that sprays are much messier to use and also can be exhausting on the hands when applying the treatment to large dogs.
All that has now changed with the new design from R&D at Troy Laboratories. Troy has specially designed the mould to accommodate the Guala dispensing TS-2 trigger, which dispenses in upright and inverted positions. This leads to much better compliance with application in areas of limited accessibility under the animal.
In addition both the bottle and the trigger have been ergonomically designed to reduce hand fatigue, making application simple and easy. In fact the design of the grip has specifically had the female hand in mind, to take into account that women tend to be better than men in such matters as flea control of their pets.
OK, so spot-on preparations are still very easy to apply (as long as one remembers they must be applied at skin level on a writhing animal) but the old argument that sprays take a lot of effort has gone out of the window.
As to the fact that sprays are messy to use, the wedge seal employed by the Troy Laboratories bottle means that there is a significant reduction of leakage over traditional screw threads. To add to the fact that the new bottle is so superior to what has gone before it has a drip free atomisation and an on-off safety twist nozzle.
Therefore, if one accepts that the new spray bottle used in the brand new Fiprovet Spray is not the messy, hard to pump product of yesteryear, what are the comparative features of sprays and spot-on treatments?
Convenience may still be an issue to some people but the disparity is now not huge. The other major difference is in cost of treatment and the Fiprovet Spray can supply a therapeutic dose of the gold standard insecticide in a much more economical manner.
Other important factors are irritation and toxicity. Insecticides are toxic chemicals and the concentration in the little spot-on applicators is very high to ensure enough gets dissolved in the fatty layer of the skin, i.e. 9.8% as opposed to 2.5% in the spray presentation. This is why Fiprovet Spray can be safely used in puppies and kittens from two days of age whereas the same chemical in a spot-on must not be used before the animals are eight weeks old.
Considering that the flea egg-laying pattern is adapted to be at its most prolific in late spring and early summer, to coincide with the litter season, this is a major point of difference.
Many owners also complain of irritation or an intense reaction by the animal when the spot-on treatments are applied. This is because of two factors, the higher concentration of the drug and also the fact that the chemical in these preparations is dissolved in cosmetic oils that many animals may be allergic to.
Even if there is no irritation there is often a greasy spot left and, thanks to the high concentration, the smell of the active ingredient itself is remarked upon by a great number of people. In effect the spot-ons do not score so well in the messy stakes and it is really, like the ease of application issue, a matter of perception rather than fact.
In short there clearly is a place in the market for both types of product, the spot-on for those in a hurry who wish to quickly do something about flea control, (at the very least it is much better than the old permethrin collars, even if it is more expensive and actually not quite as convenient) and the spray for those on a mission against fleas.
One drawback from spot-on type applicators is that they come in three sizes yet our pets come in a lot more sizes than that!
Websites abound with stories of this product or that not working as well as expected and many start to suspect resistance by the flea to the active ingredient.
The flea is a ubiquitous insect and there has been a lot of insecticide used and misused over the last decade, but it is stretching the imagination to say that widespread resistance has developed so quickly. The more plausible argument is that, with the restrictions on applicator sizes, under-dosing is extremely prevalent and this leads to a perceived lack of efficacy. The all over covering of the spray would negate this.
Therefore if one is serious about fleas, the spray, thanks to the latest innovation from Troy Laboratories, is the only way to go.
Not only is it cheaper and has greater efficacy, it is now much easier to use and, as an added bonus, it can be used to spray the bedding in the nursery and other areas as well as spraying the animal. This is much safer on the young puppies and kittens than most other environmental sprays.
