Fleas that infest pets are considered important parasites of both animals and\nhumans. These insects cause irritation and can also transmit zoonotic diseases.\nResearch has led to a rapid expansion in the development of flea control\nproducts. In the face of a market that offers dozens of commercial ectoparasiticides\nfor dogs and cats, pet owners and veterinarians must be provided with\nevidence to support their decision to select a product to control fleas. To\ncompare the efficacy of three commercially available products against companion\nanimal fleas, a trial was conducted on naturally-infested dogs in order\nto validate their pulicidal activity. Thirty-two flea-infested dogs with fleas\nwere divided into 4 groups (n = 8) for each treatment. Group 1 received one\npipette of permethrin as a spot-on dose of 650 mg/ml. The second group received\n9.7% fipronil as a spot-on formulation. Group 3 was treated with a\nspot-on formulation of permethrin 7.40% plus piperonyl butoxide at 7.40%.\nGroup 4 remained as the untreated control. Fleas of all experimental dogs\nwere examined and counted on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 to determine the\npercentage of flea reduction. Results showed a 100% efficacy for all tested\nproducts. Identified species were: Ctenocephalides felis (75.7%), Ctenocephalides\ncanis (15.9%) and Pulex irritans (9.5%). Based on these results, it was\nconcluded that the three anti-flea products evaluated under the conditions of\nthis study, produced an excellent efficacy as from the third day after treatment.
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