Most often, when your normally well-manner cat starts scratching constantly, rubbing on to rough surfaces, and wincing in pain at what seems like nothing at all, you can look at these clues and deduce one thing: your feline friend now has visitors in the form of fleas.
Enter Advantage II for cats, one of the best cat flea treatments on the market. But how does it do when we look at it for a detailed analysis?
Stick with us, because this review aims to find out!
The Rating
When your cat has fleas, you want to stamp them out as soon as possible.
Not only do they cause pain to your cat’s skin, but these parasites breed quickly and can spread to your entire home within a matter of days.
While it’s natural for pet owners to be wary of a chemical that’s applied directly to the skin of their animals, the formula of Advantage II is recommended by veterinarians. Also, it’s manufactured by Bayer, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world, with high ratings and warm reception from customers.
Today’s Homeowner Rating
Advantage II gets your cat back in shape fast, easy, and without harm.
The Key Features
Advantage II sits at the top of the market for a flea-killer geared toward cats. Take a peek at some of the reasons why this product is so popular.
Simple Design
The product is a gel liquid that arrives in a small tube for easy application to your cat.
To apply on a cat, the owner will drop a small bit on the skin of the back of the cat’s neck.
Instant Action
Almost immediately, the active ingredient imidacloprid will release along the lipid layer of the cat’s skin, never entering the bloodstream or body. This is of special interest to those who are concerned about chemicals entering their cat’s digestive system and potentially causing lasting damage.
Full Range of Protection
Within minutes, your cat’s whole body is protected by this shield of flea medication for an entire month. Everywhere your cat goes in the home, the active ingredient will touch and kill potential larvae.
Continued Shielding
This product comes in a package with six application tubes, which means that the price you pay upfront is the cost of six months’ worth of flea treatment. Each month you apply a new tube.
The Review
When evaluating products, we use five criteria:
- Company Reputation
- Active Ingredient
- Easy Of Use
- Pet and Child Safety Rating
- Overall Effectiveness
Similar to Advantix II for dogs, Advantage for cats is manufactured by the German pharmaceutical conglomerate Bayer, which was founded in the year 1863 and is currently headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany.
Bayer produces human and veterinary medications with a global reach, and is well-received worldwide. Most notably known for aspirin, Bayer also has a hold on the market for high-value polymers, biotech products, and consumer healthcare products.
Bayer also has awesome customer service providing a 1-800 number to cat owners who need to ask even more detailed questions about their cat and the product.
Advantage II for cats uses imidacloprid to kill fleas by contact, not ingestion. Imidacloprid has proven in numerous studies to be a very effective as a flea killing ingredient.
Unfortunately, Advantage can be hit and miss when it comes to application.
Many cat owners report very easy application on their cats, however, just as many (if not more) report that it’s a struggle to apply the medication.
For example, if you have 2 or more cats they may attempt to groom each other and accidentally ingest the chemicals. In this case, you’d want to keep your cats separate from other animals until the medicine has had a chance to dry (usually 2 hours, but ideally 24 hours).
It’s just a fact that most cats don’t like to be confined orate medicine, so it may be the individual animals that make the process difficult, not the medication.
This product is designed for cats, so it is pet safe.
The gel solution is not only safe for your cat to track through the home, but encouraged; this way, eggs and larvae can be targeted. It’s safe to use in households with kids, but as always, never let kids play with the tube of medication.
Advantage II for Cats works within 12 hours to kill fleas and only needs to be applied once per month. The majority of users confirm this effectiveness.
How Does It Compare Against Competitors?
Ready to see why you should buy this product over the rest? Keep reading to see it stacks up against the other big (and small) names on the market.
- Vet’s Best Natural Waterless Bath Foam for Cats
- Frontline Plus Flea and Tick Control
These products have a similar style of application, but work with a different active ingredient. Both use a serum that builds a barrier on a cat’s skin to kill fleas and protect from re-hosting.Vet’s Best Natural Waterless Bath Foam uses a blend of peppermint oil and eugenol from cloves instead of chemicals. This makes it an ideal choice for those who want to take a more organic approach to flea control on their pets
Winner goes to Advantage II: Even though it’s an organic solution to flea control for cats, we don’t love this product mainly due to it’s use of foam. Cats hate water, and even though this is just foam, cats still think it’s water, which sets them off into a frenzy 9 out of 10 times.
Frontline and Advantage II are most comparable, as they’re the leading flea control for cats on the market.
They have similar “liquid drop” application styles and eradicate fleas in the same way, so the major difference between the two is cost-effectiveness and the amount of product per each package you buy.
The prices appear to fall in favor of Frontline, however, upon closer look one can see that the price for a 3 month supply of Frontline is only slightly more cheaper than a 6 month supply of Advantage II. Therefore, over the long run you’ll probably save money by going with Advantage.
Winner goes to Advantage II: We’re going to give the nod to Advantage again. This is due to the cost savings of Advantage as well as the reported cases of cat skin outbreaks when using Frontline. Every cat is different, but from the research, more people are having trouble with Frontline than Advantage.
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