Choosing the right flea collar is every pet parents’ responsibility | Leave it to Levy
Our family members canine, Latke, has worn a Seresto flea and tick collar for years. They previous about eight months and are supposedly additional helpful than monthly solutions.
But two weeks ago, even though I was out walking Latke, a neighbor told me her veterinarian claims the collar is perilous and need to be right away discarded. Just after our stroll I checked out her tale, did some analysis, and figured I’d ask our vet a number of days later when Latke bought her regimen rabies and other photographs.
It turns out that on June 15 a subcommittee of the U.S. Dwelling Committee on Oversight and Reform held a listening to on the subcommitte’s report, “Seresto Flea and Tick Collars: Examining Why a Product or service Linked to Additional than 2,500 Pet Fatalities Continues to be on the Current market.” The report (readily available on oversight.house.gov) observed that the Environmental Security Agency realized of the collar’s dangers for a number of decades but failed to act.
The EPA permitted it in 2012 and, the subcommittee reported, due to the fact 2013 pet owners acquired nearly 34 million collars, costing in between $60 and $70. The Subcommittee started investigating in March 2021, “after an investigative report uncovered that, as of June 2020, there had been far more than 75,000 incidents [of injuries] and roughly 1,700 pet deaths linked to the Seresto collar. Because then, the documented numbers have increased to more than 98,000 incidents and 2,500
The manufacturer, Elanco Animal Health and fitness, disputes the report, stating that veterinary industry experts deem the collars harmless. Also, Elanco stated, “more than 80 regulatory authorities all-around the globe, which includes the EPA, rigorously reviewed the basic safety facts, [and their] basic safety and efficacy are continuously monitored and scrutinised by world regulatory bodies as properly as via internal procedures.”
In addition, Elanco stated, “There is no founded backlink amongst dying and publicity to the active ingredients [pesticides imidacloprid and flumethrin]. The reporting level for all adverse events similar to Seresto is fewer than .3 percent of all collars sold because 2012.” The sizeable the vast majority “relate to non-severe effects this kind of as software site ailments — reddening of the pores and skin or hair loss down below the collar.
Elanco additional that federal regulators acknowledge that issues do not necessarily demonstrate that the collar induced certain injuries.
The imidacloprid/flumethrin collar “proved to be secure in pet dogs and cats,” a examine cited by Springer, the biomedical sciences journal publisher, concluded, and “proved to lessen tick counts by at minimum 90 percent and flea counts by at least 95 {95b18eb6fc4f42efd0d92738dfc3fb79fde21da267a711ecdf0381147c27bb86} for a period of at minimum 7 to 8 months in cats and dogs below industry conditions. Therefore, it can be utilised as a sustainable lengthy-term preventative, masking the whole flea and tick season.”
Our vet also approves the collar and disparages the initial Usa Now short article about the report. “It was a little bit of a dread-mongering post, and the experiences of canine dying or whatever took place could be unrelated to the collar,” she said. “We’ve been utilizing it right here for decades and have under no circumstances had any issues. I would surely consider the collar harmless, primarily if she’s utilized it for many years.”
I’m going with our vet.
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