Can you Use Advantage Multi for Dogs on Cats?

Adoption of a pet comes with a lot of responsibilities which include fulfilling their dietary requirements, grooming and health maintenance. A major chunk of our salary goes into their treatments because of the lurking parasites ready to infest our pets. Be it flea and ticks or worms and mites, we often have to deal with a lot of stuff together. That is why people who have more than one pet and limited budget often seek easy and affordable ways to treat their pets. The most common one is to try dog product formulated to kill a particular parasite on their cats or vice versa.

This practice is certainly harmful and can lead to severe health consequences in pets. There is a very renowned Bayer’s product called Advantage Multi (Advocate in some parts of the world) which most pet owners would have tried or at least thought of trying interchangeably on their cats and dogs. Peeps….Do Not! It will be a big mistake! Do not ever administer a dog’s product to your cat or a cat’s product to your dog.

Advantage Multi for Dogs

Why Shouldn’t You Use Advantage Multi for Dogs on Cats?

Though Advantage Multi for dogs and advantage multi for cats prevent the same parasites (fleas, heartworms, hookworms, whipworms and roundworms) in both the pets, they have a different effect on their systems. The proportion of Imidacloprid and moxidectin in the two products vary.

Advantage Multi for dogs contains 10% of imidacloprid and 2.5% of moxidectin,

Advantage Multi for cats contains 10% of imidacloprid and just 1% of moxidectin.

This proportion difference is noteworthy because when Advantage multi for dogs with a higher percentage of moxidectin is given to felines, it can cause severe poisoning in them. In fact, oral ingestion of this topical product in cats can even lead to tremors and vomiting. Some cats may also suffer from excessive salivation and may show reluctance to eating.

Why Shouldn’t You Use Flea Products for Dogs on Cats?

Many flea products have different concentrations of the same active ingredient for dogs and cats which is why they are labeled differently. Using such products interchangeably on pets can lead to ingredient poisoning with many immediate and long-term fatal consequences. They can cause severe allergies in pets of different species and may even lead to organ failure due to its prolonged usage.

Many flea products for the treatment of dogs contain permethrin which is highly toxic for cats even in minimal quantities. Permethrin causes muscle tremors in cats and the affected ones with low immunity can even die or have to be euthanized. This happens because the cat has different liver metabolic pathways and doesn’t contain permethrin dissolving enzymes, hence the poisoning.

Conclusion
Interchanging dogs’ and cats’ products can be extremely harmful to pets. So, even if you are running out of stock or are out of the budget, never administer dogs’ product to cats or cats’ products to dogs because they have been specifically formulated for the pet, his age and weight mentioned on the pack. Thus, it is always better to keep sufficient treatments in stock if you are a busy person so you don’t have to attempt things which can land your furry pal in the hospital.

Note – Proper usage of pet products according to the pack-insert is mandatory for their full efficacy and undesired side-effects. So, stick to instructions and follow them diligently.