You buy it, put it on and then forget about it for months – but how does your pet’s flea collar keep them safe?
Fleas are annoyingly skilled at finding a way to make your life miserable – usually at the worst possible time. There are so many flea treatment options available for dogs and cats. So how do you know what to use? Flea collars are easier than tableting your dog or cat but how do you know they’re actually working?
How flea collars work
Firstly, not all flea collars are the same. While they all work by delivering an active ingredient onto your dog’s coat or cat’s fur, a lot of older models are cheap plastic bands soaked in insecticides and coated in a smelly white powder that rubs off over time. Seresto is the newest, most advanced collar, using cutting-edge technologies that store the active ingredients inside the collar – so no powdery residue or smell. Seresto collars work over longer periods – killing fleas for eight months.
The Seresto flea collar contains imidacloprid (which kills adult fleas and flea larvae in your pet’s environment, your home) and flumethrin. Imidacloprid is the active ingredient that is effective against fleas, working through simple contact – which means fleas don’t have to bite your pet for the active ingredients to be effective and kill the fleas.
The Seresto collar works by gradually releasing a consistent low-dose of its active ingredients to keep your pet protected. The ingredients start to release once the collar comes in contact with your pet’s skin or coat. The active ingredients diffuse into the lipid (fatty/oily) layer of your pet’s skin and fur and cover your pet within 24 hours. Re-infesting fleas are killed within 2 hours for 8 months.
The flea collar might look like regular plastic, but it’s made of a fine polymer matrix. This matrix ensures that controlled doses of imidacloprid and flumethrin are slowly released as your dog or cat needs them – a welcome improvement over older flea collars. The Seresto collar is odourless, but rest assured that Seresto remains effective for eight months at a time. Also, because the active ingredients are stored within the collar or the naturally water-resistant lipid layer of your pet’s skin and fur, they are not washed off when your pet is exposed to water^.
Safety features of the Seresto collar
For the safety of pets, the collar is equipped with two safety features: a ratchet-release mechanism and a pre-determined breaking point (the latter in cat and small dog collars only), that give way in case of an emergency.
If you buy the right flea collar, you won’t have to think about flea treatments or prevention for months. Kills fleas, no worries, no top-ups.
Find out more about Seresto flea treatment on the Seresto page.
