Hi All, just wondered if anybody had used capstar flea treatment and was it any good. :) Sarah

hi,
when this came out a year or so ago we did a little test at work. we had a stray cat that was riddled with fleas who we gave a capstar tablet too. she was put in a white isolation kennel and you could see the fleas falling off her, the bottom of the kennel was full of them. cant remember how long it took to work, but remember it does not stay in the system long. it goes in, kills the fleas and then is gone, so no good for prevention,
hth,
kelly

Thanks Kelly, so it would be ok to use for badly infested animals for an initial treatment but you would then need to treat with something like frontline or stronghold to prevent re-infestation. From what I have read, it says that capstar can be used on a weekly basis, would you recommend this long term. It seems to be alot cheaper than the other treatments thats all :) Sarah

hi sarah,
i remember that capstar can be used weekly and it would be ok to treat a badly infested animal with, but you also need to treat your house as 95% of the flea life cycle is in your house/carpets etc. otherwise new fleas keep hatching out and jumping straight back on the dog! no flea treatment can prevent your dog picking up fleas, but treatments like frontline and stronghold remain in the system and can kill off any fleas that are picked up. frontline stays on the skin, lasts 2 months and will kill any fleas within 24/48 hours. stronghold needs to be applied monthly. so something like this will prevent reinfestation as the fleas are killed so quickly.
in my practice frontline spray works out pretty cheap, we use more of this than capstar. if you are relying just on capstar it only works on the day it is given, so i dont think is a good long term treatment. personally i dont routinely treat my dogs, i check them regularliy and only treat them as needed, i dont like the idea of giving them a chemicals "just in case" however saying that they have never had fleas in the last 3 years!
hope this helps,
kelly