How do topical & oral heartworm & flea/tick meds work? Which is safer?

Question

Is there a difference between topical and tablet heartworm and fea/tick medicines when it comes to how it works in the body? Is it correct that heartworm medicine needs to make it to the blood stream and the flea/tick medicine needs to stay at the surface? Which is safer/less toxic for the dog? Is it beneficial to separate the timing of administration of heartworm prevention and tick/flea prevention to not overload the body at once? Pet's info: Dog | Cavalier King Charles Spaniel | Female | unspayed | 1 year and 5 months old

Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH · Accepted Answer

Yes, there is a difference in how all the different oral and topical heartworm and flea/tick medications work. Yes, a heartworm medication needs to get into the bloodstream, so even topical heartworm preventions will get absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream to work. Flea and tick medications can work topically only or can be oral and work internally. Which are safest products is probably a matter of opinion. I will say that a couple of the oral flea/tick medications have been associated with seizures, so I do not recommend those in dogs that have seizures. Potentially, a topical flea/tick medication that does not get absorbed might be considered the "safest", but we certainly see some skin irritation from those products as one of their side effects. I think it's always a good idea to separate out new products, so you know if Doice is having a reaction to either, but since the products work differently, I don't know that there is a huge benefit to giving them separately long term. There are so many products out there on the market that I can't really give you a specific product recommendation for your area, but I would certainly speak with your vet about your concerns and ask them for their recommendations for Doice. I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

How do topical & oral heartworm & flea/tick meds work? Which is safer?

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