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My cat licked another cat's flea treatment. Is it an emergency?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed

Hi. We applied Advocate flea treatment to both of our cats this evening. A couple of hours later one of our cats licked the treatment site of the other cat. Do we need to take her to an emergency vets or keep an eye on her?

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Davis

Veterinarian

Published on October 15th, 2017

Just keep an eye on her. She would need to eat a lot of the product to get sick. You may want to give some wet food with added water to get the product to pass through more quickly. I would expect some drooling as the only side effect. Do monitor her though and should you see any medical problems such as tremors or vomiting and diarrhea then I would take her in. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Pippa.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Angel Alvarado, LVT

    Licensed Veterinary Technician

    Published on June 2nd, 2018

    Monitor for lethargy, drooling, vomiting or tremors. A small amount may result in some minor gastrointestinal upset. You can usually manage it with a short fast, 12 hours, followed by a bland diet in small, frequent amounts until symptoms resolve. A larger amount ingested may cause more severe signs requiring veterinary attention for decontamination and supportive care as indicated by symptoms.

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on April 26th, 2017

    Oh no, thats not good that they are licking at the flea treatment. Yes, you are correct that ingesting this can have serious side effects, and I would immediately wash off the medication as much as possible to keep them from licking at it and rinse out their mouths as well. Then keep an eye on them for signs of toxicity which include drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, incoordination, muscle tremors, ear twitching, and lethargy. Should you see any of those signs, take them into a vet immediately. Because you had to wash off the Advantage, you won't be sure how much was absorbed in their skin so I would not reapply any more Advantage for another two weeks. You can give them Capstar, which is a one time pill that starts killing fleas in 30 minutes. You can also give them an oral medication such as Comfortis.

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