Adherence to veterinary recommendations for ectoparasiticides purchased by cat owners in the USA

Lavan, Robert; Armstrong, Rob; Normile, Dorothy; Vaala, W. E.

doi:10.1186/s13071-020-04415-5

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Timely administration of ectoparasiticides consistent with veterinarian recommendations and product labeling is essential for optimal efficacy and effective ectoparasite control. Prior studies have made clear that pet owners fall short of meeting their veterinarians’ recommendations for ectoparasite protection by purchasing fewer months per year of ectoparasite protection than advised [ 30 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 37 ]. The current study expands our understanding of this adherence problem by not only looking at how much flea and tick medication they purchase in a year, but how they purchase it.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cat owners purchase less ectoparasite prevention medication each year than is recommended by veterinarians [ 30 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 37 ]. In this study, most cat owners purchased 1–3 months of protection per year.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In veterinary medicine, adherence to veterinary prescribed dosing intervals tends to be better when dosing is less frequent with extended dosing intervals [ 47 , 48 ]. Studies of dog and cat owner flea and tick control adherence over a 12-month period show that owners who purchase a longer duration flea and tick product protected their pets for more months of the year than owners who purchased a monthly treatment [ 33 , 34 , 37 ]. The present study similarly demonstrates a benefit of the longer duration flea and tick product, fluralaner.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A retrospective study of 1,226 feline patients at a US veterinary teaching hospital found that only 38% of the cat population received ectoparasite preventatives with 18% receiving treatment year-round and 13% receiving treatment seasonally [ 36 ]. A study of cat owner adherence to veterinary recommendations on ectoparasite prevention using product purchase records found that over a 12-month period, cat owners purchased an average of 4.2 months of ectoparasiticide protection with fluralaner, 3.6 months with fipronil/(S)-methoprene/pyriproxyfen (FRONTLINE® Gold, Boehringer Ingelheim, Duluth, GA) or 2.8 months with imidacloprid/pyriproxyfen (ADVANTAGE® II, ELANCO, Greenfield, IN) [ 37 ]. These results indicate that the duration of pet owner adherence to veterinarian recommendations for ectoparasite control measure is far shorter than veterinarians recommend.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This earlier research documents the number of doses purchased and the associated overall ectoparasite protection months provided during the year; however, these results do not tell the whole story of ectoparasite protection [ 33 , 34 , 37 ]. These studies do not provide results on the timing of administration of each dose during the year.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Analysis of gaps in feline ectoparasiticide purchases from veterinary clinics in the United States

Lavan

Normile²,

Husain³

et al. 2021

Parasites Vectors

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The study objective was to examine cat owner ectoparasiticide purchases in the United States and estimate the impact of purchase gaps on timely ectoparasite protection administration. These purchase gaps lead to periods of time when cats are unprotected from ectoparasites. Methods Ectoparasiticide purchase transactions for individual cats from 671 U.S. veterinary clinics from January 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019 were evaluated to determine time “gaps” between doses of ectoparasiticides purchased in a defined 12-month period. Ectoparasiticides examined were topically applied products that contained fluralaner, fipronil/(S)-methoprene/pyriproxyfen, imidacloprid/pyriproxyfen or selamectin as active ingredients. The duration of protection following administration of one dose was 8–12 weeks for the fluralaner-containing product and one month for the other products. Results Ectoparasiticide purchase records were obtained from 114,853 cat owners and analysis found that most owners bought ≤ 6 months of protection during the year, with 61–75% (depending on the product) purchasing just 1–3 months of protection. The size of the average purchase gap was determined for all dose combinations out to 12 months of protection (5–7 doses for fluralaner and 12 doses for the other three products dosed monthly. The largest gaps occurred between the first and second doses and the second and third doses. Average purchase gaps for the four different products between doses 1 and 2 ranged from 11.2 to 13.9 weeks and between doses 2 and 3 ranged from 7.7 to 12.2 weeks. The fraction of purchases separated by gaps and the average length of the gap tended to decrease with increasing number of doses purchased. Owners purchasing the 8 to 12-week duration product containing fluralaner provided ectoparasite protection (“doses plus gap period”) for a larger proportion of each 2-dose period compared with owners purchasing products administered monthly. Conclusions When cat owners purchase flea and tick medication, gaps between subsequent purchases reduces the proportion of time ectoparasite protection can be provided. The duration of the gap between doses has an impact on the effectiveness of flea/tick medication because it inserts a period without flea and tick protection between doses of flea and tick medication. The gaps between purchases were shorter and the period of ectoparasite protection was larger for owners purchasing a 12-week product than for owners purchasing a monthly product.

show abstract