Flea Medication question

Im a little curious as to what you all think about this. My question is what actually is considered an OTC flea drop medication?

The reason I ask this is because there is alot of flack handed out by people using products like Hartz, Segeants, Adams, Biospot etc. Ive been doing a lot of research into figuring out if its better to flea drop the dogs and cats or just keep doing what has worked for me. Once a month baths for the cats and weekly baths for the dogs. I personally have used just about every kind of flea drops available (except Hartz and some new ones that just cropped up like Liberty 50). I also noticed that while you can get Frontline, Advantix from the vet you can also get those at a store too, like Tractor Supply. So arent those brands technically over the counter brands because you can get them at a store. I also noticed that after comparing ingrediants Biospot which is much cheaper than Frontline and Advantix has the same ingrediants so wouldnt that make it just as good as those brands just cheaper? I looked up the websites that have customer testimonials about almost every brand of flea medication from Hartz to Revolution with atleast one person stating for every brand that it has killed or made their pet sick. It really is all baffling to me because I prefer to not use this stuff, I just wanted to see what was what. Now Id like to know what you all think about this, I know there is a difference between cat and dog flea meds and that one of the meds (I cant remember which) is toxic for cats. But what do you think classifies otc flea meds??? Is Frontline and Advantix considered bad because technically its otc???

Thanks for all your opinions. I basically felt the same way. I do use Biospot shampoo because of different things Ive read about it and no matter what meds I would use I feel that no matter what there is a certain risk you are taking with them. I personally would never use Hartz products, because they just dont work, nor would I use a product that Ive never looked information up on.

Another question probably a little stupid but I heard from someone that if you soak Black Walnut tree leaves in water and then bath your dog in it its a natural flea remedy...Anyone ever hear of that? Im not going to test it out for one I dont know what a black walnut tree is and Im not going to run around picking leaves off a tree to bath the dog LOL.

I misread my Fosters and Smith catalog...Biospot does have the same ingredient as Advantix but not Frontline..All those small words and typing blurs together and makes my eyes hurt..

I was mostly just curious I dont use drops most of the time and I prefer to avoid them at all times unless I absolutely HAVE to use them. The whole reason I even started this was because after reading the info in Fosters and Smith it just got me wondering. Mostly about what actually classifies OTC, especially since its more common now to be able to purchase Frontline, Advantage, or Advantix at a store. I would never tell anyone to run out and get Hartz or anything like that and Id def tell them to research the stuff before buying it. Its my personal preferance to not use drops. I prefer bathing the dogs with Biospot shampoo every 6 wks because I think Biospot works, I just dont like drops. I also bath the cats as a preventative but Ive cut back from once a month to every 6 weeks. But at the same time I dont have a major worry about fleas, and thats because inadvertantly my yard gets treated with stuff that kills bugs. If I had to get drops and use them Id probably use either Frontline or Revolution but thankfully I havent had the need to use them alot, if we moved Id probably start a savings account just for flea meds for all 5 pets.