How safe a flea collar is?

I have flea problems with one of my dogs, so I went to the pet shop and I saw this flea collar, it says that it will keep fleas away from your dog and have to replace every 4 months. I'm just wondering if would it be toxic to my dog?

Originally Posted by MysteryCat

I have flea problems with one of my dogs, so I went to the pet shop and I saw this flea collar, it says that it will keep fleas away from your dog and have to replace every 4 months. I'm just wondering if would it be toxic to my dog?

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Yes. Think about it, anything that has four months worth of pesticide in it isn't something you really want on an animal. Plus, that flea collar will cause a pesticide to be on your dog - your cat would come in contact with it and so will you and any human. This is especially a problem in homes where children will be around the animal in a flea collar. Also, smaller dogs have the same risks as cats - they're poisoned more easily. Larger dogs are a little more resistant, but can still be made very ill from OTC flea products.

Your best bet is to go to the vet and get a proper flea treatment for your dog. Make sure you tell your vet that you have a cat as some dog flea treatments cannot be used in a household with a cat, such as Advantix and the newer Vectra 3D (the Vectra has some scary reviews, so I wouldn't use that one anyways). Regular Advantage and Revolution are safe to use around cats. Remember that you need to treat all of the pets in the home/on the property with proper flea topicals, not just one, to prevent fleas from infesting your home.
Spend a little more now on a proper topical from the vet and save more later.

Hi, thank you for such a great advice, good thing that I didn't buy one.

Get the collar off the dog - flea collars are no good (other then to put in the vacuum to kill any fleas you get in the carpet). If its Hartz or a Hartz company product, then its very toxic and can kill dogs and cats.

Use Frontline, Advantage, Revelution instead. Do not use the K-9 Avantex one if you have cats - that is toxic to the cats if they come in contact with it.

Originally Posted by MysteryCat

Hi, thank you for such a great advice, good thing that I didn't buy one.

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I just noticed that you updated. If you had bought it, but not used it, you could have put it inside your vacuum bag or canister. That's pretty much the only use for flea collars. Just because I'm paranoid about chemicals (I have skin and respiratory reactions to a lot of chemicals), I suggest that if you have to handle a collar to put it in your vacuum that you use latex(or vinyl) gloves.