Tick control on Cats

Author: VioVet
Published: Sunday 20th January 2013
Updated: Thursday 23rd January 2020

Our customer asked:-

I use Effipro to control fleas and ticks on my cat. This is effective for a month for fleas, but just 2 weeks for cats. What can I do against ticks for the rest of the time?

Our reply:-

This is a good question. Sadly there is not a great answer, though there are a few possibilities:

The prescription spot-on product called Stronghold is active against ticks, as well as a lot of other parasites. It is effective for one month. It is not licensed for tick control in Europe, but it is in the USA (sold as Revolution there). You could use this product instead of Effipro. It is a wormer too, but you would need to ask your vet for a prescription.

There is a prescription collar called Seresto, which is effective for 8 months against fleas and ticks. Again you would need to ask your vet for a prescription, as well as the disadvantages of wearing a collar. This collar is temporarily unavailable, but should be back soon.

Some people apply Effipro more frequently, but personally I would NOT recommend it. I suspect that this would be safe for many cats, but for a few it might lead to side effects and so is not a good idea.

Other than that you need to keep your cat away from rough grass and hedgerows etc, which is usually impossible unless you keep the cat locked indoors.

I hope this helps, though it is a tricky one.