If you own a cat or dog, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with fleas and ticks, no matter how much of an indoor pet your little one is and no matter how much they tend to avoid being outdoors.
Fleas and ticks are much more than just an annoyance for your dog, these parasites carry serious diseases that can pose health risks to both your best friend and yourself, given the fact that you come in daily contact with them on a regular basis.
So, if you're looking for a way to keep your pet safe from all of that mess, then the Seresto Flea Collar offers a very effective way to protect your pet and ensure they stay tick and flea free, just like any healthy pet is meant to be.
As someone who tried everything and anything to get my dog flea-free, I had the best results with the Seresto flea collar. Manufactured by Bayer, the Seresto collar is safe for your dog and can keep him flea and tick free for up to eight months.
In this Seresto flea collar review, I take a closer look at this option for flea and tick control to help you decide if it is the right choice for your dog.
Seresto Flea Collars For Dogs And Cats
For Dogs: Bayer Seresto Flea and Tick Collar For Dogs
For Cats: Bayer Seresto Flea And Tick Collar For Cats
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*Note: The links in the table above, as well as several links in the remainder of the article below, will take you to over to Chewy.com where you can find out more information about the products, such as current prices and customer reviews.
Seresto Flea And Tick Collar Rating
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Who Makes Seresto Flea Collars?
The notorious pharmaceutical company, Bayer, is the brains behind the Seresto Flea Collar.
Pet owners will undoubtedly recognize other pet care products produced by this company including the dewormer, Drontal, and the antibiotic, Veraflox.
The Seresto Flea Collar is a fitting addition to its product line with its mission of “Science: For a Better Life.”
The great thing about the Seresto collar is that it is designed to prevent flea infestations in addition to killing any fleas and ticks that are already on your dog. If used properly, this collar should last for eight months and provide a safe and easy alternative to monthly spot-on treatments.
How Parasites Affect Your Pet's Life Negatively
Fleas and ticks are parasites that attach themselves to a host (in this case, your pet) in order to get nourishment.
All it takes is just one flea bite from these little annoying beings in order to trigger a reaction known as flea allergic dermatitis in your pet, a condition which goes on to cause intense itching and the possibility of inflammation.
And that's not all there is to it, as scratching and biting at the bite site that itches your pet can lead to open sores and a risk of a bacterial infection, something which can be very life threatening to your pet if not addressed within due time.
Moreover, ticks carry a myriad of other diseases such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and anaplasmosis, to name just a few.
Fleas carry their fair share of diseases as well, including internal parasites which can wreak havoc inside your pet's system.
Not to mention the fact that many of these diseases can also be transmitted to humans such as you and I, us being pet owners that come in contact with our dogs or cats on a daily basis.
So, when you protect your dog against parasites, you’re also protecting you and your family as well, an issue that's of great importance especially if you have little kids at home that may also get infected with these diseases that are passed on to them due to contact with the infected dog or cat.
All in all, flea and tick prevention is an essential part of good pet care that every dog or cat owner must nail down.
How The Seresto Dog Collar Works
The best way to treat fleas and ticks, just like every other problem in life, is through prevention and not waiting till the problem occurs and then trying to solve it.
Remember that if your pet gets fleas, you’ll have to treat every place they go to, including your home.
A flea collar (be that a flea collar for dogs or a flea collar for cats) such as the Seresto Flea Collar is a fairly passive form of flea and tick prevention that gives you a "set it and forget it" option to go about treating this condition in your dog or cat.
Mind you, passive doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective since you don't have to do much work after you put the flea collar on your cat or dog.
This is one of the many logical fallacies we see among the community of pet owners, where many believe that if you're not required to followup and administer medication to your pet on a daily basis and in a manual fashion, then the product you're using is ineffective and a waste of your money, a concept that couldn't be farther from the truth.
So, the beauty of the Seresto Flea Collar is that you don’t have to apply flea spray on your dog every time he goes out, you don’t have to remember to apply monthly treatments and you don't have to do much manual work at all.
After you have them wear the flea collar, you can rest assured that your dog or cat is protected for a fairly long time to come.
Bayer made this quick video to explain how exactly the Seresto collar works:
The Seresto Flea Collar will release chemicals that are toxic to parasites but won’t hurt you or your pet, chemicals which will spread over and protect your dog's entire body, killing any ticks and fleas on site.
And, in a fairly short time, your pet’s body will absorb these chemicals through glands under their skin. However, sometimes it may take a bit longer for the active ingredients to kick in and provide protection.
So, to be on the safe side, I recommend that you put the collar on your dog a week before the tick season starts to ensure that he is properly protected.
These toxins (which, again, are not at all harmful to your pet or to you) will spread over your dog’s entire body, meaning that protection isn’t concentrated just at the area around your pet’s neck where they're wearing the collar.
This way, you don’t have to worry about applying a flea product to cover your pet, head to toe.
Unlike other flea and tick dog collars on the market, the Seresto collar slowly releases its chemical properties and provides continued protection against fleas and ticks for eight months. Its long-lasting effect will save you the trouble of applying a spot-on treatment every month or so and will keep your dog bite-free the entire season.
The fact that the Seresto collar is water-resistant is a big plus for me and is a great feature to have if your dog likes to swim. Unfortunately, the collar isn’t completely waterproof, and if exposed to water often its effectiveness is shortened by up to three months.
A Few Tips About Using the Seresto Flea Collar
To get the most out of using it, you should apply the Seresto Flea Collar to your dog or cat as soon as temperatures begin to warm up above freezing, even if there’s still snow on the ground.
Fleas and ticks become active a lot sooner than you may think, and when they emerge, they’ll be hungry, so you have to be prepared and protect your pet way before that stage.
Using the Seresto Flea Collar is pretty straightforward and is a one time effort where you just have to properly get your dog or cat to wear it, after which you can let it do all the work for you and take care of itself by itself.
So, you really have nothing to worry about if you don't consider yourself to be the most technical person out there.
Obviously, you should keep the collar in its package until you’re ready to put on your pet. After all, you want your dog to get the full benefit of its protection, and you don't want the Seresto Flea Collar to start work before it's around your pet's neck area.
As with any kind of collar out there, be very careful not to fasten it too tightly around your pet’s neck, or else the risk of choking comes into play.
Do this test in order to find out whether the Seresto Flea Collar is too tight on your dog or cat's neck or not - you should be able to slip two fingers comfortably under the collar without much difficulty, in which case it's not too tight and you're good to go.
While it may go without saying, you must keep the collar on your pet at all times for it to work. If you remove it one too many times for prolonged periods of time, the course of treatment is going to be greatly hindered and you may not see the results you wanted to see upon purchase.
But, that’s the case with any flea collar and not a particular disadvantage to Seresto Flea Collar.
The slow release of its ingredients ensures that your dog is getting the optimal amount of protection against fleas and ticks, 24/7, which is why you should only reserve removing the collar for times where you absolutely must do so and have no other choice.
You should also avoid using other flea and tick products on your dog when he’s wearing a flea collar.
Seresto Flea Collar Reviews - Why Choose the Seresto Dog Collar?
8 Month Protection: First of all, one advantage the Seresto Dog Collar offers over many other collars that compete with it in the market is effective time to get rid of ticks and fleas on pets.
The Seresto Collar provides continuous protection for a full eight months, which covers the entire flea and tick season for many pet owners.
So, this technically means that you only need to make one purchase at the beginning of spring to protect your pet.
Very Fast Results: Moreover, the collar begins protecting your dog against fleas within 24 hours and within 48 hours for ticks, which is outstandingly fast.
Waterproof: It's also waterproof, a benefit you’ll certainly appreciate if your dog likes to take the occasional swim now and then.
Reflector Clips For Night Visibility: Another nice feature is the addition of three reflector clips to increase your pet’s visibility at night, which comes in very handy if you're a fan of taking your pet out for that late night walk.
Safety Feature: It also has a safety-closure mechanism should your pet get caught up on something, a very necessary feature that greatly minimizes the risk of choking should this event take place.
Set It And Forget It: Moreover, the set-it-and-forget-it feature that the Seresto Flea Collar allows you to enjoy certainly resonates with a lot of pet owners that swear by it.
No Nasty Smell: With the Seresto Flea Collar, you're also getting a very effective product that has no smell to it whatsoever.
Frankly, topical treatments don’t smell pleasant, to say the least. The smell is often so strong that you don't want to get anywhere near your dog or cat for a few days, which really beats the purpose of being a pet owner in the first place.
This is an issue that Bayer took into good consideration when manufacturing this flea collar, and one they did a very good job with.
Does Seresto Work?
What does science have to say about the way the Seresto Flea Collar works? And how is the Seresto brand any different from the many other brands on the market?
To answer these questions, let’s look at the Seresto Flea Collar’s active ingredients and what research tells us about them.
The Seresto flea collar has two primary ingredients, flumethrin and imidacloprid, both of which are insecticides that target the nervous system of parasites. Essentially, these ingredients paralyze and kill any parasites on immediate contact.
Here’s a short description of each:
Imidacloprid: A chemical that mimics nicotine and is highly toxic to sucking insects. Once a flea ingests this chemical, its nervous system starts to shut down completely and it ultimately dies. The great thing about imidacloprid is that it kills both larvae and adult fleas, preventing the flea life cycle from continuing.
Flumethrin: The second active ingredient in the Seresto dog collar which kills and repels ticks in adult, larvae, and nymph stages by shutting down their central nervous system.
Even though flumethrin is a pesticide, the dose found in this collar is so low that it poses no risk to you or your dog.
Flumethrin is also used on farm animals and in honeybee colonies, so it has a history of effectiveness and safety that you can fully trust.
You may have run into claims that these two ingredients raise concerns about the Seresto collar safety for dogs.
While it is completely understandable that you feel a bit apprehensive about putting pesticides directly on your dog’s skin and coat, the EPA concluded that it is completely safe for dogs to wear the Seresto collar.
However, a certain number of dog owners stated in their Seresto flea and tick collar for dogs reviews that their pooches developed skin irritation, vomiting, and diarrhea when wearing this collar.
Still, my two dogs have been wearing the Seresto flea collar ever since it appeared on the market and never experienced any issues whatsoever. But, if you have any concerns regarding the Seresto collar’s safety, consult your vet and together you can decide if this is the right flea control solution for your dog.
Are There Any Downsides to the Seresto Flea Collar?
So, with all of the positive aspects covered above about the Seresto flea collar, who's best off avoiding having their pet wear this collar?
As with any preventive that exists out there on the market, there are some downsides to using the Seresto flea collar and some situations where it's best off avoiding it.
Young Puppies And Kittens: You shouldn’t use any flea and tick treatment on young puppies and kittens, be that with the Seresto flea collar or any other similar product out there on the market (unless the manufacturers explicitly claim it was made for young puppies or kittens).
Allergic Reactions: All flea collars carry a small risk of an adverse reaction in pets, and some dogs and cats are simply more sensitive than others, so there's no surefire way of telling beforehand whether or not your pet will develop an allergic reaction to this collar without giving it a try first.
If your dog or cat is known to have sensitive skin and has a track record of problems because of that, then you should probably talk to your veterinarian before going ahead and giving this Seresto flea collar (or any other flea collar) a go.
Medicine/Health Issues: You should consult your veterinarian if your pet is ill or is on any other medications before using this or any preventive.
Waterproof Only To A Certain Extent: While the Seresto flea collar is indeed waterproof, frequent baths or swims in their dog pool while your pet is still wearing it may reduce its effectiveness in the long run, and the ingredients will need time to get reabsorbed into your pet’s body for optimal protection.
These general things aside, the Seresto Flea Collar is a very smart choice for a pet owner looking for an effective way to prevent flea and tick infestations when it comes to their pets.
While some may deem it too costly, investing in a high quality flea collar like this one from Seresto is only going to set you back a fraction of the expense of having to rid your home of fleas, so you can think of it as another kind of pet insurance that benefits you as well.
Summing Everything About The Seresto Flea Collar Up
The Seresto Flea Collar offers an excellent alternative to messy sprays and frequent baths with flea and tick shampoos for pets if that's not exactly your thing.
Flea collars have come a very long way since the early days of grocery store brands, and with the innovation and research of Bayer to back it up, the Seresto Flea Collar stands apart from other products on the market for many reasons covered in the article above.
For a one time investment that's able to keep your pet flea and tick free for 8 full months, the advantages of the Seresto Flea Collar far outweigh any cons.
It offers long-term protection that exceeds the effectiveness of many products on the market, and provides a very good way to ensure your pet is protected, all day, every day, making it a smart choice for your dog or cat.
With a full season for flea and tick prevention that actually works, it’s quite hard to beat.
The Seresto Flea Collar is our #1 pick for flea and tick prevention, by far.
Purchased collar at pet cod used twice before the third collar has not been as effective as needed tow weeks still shows sign of fleas very dissapointed
Third collar not as effective as first two purchased two weeks and still finding fleas very dissapolnting all purchased at petco
After a week with the collar on my dog, she has more fleas than before. Complete waste of money.
The Seresto on one of my three dogs is not working AT ALL. She is covered with fleas. It was applied in April well before flea season in my part of the country. I am at a loss as to why this is happening. Could the collar be defective? I will pause before buying another.
I also bought Seresto flea collars for my cats. At first it worked. Then I bought more 7 months later, and they didn’t work at all. I thought maybe it was defective, so I bout a 3rd round of collars. Again they didn’t work,and my two cats developed open sores on their necks. I took the collars off and their sores healed. I will not buy these again. I am wondering if they have changed their ingredients or are skimping on ingredients to make these collars.
I just put new seresto collars on my 2 dogs. They have a smell of citronella . Is this ok?