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Last updated on Jul 23, 2020

The Best Flea Treatment for Cats

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We know cat owners want flea control that will keep their cats healthy and comfortable, so we’ve compiled 6 products that have effective approaches to eliminating your pest problems. Some products aim to kill fleas on site fast, where others focus on eliminating the flea life cycle. If you have more than just flea problems, we think you’ll like that some of these products also attack other pests like ticks, lice, and even mosquitoes.  

The Best Flea Treatment for Cats

The Best Flea Treatment for Cats: Key Features 

Product PicksPest CoverageApplicationLength of Effect
Capstar Fast-Acting Oral Flea Treatment FleasOral pill 24 hours per dose
Frontline Plus Flea and Tick Treatment Fleas, flea larvae and eggs, lice and ticks Topical treatment 30 days
Advantage II Fleas, flea larvae and eggs Topical treatment 30 days
Cheristin Topical Flea PreventionFleasTopic treatment6 weeks
Sentry Fiproguard Flea and Tick TopicalFleas, ticks and liceTopical treatment30 days

Capstar Fast-Acting Oral Flea Treatment

Capstar is a fast oral treatment that can kill adult fleas within 30 minutes. 

Fastest Oral Treatment
Capstar

Capstar Fast-Acting Oral Flea Treatment

Why we chose it

Quick relief  

When cats are plagued by biting fleas, the length of time until a product takes effect matters. Once Capstar oral tablets are administered, they start killing fleas within 30 minutes. One tablet can kill 90% of adult fleas in 6 hours, offering your pet fast relief from itching and biting. Capstar is one of the fastest acting products on the market, beating both Frontline Plus and Advantage II in terms of time until full effect.

Highly effective

Capstar works from within your cat’s bloodstream to kill and repel adult fleas. Once the pill begins to work, fleas will begin visibly falling off your cat, offering satisfying evidence of the pill’s effectiveness. Unlike other flea treatments, Capstar can also be safely administered in combination with other products to ensure a well-rounded approach to flea extermination — just make sure to check with your vet about any combination medications you plan to use on your cat.

Safe to redose 

Unlike many flea treatments, Capstar oral flea pills are safe to redose. This is especially helpful if your cat becomes re-infested with fleas due to their environment or contact with other animals. Many topical treatments can endanger the health of your cat if you choose to redose, but Capstar’s oral treatments are designed to be used repetitively to tackle flea infestations. Capstar can be administered as often as once per day, offering consistent relief for your cat. 

Points to consider

Difficult to administer

Since Capstar is an oral pill, some customers may find it more difficult to administer than a topical treatment. A cat who is already uncomfortable due to itchy fleas might object to having a pill forced into their mouth. If you plan to re-administer the pills over several days, your cat may begin to predict the treatment and hide, making it even more difficult to redose.

Short term

Although Capstar oral flea treatments offer near-immediate relief, the flea-killing effect is not long lasting. Capstar kills adult fleas but does not target flea larvae or eggs. Due to the quick life cycles of fleas, your cat’s infestation may quickly return once the eggs hatch or the larvae mature. Luckily, Capstar can be re-administered once per day, so diligent customers should be able to prevent adult fleas from laying new eggs and eventually eliminate the flea life cycle. 

Frontline Plus Flea and Tick Treatment 

Frontline Plus offers broad pest coverage by tackling fleas, lice, and ticks.

Broadest Coverage
Frontline Plus

Frontline Plus Flea and Tick Treatment

Why we chose it

Wide range of pest control

Frontline Plus aims to eliminate all of the pests that plague your cat. While many pest control treatments like Capstar or Cheristin focus only on fleas, Frontline tackles chewing lice and ticks as well as fleas. Cats who are exposed to other animals or dense grassy areas are especially prone to pick up a variety of pests. Frontline Plus topical treatment is one of the only solutions that works to kill and repel all major pests, keeping your cat comfortable and pest free.

Kills fleas at every stage

Frontline Plus’s comprehensive approach to pest control targets adult fleas, larvae and eggs. Unlike Capstar, which focuses only on adult fleas, Frontline attacks fleas at all phases of their life cycle. Frontline Plus topical treatments utilize a combination of active ingredients to treat your flea problem — fipronil attacks flea adults and methoprene kills flea larvae and eggs. This topical treatment helps you eliminate current pests and prevent the next generation from coming back to plague your cat.

Waterproof and long-lasting

Once Frontline Plus topical treatment is administered, it permeates the sebaceous — or oil glands — in the cat’s skin and remains active for up to 30 days. This liquid topical treatment should be administered between the shoulder blades directly to the cat’s skin, not on top of the fur, and left alone until it dries. Once the product has taken full effect, usually within 12 to 24 hours, the treatment is waterproof, allowing your cat to resume all normal activity. This product is especially helpful if you have a cat who likes to roam in damp, pest-heavy areas. 

Points to consider

Strong scent

Since Frontline plus topical treatment strives to be long-lasting and waterproof, it may have a heavy odor and greasy texture as a result. Unlike Capstar or other oral treatments, Frontline plus does not work from the inside, which means that there may be evidence of the product on your cat’s fur or potentially in your home.

Skin irritation at application site

When using any chemical, there is always potential for negative reactions, and Frontline plus is not exempt. Some customers may find that their cats experience some irritation or discomfort at the application site of this topical treatment. If you are concerned about the side effects of any product that you plan to give your pet, please contact your vet. 

Advantage II

Advantage II has the most effective flea elimination and kills fleas at every stage

Best Flea Elimination
Advantage

Advantage II

Why we chose it

Kills fleas on contact

Advantage II has a unique feature that kills fleas on contact — meaning that fleas don’t have to bite your cat to die. Thanks to the active ingredient imidacloprid, Advantage II topical treatment is able to paralyze and eventually kill fleas residing on your cat. We think any reduction of flea bites is a significant improvement, especially if your cat is already uncomfortable due to a flea infestation and irritated about having a flea treatment on their skin.

Kills fleas at every stage

Like Frontline Plus, Advantage II aims to kill fleas at every stage of their life cycle, though the products have slightly different approaches to this problem. Advantage II utilizes Pyriproxyfen, an insect growth regulator (IGR), to attack flea larvae and prevent eggs from hatching. Regardless of the approach, killing fleas at every stage of life is an important step in regulating the future development of more irritating fleas.


Works on large cats

If you have a large breed cat like a Maine Coon or a Ragdoll, or even just a chubby Tabby cat, you will appreciate that Advantage II is prepared to protect them. Advantage offers a dosage for cats 9lbs and above that seems to be effective even on especially large cats. Customers who have several cats of varying weights will also like that they likely won’t need specialized doses for each animal, and can administer a single Advantage II dose to each cat as long as they are at least 9lbs. 

Points to consider

Expensive

Advantage II is one of the more expensive topical flea products. It’s pricing is relatively comparable to Frontline Plus, but remember that Frontline also tackles lice and ticks, whereas Advantage focuses only on fleas. However, Advantage II does offer the kill-on-contact option that many other products do not, so we think that customers may find that it’s worth the extra money.

Delay until full effect

Advantage II can take up to 12 hours before it reaches full effect, which may seem like an eternity if you have a cat with a heavy flea infestation. When compared to Capstar’s 30 min and Frontline Plus’s 4 hour effect, Advantage II may seem a bit slow. We think Advantage may be best used for keeping fleas away rather than killing a large population immediately. 

Cheristin Topical Flea Prevention 

Cheristin Topical Flea Prevention provides long-lasting relief from fleas for up to 6 weeks.

Longest Lasting Treatment
Cheristin

Cheristin Topical Flea Prevention

Why we chose it

Longest Lasting

While many flea treatments like Frontline Plus and Advantage II provide protection from fleas for 30 days, Cheristin offers flea protection for up to 6 weeks. In fact, there are few other products on the market that offer real pest coverage for as long as Cheristin. We think customers will like this additional window of time because it saves cat owners having to treat their feline companions quite as often. Cat’s will also likely prefer the fewer sticky topical treatments and longer protection against irritating fleas. 

Quick relief  

Cheristin not only has a long-lasting effect, it also begins working extremely quickly. Like Capstar oral tablets, Cheristin topical treatment can start killing fleas within just 30 minutes of application. This makes it the fastest topical treatment on our list, beating out both Frontline Plus (4 hours) and Advantage II (12 hours).  One Cheristin topical treatment can kill 98% to 100% of fleas within 12 hours, offering your cat fast relief from itching and biting.

Low environmental impact

If you are worried about the environmental implications of using chemicals to treat your cat’s flea infestation, Cheristin may be the right choice for you. Cheristin uses an active ingredient called spinetoram, which received a 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry award for its low environmental impact on the agricultural industry. We think customers can feel good about using this chemical knowing that it is both effective and more environmentally friendly than some of its competitors.

Points to consider

Strong scent

Like Frontline Plus, Cheristin may also have an unpleasant odor. Both topical treatments are long-lasting and waterproof, so that may be why they have strong scents and sometimes oily residue left over in your cat’s fur. If you can’t handle the chemical smell, Advantage II and Sentry Fiproguard Plus topical treatments may have more tolerable smells.

Expensive

Cheristin topical treatments are some of the most expensive flea treatments on the list, so it may not be the best product pick for budget shoppers. It’s worth noting that Cheristin is also the longest-lasting product and one of the quickest treatments to take effect, but you will have to pay to take advantage of this product’s perks. If you are trying to keep the cost of your flea treatments as low as possible, take a look at Sentry Fiproguard Plus. 

Sentry Fiproguard Flea and Tick Topical

Sentry Fiproguard Flea and Tick Treatment offers protection at a lower cost than other topicals.

Most Affordable
Sentry

Sentry Fiproguard Flea and Tick Topical

Why we chose it

Inexpensive

Sentry Fiproguard Flea and Tick Treatment is one of the least expensive topical treatments on our list. A box of Sentry Fiproguard also includes the same number of dosages as many other topical treatments, so you pay less for the same quantity of treatments. If you are buying on a budget, you will like that Sentry Fiproguard has many of the same claims to fame as product picks like Frontline Plus, but at a fraction of the cost. 

Broad coverage

Like Frontline Plus, Sentry Fiproguard aims to kill a broad range of pests including fleas, flea larvae and eggs, lice and ticks. In fact, Sentry Fiproguard and Frontline share one of the same active ingredients, fipronil, that targets fleas. We think customers will like that they can get some of the same pest-control benefits of bigger name brands, in a less expensive product pick. When applied correctly to the skin between your cat’s shoulder blades, Sentry Fiproguard is waterproof and effective for 30 days.

Mild Scent

Unlike Frontline Plus and Cheristin, Sentry Fiproguard has a mild smelling scent. Rather than the harsh chemical smell that can irritate your cat and permeate your home, Sentry Fiproguard has a faint citrus scent. Customers may find that it also has less sticky residue than other topical treatments. We think cats will prefer Sentry Fiproguard’s scent, which may make it easier for cat owners to reapply it when the time comes. 

Points to consider

Limited strength

While Sentry Fiproguard may contain one of the same active ingredients as Frontline, it may not work on especially large infestations. Customers may find that Sentry Fiproguard does not have the same strength to tackle a major pest problem, but works better at maintaining and repelling. Also, like Advantage II, Sentry Fiproguard can take up to 12 hours before it reaches full effect, which may be too long to wait if you have a cat with a heavy pest problem.

Skin irritation at application site

Perhaps because Sentry Fiproguard and Frontline Plus use one of the same active ingredients, they share a potential for side effects. Of course, with any medical treatment there is potential for negative reactions. Some cats may experience irritation, discomfort or even hair loss at the application site of this topical treatment. If you are concerned about the side effects of any product that you plan to give your pet, please contact your vet. 

Guide to Flea Treatment for Cats

Choose your treatment based on your environment

Get to know the pests in your area to plan for the right protection for your cat. If you only need to worry about fleas, then products like Capstar and Advantage II will work well. If you also need to protect your cat from ticks and lice, look into products like Frontline Plus and Jasper’s Flea and Tick Spray, which also repels mosquitoes. 

Pick a topical treatment for difficult cats

Cat’s aren’t known to be patient when uncomfortable. If you know that you will have a cat that will resist being given a pill or a spray treatment, we think you should opt for an easy topical serum treatment like Frontline Plus or Advantage II. Other types of treatments may be best used before a major infestation has developed. 

Pay attention to dosage

Many of these product picks have a set dosage for a specific size or weight, so you need to read carefully to make sure that you are buying the right product for your cat. Accurately weigh your cat. Treatments like Advantage II have two different dosages, one for cats from 5-9 lbs, and one for large cats over 9lbs. If you have a rather little cat, Cherisitin works for cats as small as 1.8 lbs.

Always talk to your vet about any treatments you want to use

Your vet knows your cat and the pests in your area, so they can recommend the best over-the-counter flea treatments. Make sure to consult your vet before beginning any new treatments, and especially before combining or redosing any treatments, even if the product advertises that it is safe to do so. It’s always better to be safe than sorry concerning the health of our pets. 

About the Authors

The Reviews.com staff is dedicated to providing you with all the deep-dive details. Our writers, researchers, and editors came together from Charlotte, Seattle, San Juan, Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, and Chicago to put this review together.