# Advantage v Advocate



## wicket

Hi have five cats an am aware fleas are getting resistant to frontline/effipro/fibrospot (all have same active ingredient) 

Have found advocate very good but dont really feel that my elderly girls need worming every month. Have been looking on line advantage is just for fleas but contains the same active ingredient for fleas as advocate - imidacloprid ? Would prefer to worm every 3-6 months separately with drontal . it also appears that advantage is non prescription ? Any advice as to whether I have got this right would be appreciated.


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## Satori

Yes you are right. Just be aware that drontal + advantage does not give complete worm coverage. Advocate kills some worms that drontal does not. So you have to choose between gaps or overlaps.


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## GingerJasper

Satori can you clear something up for me then (sorry to jump on your thread Wicket) but my vet is now doing Advocate which they recommend I do every month but also said I should carry on doing frontline but after 2 weeks which would mean I'm doing the cats every 2 weeks? Is this right, currently i'm doing Frontline and Milbemax once every month. My son missed Alfie's Milbemax once a few months ago and he came down with worms so am reluctant to go longer than a month.


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## Satori

GingerJasper said:


> Satori can you clear something up for me then (sorry to jump on your thread Wicket) but my vet is now doing Advocate which they recommend I do every month but also said I should carry on doing frontline but after 2 weeks which would mean I'm doing the cats every 2 weeks? Is this right, currently i'm doing Frontline and Milbemax once every month. My son missed Alfie's Milbemax once a few months ago and he came down with worms so am reluctant to go longer than a month.


Well, I wouldn't want to contradict your vet but that sounds crazy to me. No way I would use a spot on flea treatment every 2 weeks. Milbemax + Advocate is a popular regime and, if I were using that monthly, I would do Milbemax then wait two weeks to do the Advocate then 2 weeks for the milbemax etc. because there is some redundancy. Can't see the point of adding frontline as well.

I should add btw, that mine are indoor cats so I would never treat monthly anyway. Every 6 months for mine, if at all.


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## GingerJasper

Satori said:


> Well, I wouldn't want to contradict your vet but that sounds crazy to me. No way I would use a spot on flea treatment every 2 weeks. Milbemax + Advocate is a popular regime and, if I were using that monthly, I would do Milbemax then wait two weeks to do the Advocate then 2 weeks for the milbemax etc. because there is some redundancy. Can't see the point of adding frontline as well.
> 
> I should add btw, that mine are indoor cats so I would never treat monthly anyway. Every 6 months for mine, if at all.


It wasn't the vet it was the receptionist as they are promoting their new 'bug box' that contain Advocate and something else. She said that Advocate was better than Millbemax as it covered more worms but that I should wait two weeks before applying the Frontline. All 3 of mine are indoors but as Alfie was 3 weeks late with him Millbemax I would be reluctant to go as long as 6 months. So in effect I would be med'ing every month for Advocate and Frontline but in reality would be giving them something every 2 weeks. Does that make sense??


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## Satori

Hopefully, someone with more expertise will be along but I can't see any reason ever to be using both frontline and advocate.


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## Cookieandme

I thought Milbemax was the better of the worming treatments, mine get Milbemax every 3 months. They are indoor/ garden only girls though.


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## havoc

I don't treat for fleas anyway as I have indoor cats and no fleas to treat. If I ever do need to do both fleas and worming I'd keep them separate. If a cat is sensitive to anything I'd least you know then whereas there's no way of telling with combined products.


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## havoc

> It wasn't the vet it was the receptionist as they are promoting their new 'bug box' that contain Advocate and something else


That sort of thing annoys me beyond belief. I know vets do allow receptionists to give out these sort of products but they are not qualified to start telling clients to mix and match. I'm quite friendly with a vet receptionist (not from my vets) and her belief in her expertise is really very worrying.


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## wicket

I think it is generally accepted that milbemax is the best all round wormer - I have indoor/secure garden cats and begrudge the huge prices the vet charges for prescription only medicines like milbemax (mine also charges £9 for a prescription lol) so was looking for what I can buy on line without prescription - its good to know that advantage is as good as advocate for fleas as I dont find frontline/effipro/fibrospot as effective and dont feel the older girls need the worming aspect of advocate every month. 
My vet does recommend at kitten is done monthly with advocate until six months to make sure it has no worm burden but has said that after that drontal/milbemax every 3 months or so is fine - I also cant see any reason for using both advocate and frontline.


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## Harveybash

I tried Harvey on advocate, but he couldn't tolerate it for some reason .. made him go all strange. So i went back to giving him advantage and then wormed him separately as needed


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## MoggyBaby

Advocate is a monthly de-flea treatment that also contains a worming ingredient. Not all types of worms are covered in this treatment.

Advantage is the same de-fleaing treatment without the worming treatment.

Milbemax is an excellent wormer that covers everything.

If I am using Advocate, I only give Milbemax every 3 months to cover the worm types that Advocate doesn't.

If I am using Advantage, then I choose to Milbemax 2 months.

There is absolutely NO need to include Frontline with any of the above treatments. Your vets receptionist should NOT being giving out this advice. It may worth letting your vet know that she is, as someone could harm their cat by overdosing it on flea treatments. 

.


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## CoCoTrio

For what it's worth - we were advised to use the combined Advocate spot-on every month for the fleas and worms as ours is an outdoor free roamer, and for the tapeworms which aren't covered by Advocate we give him a Profender spot-on, but only every six months.


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