Frontline, Frontline Spray and Frontline Plus are brand names for the antiparasitic drug fipronil. According to Frontline's manufacturer, Merial, no Frontline product should be used on any nursing or pregnant cat or on kittens that are less than eight weeks old. There are other alternatives to Frontline products for pregnant or nursing cats.
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History
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When Frontline for cats was originally placed on the market, Merial did recommend Frontline Spray for pregnant and nursing cats. Even books like "The Pill Book Guide to Medication for Your Dog and Cat" (Kate A.W. Roby, VMD, et al, 1998) recommended Frontline Spray for nursing cats and kittens as young as two days old. According to an Environmental Protection Agency memorandum of August 30, 2000, three Frontline products were the direct cause of death in nursing kittens and nursing rabbits, so the recommendations were changed.
Function
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Fipronil kills fleas, ticks and mites by paralyzing the insect's nervous system. It is placed on a cat's skin and absorbed, then secreted out through the cat's body oil glands. Unfortunately, this can also interfere with the nervous system of very small kittens. They can absorb fipronil through their skin and suckling on the affected teats of their mother.
Numbers
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Although Merial claims that adult cats have shown no ill effects after five times the recommended dosage, these tests were carried out on adult cats and not nursing cats or very young kittens. The dosage for Frontline Spray is one to three pumps per pound that the cat weighs. It is easy to overdose a nursing cat in this way. The spray often cannot be evenly distributed over the body of the cat, so any nursing kittens would be in danger of being overexposed to fipronil.
Side Effects
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Signs of young kittens being affected by fipronil include coordination problems, inability to nurse and seizures. Even if the mother cat was not recently given a dose of Frontline, it can still stay in her system for 90 days. If the cat had a dose 90 days before giving birth, call the vet or an animal poison center.
Alternative
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Do not give the cat any type of flea or tick prevention medication if the cat is not infested. Prevention medication such as Frontline can resume after the kittens are weaned. In the meantime, bathe the cat and the newborn kittens in Dawn dish soap and launder the bedding to kill the adult fleas.
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