ANTIFEEDING ACTIVITY OF A DELTAMETHRIN SHAMPOO AGAINST CTENOCEPHALIDES-FELIS IN DOGS

A controlled clinical trial was undertaken to assess the antifeeding e ffect of an application of a 0.07 % deltamethrin shampoo against fleas in dogs. Twenty beagles, housed in separate cages, were randomly allo cated into two groups of 10. Dogs were treated with 25 ml of a shampoo containing 0.07 % deltamethrin (group 1). Dogs in group 2 were contro ls. Three hours later, dogs were infected with 50 C. felis each, and o ne hour later dogs were carefully combed using a fine-toothed comb (13 teeth/cm) : collected fleas were swatted to detect blood in their abd omen. Dogs were reinfected with fleas on days 3, 7, 10 and 14. Parasit es were counted one hour after each reinfection. This study showed tha t the application of 25 mi of shampoo containing 0.07 % deltamethrin t o beagle dogs weighing between 10.2 and 15 kg was very well tolerated. Among the 2500 fleas deposited on control animals, 1419 have been rec overed on dogs one hour after infection and 99.9 % were engorged. The mean number of alive engorged fleas collected from treated dogs was re spectively 0.4, 0.9, 2.8, 15.2 and 21.1 one hour after infections real ised 3 hours, 3, 7, 10 and 14 days after shampoo application. 0.07 % d eltamethrin shampoo prevents fleas' feeding during the hour following infection with an efficacy > 98 % between day 0 and day 3, > 90 % unti l day 7. Then, results are lower but interesting : 46.9 % on day 10 an d 30.1 % on day 14.