Best Oral Flea Treatment For Dogs: All You Need to Know

One of the most common and frustrating pet problems that owners have is when their dog becomes the host to a flea infestation! There’s nothing fun about dealing with fleas. You can catch signs of a flea problem early if you notice your dog scratching more than usual or if you notice any signs of fleas while grooming them regularly, but sometimes, they hatch and multiply before you can catch them.

Thankfully, oral treatment for fleas in dogs is available from numerous companies. Flea oral medication works by preventing eggs from hatching and killing fleas within hours, usually with substances toxic to fleas or by softening their hard shells so that they will die. The best oral flea medication for dogs will not affect your pet’s health outside of ridding them for their flea invaders.

Quick Comparison: Top 5 Best Flea Oral Medication

**Below, you'll find our reviews, but you can also click the links above to see current prices or read customer reviews on Chewy.

**Disclaimer: Our pet medication reviews are based mostly on (1) our expertise and that of the experts with whom we consult and (2) the information provided by the manufacturers. We do test many pet medications (with our dog's help), but we can't test them all. As such, please remember the above recommendations are our opinions, and you should consult your vet before making changes to your dog's regimen.

Flea Oral Medication For Dogs Reviews

Capstar Flea Tablets For Dogs

I rank Capstar Flea Tablets for Dogs as the best oral flea treatment for dogs that have been infected with and are spreading fleas throughout your home. This product kills fleas immediately and should be given daily until the infestation is gone. You can actually see the product working within hours; dead fleas will fall off of your pet to be easily cleaned up.

One of the best things about this product is how safe it is, even if you need to administer it for a longer period of time. If you are taking your pet to somewhere that they may be exposed to fleas, you can administer this to be sure none of them stick. It’s also safe for pregnant or nursing dogs because the ingredients will not harm them.

You can use this product in conjunction with a topical flea treatment or other long term product, if you’d like. This product can be used to kill fleas while another can be used to prevent future infestations. The combination will keep you flea-free.

Sentry Capguard is a very similar product to Capstar. In fact, it’s considered an off-brand, cheaper version that works just as well. There are some owners who prefer to stick with Capstar, but I have not been able to find any significant difference between the ingredients or effectiveness of these two products.

This product kills fleas within the first hour of administering and keeps working for the next 24 hours. It should be used to get rid of an initial flea infection. While it can help with long-term prevention of fleas, it will not necessarily prevent future infections. You should keep additional dosages of the medicine on hand to use should you find any more fleas on your pet in the future.

Another thing worth noting is that this medicine did not cause hyperactivity in pets after administration as some oral products can.

If you are willing to try an oral preventative medicine that will take some time to start working effectively, then the EasyDefense Barrier Bites Soft Chews might be right for you. These are a very natural solution to fleas, but they don’t work on all pets. This is why I have only rated tham at 4 stars. They are very effective in some pets and not at all in others.

These chews are made of natural ingredients including brewer’s yeast and garlic, which are the two ingredients that are meant to keep insects away from your pet. Daily administration is necessary, and over time, these two ingredients should give your dog an odor that fleas will hate. There is no scientific evidence that garlic or yeast is effective at doing so, but many owners saw this result in their pets.

This product will not kill an active infection of fleas, but, if used long-term, can prevent an infection from ever occurring.

PetArmor is another option that uses nitenpyram to kill all fleas that have found their way onto your pet quickly so that you don’t have a flea-infested pet at home any longer. You will see results immediately when using PetArmor, and you can administer a daily dosage until all the fleas are gone.

This is another off-brand version of Capstar, just as Sentry was. Like those products, this does not kill eggs or larvae to prevent future infections. It is a treatment product, not a preventative one. It is a very safe product, however, and can be administered anytime that you find fleas on your pet.

The final option I’d like to share with pet owners who are dealing with fleas on their dogs is the Program medicine from Novartis. This comes in sizes for small or large dogs; medium sized dogs can be administered one of the 409.8mg sized pills. Check the packaging for full instructions on how much medicine should be administered.

Program works differently from Sentry, Capstar, and PetArmor in that it focuses on killing eggs and larvae so that your pet will not have any fleas past the current infection. This means that you’ll be able to have a flea-free future as long as you can get rid of all current fleas.

If you currently have a flea-free dog, start this product now to keep it that way. If you have fleas, use a product such as Captar to kill them and dually administer this product to secure a flea-free future.

**Disclaimer: Our pet medication reviews are based mostly on (1) our expertise and that of the experts with whom we consult and (2) the information provided by the manufacturers. We do test many pet medications (with our dog's help), but we can't test them all. As such, please remember the above recommendations are our opinions, and you should consult your vet before making changes to your dog's regimen.

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