Advocate & Profender FAQs

Advocate FAQs

What does Advocate do?

Advocate is the most complete all-in-one parasite protection for cats and dogs. Advocate protects your pets against the following parasites:

In dogs
Fleas
Flea larvae
Heartworm
Roundworm
Hookworm
Whipworm
Ear mites
Sarcoptes mites
Demodex mites
Biting and sucking lice

In cats
Fleas
Flea larvae
Heartworm
Roundworm
Hookworm
Ear mites

How is Advocate applied?
Advocate is a liquid that is applied to your pet’s skin so it is extremely convenient. Advocate’s twist-top tube makes application simple. All you need to do is twist open the seal and squeeze the entire contents of the tube onto your pet’s skin.

How often do I have to apply Advocate?
Apply Advocate every month to ensure your pet is fully protected.

Can I use Advocate on puppies and kittens?
Advocate is safe for use on puppies from 7 weeks and kittens from 9 weeks of age.

Which pack size do I need?
Advocate is available in a range of pre-measured doses to suit all sizes of cats and dogs. See your vet for more details.

How does Advocate work?
Imidacloprid and moxidectin are the active ingredients in Advoate. Imidacloprid spreads over your pet to act against fleas and lice. Moxidectin is absorbed into your pet’s bloodstream where it controls internal parsites and mites.

Do fleas have to bite my pet to be killed?
No. Advocate kills fleas on contact which means they do not have to bite your pet. This helps to reduce your pet’s suffering from flea bites.

What happens if my dog gets wet?
Advocate remains effective for a full month, even if your dog goes swimming, gets caught in the rain, or is bathed and shampooed during that time.

How does Advocate kill fleas?
When a flea is exposed to Advocate® (imidacloprid) on a treated pet, the compound is absorbed through the insect’s intersegmental membrane and leads to death of the insect. It has been shown to kill adult and larval fleas within 20 minutes of contact. It also stops fleas from feeding in 3-5 minutes. Fleas are not required to bite the animal to receive a lethal dose.
Any new fleas that pets pick up on “walks”, or from visiting animals, will also be killed before they can lay eggs.

How does Advocate kill flea larvae?
Once Advocate is applied the active ingredient (imidacloprid) spreads across the body quite rapidly. During this process, imidacloprid forms microscopic particles that bind with the superficial lipid layer on the skin surface. This lipid material is slowly shed off of the animal, via the normal replenishing activity of the epidermis. This “dander,” made up of bits of epidermal cells, lipid, hair fragments and such, also contains imidacloprid. Thus, the treated dog, in essence, treats its own environment (as flea larvae feed on the biological material). As imidacloprid is an extremely potent compound (i.e., very small amounts kill fleas and flea larvae), sufficient amounts are deposited to effectively kill flea larvae in the pet’s surroundings.

Is Advocate safe to use around children?
Absolutely, imidacloprid and moxidectin – the active ingredients in Advocate have a low mammalian toxicity. After application moxidectin is rapidly absorbed into the blood stream and the carrier helps imidacloprid to spread very quickly on the animal from the site of application. During this process imidacloprid binds with the superficial lipid layer on the skin surface and this layer is not removed by patting the dog or cat.

How do pets ‘catch’ heartworm?
Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes and are found throughout Australia. Heartworm infection is serious and can be fatal. Both cats and dogs are at risk from heartworm infection.

How do pets ‘catch’ intestinal worms?

The pet’s environment can remain a continual source of re-infection. Worm eggs and larvae are passed in the faeces and as such they survive in areas where pets are exercised and areas where pets are kept.
In the case of flea tapeworms, the larvae are carried by fleas and dogs can become infected when grooming themselves. It is essential to maintain effective flea control to protect against flea tapeworms.

Profender FAQs

What does Profender do?
Profender controls gastrointestinal worms in cats. It is the world’s first broad-spectrum, spot-on intestinal wormer for cats. Profender makes the worming process simple and comfortable both for you AND your cat, which means the days of struggling to push a tablet down your cat’s throat are over.

How does Profender work?
Profender contains two active ingredients that are quickly absorbed through the skin to effectively control all gastrointestinal worms. A simple spot-on treatment applied to the back of the cat’s neck is all that is required. Once applied, Profender quickly enters the bloodstream and travels to the intestines, where the two active ingredients kill worms on contact.

How is Profender applied?
Profender is easy to apply. Simply empty the contents of the tube onto the back of your cat’s neck.

How often do I have to apply Profender?
While Profender is extremely effective at killing worms, it doesn’t act as a vaccine to protect against future infection, which means your cat needs regular treatment. Adult cats should be treated with Profender every 3 months.

Can I use Profender on kittens?
Yes, Profender is safe to use on kittens from 8 weeks of age weighing over 0.5 kg. Start kittens with Profender at 8 weeks of age and treat again at 12 weeks, then treat every 3 months.

Which pack size do I need?
Profender comes in 3 pre-measured tubes that make application simple. Select the appropriate tube by weighing your cat first.

Which intestinal worms does Profender control?
It is the only intestinal wormer that kills all infective stages of the relevant intestinal worms in cats in Australia.

How do cats ‘catch’ intestinal worms?
The cat’s environment can remain a continual source of re-infection. Worm eggs and larvae are passed in the faeces and as such they survive in areas where pets are exercised and areas where pets are kept.
In the case of flea tapeworms, the larvae are carried by fleas and cats can become infected when grooming themselves.

Why is it important to teat cats regularly with Profender?
Often cats will show no signs of intestinal worms, so it is very important to worm your cat regularly. Worming is important for family health too. Some worms, such as roundworm, can transmit between animals and people.