After working in animal shelters in my early twenties I learned a ton about “Shelter Medicine”. Which sounds exactly like what it is, veterinary medicine protocols made specifically for animal shelters. These protocols were designed to save the shelter cash and time while not sacrificing the animal’s health or well being. Little “shortcuts” if you will.
The way I see health expense for myself and my family is that I would like to save a little dough buying the off brand Ibuprofen and spend a little extra on other things that I feel are important to me like therapy, eating healthy, or massage. And the great news today is that I am going to tell you about a hack that isn’t even suggesting you buy the off brand medication! ( Yes, you may pause here and applaud a few times. )
When it comes to my animals, I approach their health as I do my own. I want to save where I can so that I am able to buy/prepare them premium food and give them experiences that enrich their lives.
Have you ever thought about how flea medications say on the package, for Dogs 50-100 pounds, etc.? That’s a big jump, right? What if your pup weighs in at 52 pounds? You could potentially be putting enough pesticide on them to cover a dog way larger than them. You pickin up what I’m throwin down?
In the shelter we emptied the packets of Advantage into a larger container so that we could draw the specific amount out per pet. Is it coming together now? ( I know…you are getting really excited )
Below is the actual dosage of one flea medication for dogs and cats for your viewing pleasure. ( I list Advantage because it is easy to dose out, and can be safely used on dogs and cats, no problem. )
When I purchase flea medications I buy the largest packages so that I can split them up myself. All of you math whizzes out there could probably tell me how much a person could save by doing this every year, but I’m just gonna say….A LOT.
With all of this extra money laying around, you might be able to afford to hire a Professional Dog Walker a few times a week to help your dog stay active! See what I done there? ;)
In my personal experience, I can only say with surety that Advantage and Advantage ll work just as effectively with this chart and are super simple to divide between both dogs and cats.
Dosage Chart for Adult Cats: Advantage II
Cats 2-5# - 0.23mL
Cats 5-9# - 0.4mL
Cats 9+# - 0.8 ml
Dosage chart for Dogs: Advantage + Advantage II + Advantage Multi
Dogs 11-20# – 1.0 ml
Dogs 21-55# – 2.5 ml
Dogs 55+# – 4.0 ml
More specific dosage for dogs (weight alone):
0.4ml = 0-10#
0.8ml = 11-20#
1.2ml = 21-30#
1.6ml = 31-40#
2.0ml = 41-50#
2.4ml = 51-60#
2.8ml = 61-70#
3.2ml = 71-80#
Over 80# use 3.2mL + .4mL per additional 10# (Example: 110 lb. dog would be around 4.4mL)
Splitting flea medications is super easy once you have a good system. Always use extra care to store leftovers carefully, these are chemicals! Applying rancid chemicals to your pets is extremely dangerous! Wondering about other brands of flea meds and their dosage? Click here for another comprehensive guide I find extremely useful.
What you will need:
Here is my system to get you going. As always, tweak this to make it right for you. The most important thing is protecting the liquid from heat, light, and air!
******Store leftovers in glass jar in dark cabinet away from heat.******
Amber Glass Vial or Bottle - ( I always save amber bottles with good lids so I had one hanging around, but here is a link for some I found for just over 1$ on Amazon. Wash them before using! )
A blunt tip syringe - Depending on the size of your animals you may need a 5mL syringe or just a small 1mL syringe. ( I find I can never have too many syringes hanging around so maybe get a ten pack! Why do I always need syringes? Does anyone else have this problem?! ) Make sure you keep this syringe WITH your flea medications and don’t use it for anything else! Keeping things organized is super important when doing this at home!
Cheat Sheet - I typed myself a cheat sheet to keep WITH my meds so I don’t have to hop online or try to remember where I saved the PDF on my computer every month. I mean, where do all of those files I label “important” go? I’m hiding them so well, I can never find them!
Once you have all of your supplies it should only take a moment every month to apply their meds!
Of course, this is the chart I have used for years and works for me. I am not a veterinarian. Always research advice before you find it to be true.