FRIPONIL'S EFFECTS

Recent Study highlights that one of the most popular Flea & Tick treatments in the world may negatively affect your pet’s behaviour.

Fipronil is an insecticide and one of the most popular veterinary drugs used to control fleas and ticks and is available worldwide. Recently, researchers wanted to know why dogs & cats appeared to be restless and excited following fipronil administration, so they conducted a study which was published by Science Direct. The results are pretty alarming.

According to the scientists:

“The behavioral activation observed in the present study may be due to an increase in dopamine levels in the striatum. Therefore, we theorize that fipronil also affects emotional and cognitive behaviors in dogs and cats, particularly as many appear to be restless and excited following fipronil administration.

However, the pharmacodynamics and neurotox- icity from the usage of fipronil as a veterinary drug has not been greatly explored. Neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and disruption of endocrine function have been reported in mice and rats after oral administration of fipronil. Additionally, fipronil is reported to affect their emotional and cognitive behaviors (Godinho et al., 2016; Terçariol and Godinho, 2011). In the above mentioned toxicity tests, the effects of fipronil on the nervous, circulatory, blood, and endocrine systems were verified. However, sufficient toxicity studies have not been conducted on the effects of fipronil on the emotional and cognitive behaviors of mammals.

The present study is a new approach to toxicity testing. Moreover, based on the results of our study, extrapolation to dogs and cats and further verification are necessary, particularly in understanding the ef-fects triggered via fipronil treatment on emotional and cognitive behaviors.”

Study: click here