5 Essential Features of a Great Flea Collar for Pets (Buyer’s Guide)

The best way to keep your dog or cat protected from fleas and ticks is to adopt a multi-pronged approach. While the monthly spot-on treatments are really the primary defense against these parasites, you need to supplement them with other anti-parasitic solutions. Flea collars are often favored by pet parents as a secondary defense measure against fleas and ticks. What’s great about flea collars is that they look and function just like any other dog collar. They look aesthetically pleasing and they have loops for attaching ID tags. They are really functional collars for dogs with the added bonus repelling fleas and ticks.

Being a smart consumer, you already know that not all flea dog collars are made the same. There are plenty of knock-off brands that are either not effective or downright dangerous. Remember, you are essentially attaching a pesticide-laden belt around your dog’s neck. This is why it’s crucial to get the collar from reputed pet care manufacturer. How do you tell a good flea collar from a bad one? Here are 5 key features you should be looking out for.

Comfortable Fit: The flea collar should first function as a proper collar. It should fit nicely and be adjustable. Most flea collar companies offer different sizes for different-sized dogs. These are the ones you want. Generally, flea collars for dogs that says “fits all sizes”ends up being too tight or too loose.

Odorless: Dogs have a highly sensitive sense of smell. What your senses perceive as a mild fragrance can actually be a headache-inducing pungent smell for your pet. Dogs and humans also have very different definitions of what smells good. You might prefer a flowery aroma while your dog is much more likely to enjoy the elegant smell of a stale sock. Therefore, if you find a dog collar that smells flowery and beautiful, it’s really for your benefit. The best move is to get a collar that doesn’t emit any kind of odor.

Long Lasting: For the sake of the keeping recurring costs low, you need to find a flea collar that remains effective for a long time. There are more than a few dog collars out there that last for 4 months. That might seem like a good number but there are others that do even better. Seresto, for example, promises a protection of 8 months. However, before you select any dog collar it’s important to find out the per-month cost. Divide the cost of the product by the total number of months it claims to remain effective. This should help you find out if a particular flea collar offers the right value.

Broad-Spectrum Protection: Even though these products are commonly known as flea collars, they usually repel and kill more than one type of bug. The flea collar you select should at least provide a protection against fleas and ticks. Some collars even go on to repel mosquitos, mites, lice, and other insects. Ideally, you want a product that provides a broad-spectrum protection against all common parasitic threats.

Effective and Safe Active Ingredient: A flea collar is only as good as the active ingredient it uses. Without dissing or praising any of the ingredients out there, we suggest you research the active ingredient before adding the collar to your cart.