Efficacy of a novel topical fipronil, (S)-methoprene, eprinomectin and praziquantel combination against naturally acquired intestinal nematode and cestode infections in cats

Abstract

The efficacy of a novel topical combination formulation of fipronil, (S)-methoprene, epri-nomectin and praziquantel against naturally acquired intestinal nematode and cestodeinfections in cats was evaluated in seven negative control, blinded studies. Cats wereselected based on a pre-treatment faecal examination indicating a patent infection withat least hookworms (two studies), Toxocara ascarids (one study), taeniid cestodes (twostudies) or Dipylidium cestodes (two studies). In each study, cats were assigned randomlyto blocks of two animals each, based on decreasing pre-treatment body weight and wererandomly allocated to one of two groups of six to 12 cats: untreated (control) or treatedwith topical fipronil (8.3%, w/v), (S)-methoprene (10%, w/v), eprinomectin (0.4%, w/v)and praziquantel (8.3%, w/v) (BROADLINE®, Merial) at 0.12 mL/kg body weight (providinga minimum of 10 mg fipronil + 12 mg S-methoprene + 0.5 mg eprinomectin + 10 mg prazi-quantel per kg body weight). The topical treatment was administered directly on the skinin the midline of the neck in a single spot once on Day 0. For parasite recovery and count,cats were euthanized humanely and necropsied seven or ten days after treatment. A sin-gle treatment with the novel topical combination product provided 91% efficacy against Ancylostoma braziliense, ≥99% efficacy against Ancylostoma tubaeforme, and >97% efficacyagainst Toxocara cati. Similarly, excellent efficacy was established against Taenia taeniae-formis, Dipylidium caninum and Diplopylidium spp. as demonstrated by >97% and up to100% reductions of cestode counts in the treated cats when compared to the untreated controls (P < 0.01). All cats accepted the treatment well based on health observations post-treatment and daily health observations. No adverse experiences or other health problems were observed throughout the studies. The results of this series of controlled studies demonstrated high efficacy and excellent acceptability of the novel topical combination formulation of fipronil, (S)-methoprene, eprinomectin and praziquantel against a broad range of feline intestinal nematode and cestode infections.