If my dog is 52lbs, is it ok to use flea/tick repellent for 56-80lbs?

Why not ask your vet to be on the safe side? It is very hard to gauge how much you squeeze out of the applicator, if it is similar to the Frontline that I use on my 11 lb. cat.

Feed your dog four pounds of food, you’ll be fine.

My guess would be that the size guidelines are referring to the minimum sized dog to be effective. I fail to see how being under the limit would inhibit the process and/or make the problem worse if it’s a topical application.

That being said, I think @gailcalled was right and you should just make a call to your vet to make sure it’s okay. You know the old saying – better safe than sorry!

The active ingredient is Fipronil, which is considered a slow-acting poison and involves the or dog’s central nervous system. Therefore, I would never give an animal even a slightly larger dose than indicated.

4 lbs is 7.7 % of the weight of a 52 lb dog. and 7.1% of a 56 lb. dog. That is nothing to sneeze at.

Yes.

I think they purposely set the suggested dosage so that if you use it on a lighter dog it will not matter. I wouldn’t use it on a 6 pound chihuahua but 4 pounds is not going to make any difference. Two different scales could give you readings that far off easily.

Anyhow, @syz said so!

I wouldn’t do it. Unless the repellent for larger sized dogs is just more powder or spray or whatever it is you are using, but has the same percentage of chemicals. Then you can just use less and it is probably ok. My question is why is it by weight if it is topical? I guess the weight implies the overall size of the dog?

We twice put that sort of thing on my cat and I swear it almost died. We realized with the second application it was the repellent making him horrible sick. But, cats are different, they lick it all off.

If, as instructed, you place the tick med. between the shoulder blades or just above on the back of the cat’s neck, he cannot lick it off.

@gailcalled This was many years ago, I don’t know what my mom used. She put it on all three cats, and one of them became much sicker than the other two. He might have cleaned the other ones? Who knows. Or, he might have had an allergy and hadn’t actually licked it. We don’t know.

I would not try to put on more than half an ampoule. That way if too much comes out you won’t OD the dog. Half will not last the whole month but maybe he won’t be in flea infested areas all the time