Tick tablets for dogs: how long does each one last?
Bravecto's UK label gives the brown dog tick eight weeks, its US label twelve. What Simparica, Trio and the generics cover, from the labels.
A three-month tick tablet may not give three months against the tick your dog most likely has. For the brown dog tick, Bravecto's label in Britain claims less than its American label does. Which tablet suits your dog, and how often, is a vet's call.
Key Takeaways
- Two regulators accepted different claims for one tablet against the brown dog tick: eight weeks in Britain, twelve in the United States.
- Read the active ingredient, not the brand. Fluralaner now sells here under eight names at very different prices.
- Tell your vet if your dog has ever had a seizure. This drug family has been linked to tremors, unsteadiness and seizures in some dogs.
*This article is general information, not veterinary advice. If your pet is unwell, please see a vet.*
How long does each tablet last?
Here are the three chewable tablets on our shelf, taken from the labels their regulators publish rather than from the front of the box.
| Tablet | Active ingredient | Ticks and fleas | Also on the label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bravecto | Fluralaner | Fleas for twelve weeks. Ticks for twelve weeks, with one exception on each label: the brown dog tick is eight on the British label, the lone star tick is eight on the American one | Sarcoptic mange, demodex |
| Simparica | Sarolaner | At least five weeks | Sarcoptic mange, ear mites, demodex |
| Simparica Trio | Sarolaner with moxidectin and pyrantel | Five weeks for the brown dog tick, four for one other | Mange, demodex, roundworm, hookworm, heartworm |
Two things fall out of that. Bravecto is a longer tablet than either Simparica. How much longer against the tick that matters here depends on which label you read, and that is the next section. And the gap between Simparica and Simparica Trio has nothing to do with ticks. Both are five-week tablets. Trio adds worms.
Why the brown dog tick changes the answer
The tick on a dog in this part of India has a name. A veterinary university in Andhra Pradesh looked at 442 dogs brought in to state veterinary hospitals over a year, collected more than nine hundred ticks from them, and identified every single one as the brown dog tick. Not most of them. All of them.
Bravecto's label splits its claim by species, and for this tick two regulators accepted different claims for the same tablet. The label approved in Britain gives the brown dog tick eight weeks and the other ticks twelve. The label approved in the United States gives the brown dog tick twelve weeks and keeps its eight-week line for the lone star tick, which does not occur in India.
So which applies to a tablet bought here? The leaflet inside the pack sold in India, and we have not read it. Our own product page carries the American wording. Until the Indian leaflet has been read, the honest position is that the claim for this tick is eight weeks or twelve depending on the regulator.
None of which tells you when the next tablet is due. That interval is your vet's call. They know whether your dog is a street-walking Indie or a flat-dwelling Shih Tzu, and they can read the leaflet in the pack with you. Go in knowing that the clock may run shorter against this tick than the front of the box suggests.
Do these tablets stop a tick biting?
No, and both labels say so in the same words. A tick has to attach to your dog and start feeding before the drug reaches it at all. Finding a tick on a treated dog is not a sign the tablet failed.
It does mean a tick gets a window. Bravecto's label is candid about it: because the parasite has to start feeding first, the risk of it passing on an infection cannot be ruled out completely. Our older guide to tick treatment through the monsoon covers the checking and washing habits that cut down how many ticks reach your dog in the first place, which is the half of the job a tablet does not do.
What else is on the label?
More than most owners realise. Both Bravecto's label and Simparica's name sarcoptic mange and demodex, the mite behind one of the two kinds of mange. Simparica adds ear mites. If your vet has already put your dog on one of these tablets for a skin problem, the tick cover came with it, and a second tick product on top is money spent twice.
Simparica Trio is the one people buy by mistake. Its label says it is for a dog that needs the external and the internal cover at the same time. It is not a free upgrade for a dog that only has ticks.
Is my puppy old enough for one?
The labels do not agree, so read each as it is written. Bravecto's British label says it should not be used on puppies under eight weeks old or on dogs under two kilos, and its American label is stricter: six months of age and 4.4 pounds. Simparica's label draws its line at eight weeks and 1.3 kilos, and Simparica Trio's at eight weeks and 1.25 kilos. Below those lines the two Simparica labels do not forbid the tablet. They leave it to the vet to weigh benefit against risk.
Worth knowing if you have a toy breed. A dog that stays under two kilos as an adult sits below Bravecto's floor for life, and the answer for that dog is a different product rather than a smaller piece of this one. The tablets are not meant to be broken or divided.
Eight brands, one drug: what to read on the pack
Fluralaner is Bravecto's active ingredient, and it is no longer only Bravecto's. Our catalogue now holds it under eight brand names, among them Aventix from Intas, TikFle from Drools, Vetecto from Vivaldis, D Ecto from Sihil and Freedom FL Guard from Venkys.
For the tablet sized for a dog of four and a half to ten kilos, listed on our site on the day this was written, Veko Furaline is Rs 612 and Bravecto is Rs 1,650, with the Sihil, Venkys, Drools and Intas versions spread between them. Same active ingredient, same strength, same weight band, and the cheapest is a little over a third of the price of the dearest. Simparica is Rs 546 a tablet and Simparica Trio Rs 598.
These are prescription medicines where their labels were approved. The British labels for Bravecto and Simparica Trio each end with the words "Veterinary medicinal product subject to prescription", and the American Bravecto label says federal law there restricts the drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian. Here, Furaline's carton carries the Rx mark, so it is available with a prescription. Look for the same mark on the pack of whichever tablet you choose, and ask a vet which one suits your dog before you buy.
The honest limit on that: no published Indian work compares the generic fluralaner tablets with Bravecto over a full course, so nobody can tell you from evidence whether the cheap one holds its claim to the last week. What you can do is read the active ingredient and the strength on the pack, check the weight band against your dog, and ask your vet which brand they have seen hold up.
One more thing about browsing. Our tick and flea shelf runs to 192 products with shampoos, sprays, powders, spot-ons and tablets mixed into one list. If you are after a tablet, search the active ingredient rather than scrolling.
When to talk to a vet before you buy
All three tablets come from one drug family, the isoxazolines, and America's drug regulator has a fact sheet on it worth knowing about. The family has been linked to tremors, unsteadiness and seizures in some dogs and cats, and a seizure can happen in an animal with no history of one. Bravecto's label tells vets to use it with care in a dog that already has epilepsy.
Read that in proportion. The same regulator considers the family safe and effective for dogs and cats. What it asks for is a conversation: go through your dog's history with your vet before one of these is chosen, and mention any past seizure or fit even if it was years ago.
Two smaller cautions. A chewable tablet a dog takes willingly needs keeping where a child or a cat cannot reach it. And treating a dog that does not need it is not harmless. Bravecto's own label warns that treating for the sake of it pushes parasites towards resistance, which matters in a market where one drug is sold under eight labels and discounts are easy to find.
The research behind this
| Parasite | Weeks of killing activity claimed |
|---|---|
| Fleas on dogs, UK label | 12 |
| Ixodes ricinus, UK label | 12 |
| Brown dog tick, UK label | 8 |
| Brown dog tick, US label | 12 |
| Lone star tick, US label | 8 |
Population: Bravecto chewable tablets for dogs, on two labels. The first is the UK Summary of Product Characteristics published by the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which prints "DATE OF REVISION OF THE TEXT July 2025". Its wording is "immediate and persistent tick killing activity for 8 weeks for Rhipicephalus sanguineus", against 12 weeks for Ixodes ricinus, Dermacentor reticulatus and D. variabilis. A fifth line, "persistent tick killing activity from 7 days to 12 weeks after treatment for Ixodes hexagonus", is left off the chart because it is a range rather than a single figure, and because that tick is not an Indian one.
The second is the US label for Bravecto chewable tablets, published on DailyMed and revised June 2026. It lists "Rhipicephalus sanguineus (brown dog tick)" among the ticks it treats and controls "for 12 weeks in dogs and puppies 6 months of age and older, and weighing 4.4 pounds or greater", and adds that the product is "also indicated for the treatment and control of Amblyomma americanum (lone star tick) infestations for 8 weeks". So the same tablet carries eight weeks for the brown dog tick on one label and twelve on the other. We have not read the leaflet in the pack sold in India, which is the one that applies to a tablet bought here. These are label claims regulators accepted, not measurements from a trial.
On which tick is here: Jalajakshi and colleagues at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University sampled dogs presented to veterinary polyclinics and hospitals in Andhra Pradesh between July 2019 and June 2020, and report that "Of 442, 397 (89.81%) dogs were found to be infected with tick infestation and all ticks (n = 908) were identified as R. sanguineus s. l." (Veterinary Research Forum, 2023).
Three caveats on that figure. The dogs were selected because they already had ticks or signs of a tick-borne disease, so 89.81% is not a prevalence figure for dogs in general and should not be read as one. Andhra Pradesh is the neighbouring state, not this city. And no Telangana or Hyderabad study of tick species on dogs turned up in this search, so the species finding is the nearest evidence available rather than local evidence.
The Simparica figures come from the European Commission's published Summary of Product Characteristics, which gives "immediate and persistent tick killing activity for at least 5 weeks" and lists Rhipicephalus sanguineus among the four ticks it covers, along with separate indications for sarcoptic mange, ear mites and demodicosis. Its age and weight floor reads: "treatment of puppies less than 8 weeks of age and/or dogs less than 1.3 kg bodyweight should be based on a benefit-risk assessment by the responsible veterinarian". Bravecto's British line is firmer: "the veterinary medicinal product should not be used on puppies less than 8 weeks old and /or dogs weighing less than 2 kg". The Simparica Trio label, whose text was revised in August 2025, claims five weeks against Rhipicephalus sanguineus and four against Dermacentor reticulatus, and puts its line at 1.25 kilos.
On safety, the FDA's fact sheet on the isoxazoline class names Bravecto, NexGard, Simparica and eight other branded products, and states: "Although most dogs and cats haven't had neurologic adverse reactions, seizures may occur in animals without a prior history". The same sheet records the regulator's overall position, that "The FDA considers products in the isoxazoline class to be safe and effective for dogs and cats". The Merck Veterinary Manual's page on ectoparasiticides sets the outer bounds for the whole class at "4-12 weeks of insecticide and acaricide activity", which is the reason to be sceptical of any pack claiming more. Its page on isoxazoline toxicosis covers accidental poisoning by this drug family, which is the reason for the advice to store the tablets out of reach.
What this article cannot tell you, and nobody else can either: which of these three tablets is better. No trial ranks them against each other, and the labels are not written to be compared. The generics have no published Indian data at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which tick tablet is best for my dog?
No evidence ranks them, so anyone who tells you is guessing. What differs between them is how many weeks each claims, what else it covers, and the floor for age and weight. Take those three differences to your vet with your dog's history.
Is TikFle or D Ecto the same thing as Bravecto?
They carry the same active ingredient, fluralaner, at the same strength for the same weight band, so on paper they are the same tablet. No published Indian study compares how they hold up over a full course, which is the part the price difference leaves unanswered.
Does Simparica really last a whole month?
Its label claims at least five weeks of tick and flea killing, which is a little more than a month. "Lasts all month" on the front of the pack is the shorter version of the same claim. When the next one is due is a question for your vet, not for the box.
Can I give my dog's tick tablet to my cat?
No. All three of these tablets are labelled for dogs only. Cats have their own products, including a fluralaner spot-on, and our guide to flea treatment for cats explains why a dog product on a cat is a serious risk rather than a saving.
अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले सवाल
तीन महीने वाली टिक टैबलेट सच में तीन महीने चलती है?
हर टिक के लिए नहीं, और यह इस पर भी निर्भर है कि लेबल किस देश का है। Bravecto के ब्रिटेन वाले लेबल पर brown dog tick के लिए आठ हफ्ते लिखा है, अमेरिका वाले लेबल पर बारह। दक्षिण भारत के कुत्तों पर यही टिक मिलती है। भारत में बिकने वाले पैक के अंदर का पर्चा हमने नहीं पढ़ा है, इसलिए अगली टैबलेट कब देनी है, यह आपका वेट तय करेगा, डिब्बे का नंबर नहीं।
सस्ती फ्लूरालेनर टैबलेट और Bravecto में क्या फर्क है?
पैक पर active ingredient और strength एक ही है, और वजन की रेंज भी वही। फर्क सिर्फ ब्रांड और कीमत का दिखता है। लेकिन भारत में इनकी तुलना पर कोई रिसर्च छपी नहीं है, इसलिए पूरा कोर्स कौन बेहतर निभाता है, यह कोई सबूत से नहीं बता सकता।
टैबलेट देने के बाद भी कुत्ते पर टिक दिख रही है, दवा खराब है?
ज़रूरी नहीं। दोनों लेबल साफ कहते हैं कि टिक को पहले कुत्ते से चिपककर खून पीना पड़ता है, तभी दवा उस तक पहुंचती है। इसलिए टैबलेट चलने के बाद भी टिक दिख सकती है। अगर कुत्ता सुस्त है, खाना छोड़ रहा है या मसूड़े सफेद लग रहे हैं, तो उसी दिन वेट को दिखाएं।
Sources
- Bravecto 250 mg chewable tablets for small dogs (>4.5 - 10 kg): Summary of the Product Characteristics, UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Product Information Database, date of revision of the text July 2025
- Bravecto (fluralaner) chewable tablets for dogs: US label, Merck Sharp & Dohme, on DailyMed, US National Library of Medicine, revised June 2026
- Simparica chewable tablets for dogs: Annex I, Summary of Product Characteristics, European Commission, Union Register of veterinary medicinal products, 2023
- Simparica Trio chewable tablets for dogs >10-20 kg: Summary of Product Characteristics, UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Product Information Database, date of revision of the text August 2025
- Fact Sheet for Pet Owners and Veterinarians about Potential Adverse Events Associated with Isoxazoline Flea and Tick Products, US Food and Drug Administration
- Ectoparasiticides Used in Small Animals, Merck Veterinary Manual, revised April 2024
- Isoxazoline Toxicosis in Animals, Merck Veterinary Manual, revised September 2024
- Co-infections of major tick-borne pathogens of dogs in Andhra Pradesh, South India, Jalajakshi, Sreedevi, Rayulu, Nalini Kumari and Rani Prameela, Veterinary Research Forum, 2023, on PubMed Central
*This article is general information, not veterinary advice. If your pet is unwell, please see a vet.*
Prices are current as of October 2026 and do change. The figure on each product page is the live one.
