Toxicology of newer pesticides for use in dogs and cats.

The past 10 years have witnessed the development of several new insecticides that have been specifically designed to exploit physiologic differences between insects and mammals. This has resulted in products that seem to have a wide margin of safety when used in dogs and cats. Compared with the more acutely toxic organophosphorous, carbamate, and heavy metal insecticides as well as with the environmental problems of bioaccumulation associated with some of the organochlorine insecticides, these newer insecticides such as fipronil, imidacloprid, selamectin, lufenuron, and nitenpyram seem to alleviate these known problems while still providing satisfactory insecticidal activity.