Guideline 9 of the International Cooperation on Harmonization
of Technical Requirements for Registration of
Veterinary Medicinal Products, and was in compliance with
local Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee requirements
and International laws and ethics.
All dogs were healthy, purpose-bred laboratory Beagles,
terrier cross, or mongrels (9 months to 11 years old and
weighing between 6.2 and 22.6 kg), and were each uniquely
identified with an ear tattoo. None of the dogs had been
treated with an ectoparasiticide within three months of
study initiation. All studies followed the same controlled,
blinded, and randomized design, and the main study activities
are listed in Table 1. All dogs were confirmed to be
healthy and free of abnormalities at the treatment application
sites by a veterinary examination prior to allocation.
Dogs were penned individually and observed hourly for the
first 4 h after treatment for any health changes, as well as
daily, thereafter, throughout each study. A pre-treatment
infestation was conducted in two to four dogs in excess
of the number of animals required for individual studies
in order to assess each dog’s capacity to retain ticks.
Dogs having the lowest pre-treatment parasite counts were
eliminated from each study prior to allocation. Ticks for
all studies were unfed adults from laboratory-maintained
populations.