The molecules that kill ticks on dogs have been approved in India for longer than most product pages suggest. Fluralaner reached the Indian veterinary register in 2017, sarolaner and afoxolaner in 2019, and selamectin and two medicated collars well before that. This is what the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation's own register says, which is a different thing from what a shop shelf says.
Types of tick medicine for dogs
Tick and flea products fall into a few groups, and the group matters more than the brand.
The Tropical Council for Companion Animal Parasites (TroCCAP) describes the practical split: topical products such as fipronil and imidacloprid, and oral treatments such as spinosad and the isoxazolines. Collars are a third route, and India's register records approvals for them going back to 1997.
The isoxazolines are the family behind the chewable tablets. Fluralaner, sarolaner, and afoxolaner all belong to it, and all three reached India's register between 2017 and 2019.
One habit is worth building: read the active ingredient on the pack rather than the brand on the front. Brands change, get rebranded, and vary by city. The molecule is what your vet is actually prescribing.
What is on India's register, and since when
India's drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), publishes its veterinary marketing authorisation data. Going through it for tick and flea products for dogs gives the following.
On the register, with the date of approval, and with fipronil combinations arriving in 2016 and 2018. Some entries cover cats as well as dogs, and the register says so where they do:
- Propoxur with flumethrin, as a collar, 3 February 1997, for protection and control of ticks and fleas on dogs
- Imidacloprid cutaneous solution, 23 March 2001, for prevention and treatment of flea infestation on dogs
- Selamectin topical solution, 14 January 2009, covering flea infestations, flea allergy dermatitis, heartworm prevention, ear mites, sarcoptic mange, roundworms, and control of tick infestations in dogs
- Imidacloprid with moxidectin, 3 October 2009 and again as a spot on in 2011, for fleas, heartworm prevention, ear mites, and gastrointestinal nematodes
- A deltamethrin 4 percent collar, 25 August 2011
- Fipronil with S-methoprene as a spot on, 13 April 2016, for fleas alone or with ticks, and biting lice, in cats and dogs
- Fluralaner chewable tablets, 30 May 2017, permission IMP-ND 37/2017, for the treatment of tick and flea infestations of dogs for 12 weeks
- Fipronil spot on, 25 January 2018, for flea and tick infestation in cats and dogs
- Fipronil with permethrin as a spot on, 20 February 2018, for fleas and ticks where repellent activity against sand flies or mosquitoes is wanted
- Sarolaner chewable tablets, 25 February 2019, permission IMP-22/2019
- Afoxolaner chewable tablets, 7 August 2019, permission IMP-104/2019
A limit on that list, stated rather than buried: the copy of the register read for this article runs out at August 2020, although the document covers a longer span. It can show that a molecule is approved and when. It cannot show that a molecule is absent from the Indian register, and nothing here should be read that way.
What a product is approved to cover, and for how long
The register records what each product is approved to do, and the details are more specific than the marketing.
Two examples are worth knowing.
Imidacloprid with moxidectin has two entries on the register, from 2009 and 2011. The 2009 indication names fleas, heartworm prevention, and gastrointestinal nematodes, and the 2011 one adds ear mites. Ticks appear in neither. It is a product doing a real job, and that job does not include ticks.
The deltamethrin collar carries different durations for different parasites in the same product: control of tick infestations for 6 months, prevention of flea infestations for 4 months, an anti-feeding effect on sand flies for 5 to 6 months, and on mosquitoes for 6 months. A collar described as a six month collar is a six month collar for ticks and a four month collar for fleas.
So the useful question at the counter isn't whether a product is good. It's what it is approved to cover, and for how long.
Recommended is not approved
CDSCO's Subject Expert Committee for veterinary products met on 15 December 2025. Its record shows the committee recommended grant of import and marketing for afoxolaner chewable tablets at 11.3, 28.3, 68, and 136 mg, and for a combination of afoxolaner with milbemycin oxime. Those milligram figures are tablet strengths, and which one a dog needs is set by its weight, which is your vet's call rather than a shelf decision.
A fluralaner injection for dogs appears in the same record at a different stage. The minute says the proposal for import and marketing of a 150 mg per ml injectable suspension "was deliberated in the meeting" and that the firm presented field trial data from Europe and Australia. No recommendation for it is recorded there.
A committee recommendation is a step towards approval and is not approval. A proposal that was deliberated is a step behind even that. Anyone telling you an injectable fluralaner is available in India is ahead of what the record shows.
The cat warning
TroCCAP states that highly concentrated synthetic pyrethroids, with the exception of flumethrin, and amidines are toxic for cats.
The Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) states the practical version of the same rule without needing the chemistry: acaricides must be used only in the species they are approved for, dog products should not be given to cats, and cat products should not be given to dogs.
So the question to ask about any product is which species it is licensed for, and to ask it out loud if there is a cat in the house. Ask your vet which of the molecules listed above fall into the groups TroCCAP names, because the register records the molecule and not its chemical family.
Tell your vet you have a cat. It changes what should be on the dog.
Why this is a year round purchase
Every guideline consulted for this article says the same thing, and it cuts against how these products are actually bought in India.
TroCCAP: dogs and cats living in the tropics should be protected from ectoparasite infestations throughout the year. CAPC: all dogs should be treated year round and throughout their life. CAPC then names the failure mode directly, saying that reactive or attempted seasonal use of tick control products allows home infestations to establish and permits transmission of disease agents, because products are often not applied until tick activity has commenced.
There's a reason specific to the tick most Indian dogs meet. The brown dog tick lives indoors, and TroCCAP notes it can complete more than one generation a year in tropical conditions. Its numbers aren't governed by the season outside.
When the dog is treated and ticks keep appearing
The reservoir may not be the dog, and CAPC says so plainly.
Ticks are sometimes found on pets even when acaricides are being given routinely, and CAPC's explanation is that this apparent failure in tick control is usually due to heavy burdens of ticks in the environment producing high re-infestation rates. Its answer is additional measures including environmental treatment, particularly where homes are infested with brown dog ticks.
CAPC also notes that an established home infestation may take several months to bring under control, and that beyond treating the pet consistently, a licensed exterminator is needed to clear the building. TroCCAP makes the same point for high tick levels in places like animal shelters, where environmental treatment with proper acaricides may be necessary.
So a product that looks like it is failing may be working on a dog that keeps walking back into the source. More on that in ticks on dogs in India.
For the ticks already attached today, no product replaces taking them off, and the method is in how to remove a tick from a dog. Most of these molecules cover fleas as well as ticks, and the flea half of the problem behaves very differently, which is set out in fleas on dogs.
Frequently asked questions
Are the chewable tablets available in India?
Fluralaner chewable tablets were approved on 30 May 2017 under permission IMP-ND 37/2017, sarolaner chewable tablets on 25 February 2019, and afoxolaner chewable tablets on 7 August 2019, all on CDSCO's veterinary register for dogs. Availability at a particular clinic or shop is a separate question from regulatory approval, and your vet is the person to ask.
Which is better, a collar, a spot on, or a tablet?
The register doesn't rank them and neither will we. It records what each is approved to cover and for how long, which is the comparison worth making with your vet. A collar approved for 6 months against ticks and 4 against fleas is a different proposition from a tablet approved for 12 weeks against both.
Can I use my dog's tick product on my cat?
Not unless it is licensed for cats. CAPC's rule is that acaricides must be used only in the species they are approved for, and that dog products should not be given to cats. TroCCAP adds that highly concentrated synthetic pyrethroids other than flumethrin, and amidines, are toxic for cats.
What does a tick product cost in India?
Prices vary by city, pack size, and dog weight, and the sources this article is built on are regulatory records rather than price lists. Your vet or a licensed pharmacy will give you a current figure for the specific product and your dog's weight.
Sources
- Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. Veterinary marketing authorisation data, drug data 1969 onward: https://www.cdsco.gov.in/opencms/export/sites/CDSCO_WEB/Pdf-documents/Veterinary-Data-Uploded-Website.pdf
- Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. Recommendations of the SEC (Veterinary) made in its 12th/25 meeting held on 15.12.2025 at CDSCO HQ New Delhi: https://cdsco.gov.in/opencms/resources/UploadCDSCOWeb/2018/UploadCommitteeFiles/Recommendations%20Veterinary%20(1).pdf
- Tropical Council for Companion Animal Parasites. Guidelines for the control of ectoparasites of dogs and cats in the tropics, first edition, 1 January 2022: https://www.troccap.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/TroCCAP-Canine-Feline-Ecto-Guidelines-English-v1.pdf
- Companion Animal Parasite Council. Ticks (dog), guideline last updated 30 March 2023: https://capcvet.org/guidelines/ticks/
