How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be?

Question

We treat our house rabbits with Revolution flea and tick treatment the directions say to reapply every 30 days.

Life happens and sometime exactly 30 days just does not work, If you use "monthly" as your target the duration can vary between 28 and 31 days, plus or minus a couple of days for life events.

How accurate does the 30 day span when applying revolution flea treatment need to be?

NOTE While Revolution is not labeled for use on Rabbits it is One of the only products that should be used on them, answers specific to cats and/or dogs are acceptable on this question.

Answer 1

The term "monthly" is often used for frequency because it's not entirely precise, it's basically something to be done every 4-5 weeks, especially since fleas can live a very long time away from a host. If you have some sense that you may be a few days late, you could consider doing it a bit earlier (a day or two at most) just to ensure that the coverage is continuous. Having said that, it's not going to be 30 days and bang, no protection, it will fade and quickly become more and more ineffective over the following days.

tl;dr - I would try to keep around the 30 day mark as much as possible, you will maximize effectiveness, but a day or two late isn't going to be a disaster.

Further reading on Selamectin (Revolution is the trade name) and it's effects and efficacy can be found in this Freedom of Information summary that summarizes quite a few experiments conducted on the treatment.