Brand: AMITIK ® WP Cattle DIP & SPRAY

Company: COOPERS


FORMULATION: powder concentrate for dipping and spraying animals

ACTIVE INGREDIENT(S): Amitraz: 50% = 500 g/L

CHEMICAL CLASS of the active ingredient(s): Amidines


INDICATIONS: CATTLE (Beef & Dairy), SHEEP, GOATS & DEER


PARASITES CONTROLLED (spectrum of activity)


RECOMMENDED DOSE & USE INSTRUCTIONS

Initial dose: 500 g product and 10 kg lime stabilizer in 1000 L water, equivalent to 250 mg/L = ppm (parts per million).



PLUNGE DIPS STABILIZED  SPRAY RACES UNSTAB. SPRAY RACES
Stabilization always required. Stabilization required if unused wash is to be retained for later use. When all wash is to be used within 24 hours of initial charge.
INITIAL CHARGE 500 g product + 10 kg lime stabilizer in 1000 L water.

500 g product in 1000 L water. Do not add stabilizer.
MIXING Empty the contents of one pack stabilizer (10 kg) for 1000 L of water in dip or sump, taking care to distribute the stabilizer along the surface of the dip. No stabilizer required.
For each 100 L of water in dip or sump, empty 500 g product into a bucket containing water and stir into a smooth, creamy suspension. Pour into dip/sump, then rinse bucket adding rinsings to dip sump.
STIRRING

Use at least 20 cattle through the dip. Agitate vigorously with pump or manually with paddle.
It is essential that the dip/sump be stirred at the beginning of each day's dipping and again if there is a break of more than half an hour during dipping.
TOPPING UP When the level of the dip has fallen by 700 litres water, add t00 litres water and 500 g product plus 10 kg lime stabilizer. Mix and stir as above. It is not advisable to allow the dip to fall more than 700 L from its original level. Topping up not recommended. See reinforcement.

REINFORCEMENT Reinforcement not recommended. See Topping Up. Each time the level of the spray wash in the sump drops by 300 L add 100 g product and continue spraying. Do not add water. Do not add stabilizer. Continue spraying until no more wash can be pumped out. If spraying is to continue - recharge as before. When the wash is polluted, clean out the sump before recharging.
MANAGEMENT It is important that the product is used at the recommended concentration of 0.025% w/v (= 250 ppm). This will be achieved by charging and topping up/reinforcing as described above. If the level of wash is allowed to fall excessively without topping up/reinforcing, the concentration of the product will fall and its efficacy will be reduced.
During a period when regular dipping is not in progress, stabilizer must be added to the dip wash at intervals of no more than 2 months after the last topping up. Add one pack stabilizer (10 kg) per 1000 litres of dip wash and stir as before. If after spraying, unused spraywash is retained in the sump but not to be used during the next 7 days, add stabilizer at the rate of one complete pack (10 kg) per 2000 litres of spray wash in the sump and stir as before. Further additions of stabilizer must be made at intervals of 2 months when regular spraying is not in progress. IMPORTANT: Clean up the sump before starting each day's spraying. It is important that all spray wash remaining in the sump be pumped out before recharging if it has stood for more than 24 hours.
Note: Amitik stabilizer (10 kg) is available separately for this purpose.
SAMPLING Stir the dip/sump as described above before sampling. Sampling not required.
Take the sample from 1 metre below the surface at the jump-in end immediately after stirring. Take the sample from a nozzle on the race or form the sump after vigorous stirring.
Analysis of dip samples is available through Biosecurity Queensland, Chemical Residue Laboratory, Health and Food Sciences Precinct, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, QLD, 4108. Suitable sample bottles are obtainable from your local agent or company's representative.

 


SAFETY

  • LD50 (acute oral) in rats: for the a.i. 523-800 mg/kg (according to MSDS)
  • LD50 (acute dermal) in rats: for the a.i. >1600 mg/kg (according to MSDS)
  • Estimated hazard class according to the WHO: II, moderately hazardous

Suspected poisoning? Read the article on amitraz safety in this site.

Withholding periods (=withdrawal times) in days for meat & milk (country-specific differences may apply: read the product label)

  • Meat: AUS NIL (ESI NIL)
  • Milk for human consumption: AUS NIL.

WARNING !!!: Never use on humans, horses and other equines, dogs or cats. Amitraz is particularly toxic to horses, cats and Chihuahua dogs.

At a dosage close to the therapeutic one amitraz can show a sedative effect on cattle. After dipping or spraying cattle with amitraz it is typical that a few animals, especially young or weaker ones lay down or fall to the ground and remain sleepy for a certain time. Normally they recover spontaneously or they can be sprayed with abundant water (which washes away part of the product that should protect them...) to accelerate recovery.

You may be interested in the following articles in this site dealing with the general safety of veterinary products:


RESISTANCE PREVENTION

Risk of resistance? YES; there is reported resistance to amitraz for the cattle tick (Boophilus = Rhipicephalus microplus) in Australia and Latin America, and for the tropical cattle tick (= blue tick, Boophilus = Rhipicephalus decoloratus) in Southern Africa.

Interestingly, after the introduction of amitraz in the 1970's, it was not broadly used in many regions because soon it was largely replaced by synthetic pyrethroids that were as effective against ticks but controlled flies and other insects as well. As a consequence, field resistance of cattle ticks to amitraz spread rather slowly in many places or did not develop at all. In the meantime, resistance of ticks (and flies!) to synthetic pyrethroids has reached such levels, that amitraz has experienced a very strong revival in many countries during the last decade. As a consequence, resistance of cattle ticks to amitraz is now spreading rapidly. And there are also reports on multi-resistant tick populations, i.e. simultaneously resistant to amitraz and organophosphates or synthetic pyrethroids.

This means that if this product does not achieve the expected efficacy against cattle ticks, it may be due to resistance and not to incorrect use, which is usually the most frequent cause of product failure.

Alternative chemical classes/active ingredients to prevent resistance of external parasites through product rotation:

These alternative products may not be available in all countries, or may not be available for spraying, or may not be effective against all the concerned parasites.

Learn more about resistance and how it develops.


MARKETING

Are the active ingredients of this product ORIGINAL* or GENERICS**?

  • GENERICS

*Meaning that they are still patent protected and generics are not yet available
**Meaning that they have lost patent protection and may be acquired from manufacturers of generic active ingredients other than the holder of the original patent.

COUNTRIES where this brand/product is marketed: Australia (only QLD, NSW, VIC, NT).
GENERIC BRANDS available? YES. numerous. AMITIK is itself a brand with generic amitraz marketed by COOPERS in Australia.

Click here to learn more about GENERIC vs. ORIGINAL drugs.

For an overview on the most used antiparasitic spray, dip & dust BRANDS click here.


COMMENTS

Amitraz is an amidine introduced in the 1970s by Boots & Co. It was marketed under well- known brands such as TAKTIC and TRIATIX. Amitraz was the first amidine (also called formamidines) used against ticks on cattle and it followed the organochlorines and organophosphates that had been discovered in the 1950s-1960s.

Amitraz is highly effective against all kinds of ticks that affect livestock. Besides a killing effect, it also shows a rather characteristic tick detaching effect as well as a significant repellent effect. The result is that correct treatment of cattle or other livestock with amitraz usually results in an very satisfying control of ticks, and this with very modest product costs. Amitraz is also effective against some lice and mite species that affect livestock, but some manufacturers do not include such claims in their products, probably to save development costs.

However amitraz has several major disadvantages when compared with its major competitors, the synthetic pyrethroids, e.g.:

  • It is completely ineffective against biting flies (e.g. horn & buffalo flies, stable flies), which often need to be controlled together with the ticks.
  • It needs to be stabilized with lime (hydrated slaked lime) when used in plunge dips and in spray-races where the dip wash is not consumed within 24 hours. Otherwise within a few hours the amitraz in the wash is broken down to compounds that are ineffective against the parasites.
  • It strips, i.e. not only the volume of the dip or sump diminishes along the dipping or spraying processes, but also the concentration of a.i. in the remaining wash, which complicates the management of dips and spray races.

Due to these disadvantages products with synthetic pyrethroids largely replaced amitraz in the 1980s-1990s: They controlled biting flies, were stable in dips and spray races and most of them did not strip. Later on, much more convenient ready-to-use pour-ons (with synthetic pyrethroidsfluazuron and macrocyclic lactones) conquered the market for tick control. However, with the fast development of  cattle tick and buffalo fly resistance to synthetic pyrethroids amitraz has experienced a notorious revival worldwide. Where plunge dips or spray races remain operational and amitraz resistance is not yet a problem, products with amitraz are a valuable option for tick control on large cattle herds. In fact, in many places, amitraz products are nowadays the only products available for plunge dips and spray races that still work well against cattle ticks.

Topically applied, amitraz as well as organophosphates and synthetic pyrethroids are basically contact insecticides. This means that when the parasite comes in contact with the active ingredient that impregnates the host's hair coat, it penetrates through the cuticle (i.e. the "skin" of insects and other arthropods) into its organism, where it disturbs essential biological processes, in this case the nervous system.

After administration to livestock or other animals, amitraz does not have a systemic mode of action, i.e. it is not transmitted to the parasite through the blood of the host. Topically administered amitraz is poorly absorbed through the skin of the hosts, and what is absorbed is quickly broken down and/or excreted. Consequently the concentration reached in the blood is too low to kill the ticks. But this is also the reason for the low to NIL withholding periods for meat or milk. This is in contrast with fluazuron and macrocyclic lactones (e.g. doramectin, eprinomectin, ivermectin, moxidectin, etc.), which do have a systemic mode of action and reach the ticks mainly through the blood of the host.

For best results it is very important to ensure a complete coverage of the animals' hair coat. Depending on size and hair coat, adult cattle need 3 to up to 10 liters wash per head for complete wetting. To learn more about correctly dipping or spraying cattle and other livestock read the corresponding articles on dipping and spraying livestock in this site.


DISCLAIMER

This article IS NOT A PRODUCT LABEL. It offers complementary information that may be useful to veterinary professionals and users that are not familiar with veterinary antiparasitics. 

Information offered in this article has been extracted from publications issued by manufacturers, government agencies (e.g. EMEA, FDA, USDA, etc.) or in the scientific literature. No guarantee is given on its accuracy, integrity, sufficiency, actuality and opportunity, and any liability is denied. Read the site's DISCLAIMER.

In case of doubt contact the manufacturer or a veterinary professional.