Pet Safety / Compounds / Sulfoxaflor

Is Sulfoxaflor safe for dogs and cats?

Low risk for pets

Not used in veterinary products; environmental contact from agricultural and urban ornamental applications. Low acute mammalian toxicity; no specific dog health concerns at typical environmental exposures.

What is sulfoxaflor?

The IUPAC name is [methyl-oxo-[1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl]-lambda6-sulfanylidene]cyanamide.

Also known as: [methyl-oxo-[1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl]-lambda6-sulfanylidene]cyanamide, Transform, XDE-208, 671W88OY8K.

IUPAC name
[methyl-oxo-[1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl]-lambda6-sulfanylidene]cyanamide
CAS number
946578-00-3
Molecular formula
C10H10F3N3OS
Molecular weight
277.27 g/mol
SMILES
CC(C1=CN=C(C=C1)C(F)(F)F)S(=NC#N)(=O)C
PubChem CID
16723172

Risk for dogs

Low risk

Not used in veterinary products; environmental contact from agricultural and urban ornamental applications. Low acute mammalian toxicity; no specific dog health concerns at typical environmental exposures.

Risk for cats

Low risk

Same low mammalian toxicity; no cat-specific sensitivity. No clinical toxicity concerns at typical environmental residue levels.

Regulatory consensus

2 regulatory and scientific bodies have classified Sulfoxaflor. The classifications differ — that's the data.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
US EPA—Toxicity Category IIILow acute mammalian toxicity based on oral LD50 rat ~1,000 mg/kg
IRAC—Group 4CSulfoximine insecticide class

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where pets encounter sulfoxaflor

  • Industrial Facilities — Manufacturing plants, Chemical storage areas, Waste treatment sites
  • Occupational Environments — Factories, Warehouses, Transportation vehicles

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Sulfoxaflor:

  • Physical/mechanical pest control (IPM)
    Trade-offs: More labor-intensive. May not be sufficient for severe infestations.
    Relative cost: 1.2-2×

Frequently asked questions

Is sulfoxaflor safe for pets?

Not used in veterinary products; environmental contact from agricultural and urban ornamental applications. Low acute mammalian toxicity; no specific dog health concerns at typical environmental exposures.

What products contain sulfoxaflor?

Sulfoxaflor appears in: Manufacturing plants (Industrial facilities); Chemical storage areas (Industrial facilities); Factories (Occupational environments); Warehouses (Occupational environments).

See Sulfoxaflor in the pets app

Look up products containing sulfoxaflor, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in pets View raw API data

Sources (2)
  1. US EPA: Sulfoxaflor Registration Decision — sulfoximine class (IRAC 4C); nAChR mechanism; Ninth Circuit vacatur 2015 (Pollinator Stewardship Council v. EPA); re-registration with pollinator protection label restrictions; bloom application prohibitions; bee toxicity data requirements (2016) (2016) — regulatory
  2. US EPA: Neonicotinoid Registration Review — imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, dinotefuran; bee risk assessment; sublethal effects; colony-level modeling; pollinator exposure through pollen and nectar; aquatic invertebrate toxicity; registration review decision (2020) (2020) — regulatory

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →