OT: Bravecto flea/ tick treatment

[Veloo]

Quite a few dog owners here so I'm wondering if any of you have used a new flea & tick treatment on the market called Bravecto.
This is both an inquiry and a heads up.

We were prescribed this back in May. Our vet said one application is good for up to 3 months. It's taken orally. We've been on Revolution for years but that doesn't treat ticks which is supposedly increasing in numbers in Ontario.

I didn't like the idea of it lingering in our dog for that long so I kept it for a few days and tried to find some feedback online. I didn't see anything and on the day I was about to give it to our guy, I found a Reddit thread which led me to a Facebook group. Title of the group sounds a bit alarmist but having followed them since the end of May, I AM alarmed.
Dogs getting violently ill and even dying. Some will call it anecdotal but with the number of incidents you'd think it would be drawing more attention than it seems to be getting from the veterinary community.
That's what isn't quite adding up for me. Our vet clinic claims no ill side effects since selling it for a year now.

Here's the group I've been following. Others have surfaced too for different geographies.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/411371212394679/

Anyone in our group using this at all?

[djg21]

Quite a few dog owners here so I'm wondering if any of you have used a new flea & tick treatment on the market called Bravecto.
This is both an inquiry and a heads up.

We were prescribed this back in May. Our vet said one application is good for up to 3 months. It's taken orally. We've been on Revolution for years but that doesn't treat ticks which is supposedly increasing in numbers in Ontario.

I didn't like the idea of it lingering in our dog for that long so I kept it for a few days and tried to find some feedback online. I didn't see anything and on the day I was about to give it to our guy, I found a Reddit thread which led me to a Facebook group. Title of the group sounds a bit alarmist but having followed them since the end of May, I AM alarmed.
Dogs getting violently ill and even dying. Some will call it anecdotal but with the number of incidents you'd think it would be drawing more attention than it seems to be getting from the veterinary community.
That's what isn't quite adding up for me. Our vet clinic claims no ill side effects since selling it for a year now.

Here's the group I've been following. Others have surfaced too for different geographies.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/411371212394679/

Anyone in our group using this at all?


My vet, who is my father, recommends Frontline topical for dogs, and Advantage for cats. I'm not crazy about putting chemicals on my dogs, but ticks are a real problem where I am, and not using tick prevention is too risky. My dogs all receive Lyme disease inoculations, and I use Frontline year round.

Deer ticks are not killed by frost and can be active if the temperature is above freezing. If your dogs are mostly inside in the winter and not in areas where you would find ticks, maybe it's less of a risk and you can stop Frontline for a bit. My dogs are often in the woods with me in the winter, where there is leaf litter (when no snow cover) and a lot of ticks. I use Frontline year round.

I also carry a sticky-tape lint roller in my car, and use it to roll the coats of my dogs after they are in the woods. Ticks like to crawl up the dog's body toward the animal's head. You can often find them on the dog's fur as they are migrating and before they anchor.

[Louis]

We've been on Revolution for years but that doesn't treat ticks which is supposedly increasing in numbers in Ontario.

Frontline kills fleas and ticks and works well. IMO topical is less scary than oral.

http://www.frontline.com/Pages/default.aspx

[unterhausen]

one of our dogs keeps getting ticks in the back yard. Have no idea where.

[bismo37]

Like the anti-vaccine movement, there are a lot of scare groups popping up for just about any major flea/tick control product out there. I'm not convinced that most of those stories are grounded in true causation. "Correlation does not imply causation", etc...

http://www.snopes.com/bravecto-flea-and-tick-warning/

Disclosure: I'm a vet. My dogs are on Bravecto for the past year. For now, I trust the product. Like an medication out there, I take a cautious approach between what the drug maker tells me and what my patients and pet owners tell me. So far, no issues with Bravecto or Nexgard.

[bismo37]

Also, it lasts 3 months not be cause it is some mega-dose of drugs; it stays around that long because it sticks to circulating proteins which help prevent it from being excreted right away. These proteins are what carry hormones, chemical messengers, around the body. So this medication just hitchhikes around until eventually it gets excreted in the poop over the 3 month course.

It does not require kidney nor liver metabolism to activate it or to get rid of it. In that sense, it is considered relatively safe for pets with kidney or liver conditions.

[goonster]

Frontline topical for dogs

This.

[Louis]

Slight thread drift:

I sometimes come back in from clearing brush and weeds outside covered with deer ticks (the teeny, weeny ones which are nearly impossible to find and manage to crawl into all sorts of unmentionable places).

I wish they hadn't stopped the development of the Lyme disease vaccine for humans...

[Hilltopperny]

I live out in the middle of nowhere and started my dogs on bravecto last month. They are bulldogges and my female would always lose her hair when topical solutions like frontline were applied. I split one of the chewables in half and within a day my dogs were flea and tick free. I'll find a wood tick or two on the surface of their coats once in a while, but they are not attached or biting. The stuff works great.

[commonguy001]

My two schnauzers are on their second round of Bravecto with no issues. Frontline always worked ok too but our vet recommended this one and it appears to work. We camp 40+ nights a year and the dogs spend a good amount of time where there are ticks and neither dog had any issues.

There was another topical a number of years back we tried that really hit the older dog hard (not Frontline but I don't remember the brand) so we are pretty tuned in to how they behave when something's not right.

[tele]

We have used NexGard for over a year with out mutt with good results. 1 pill orally monthly. We find some ticks on him but they are dead. He is my trail dog so he is in the woods multiple days a week and here in New England there are ticks everywhere. I like that we don't have to add anything topically: he hated the liquid and we got nervous with our kids playing with him and some of the liquid affecting them somehow.

[dave thompson]

Each year we bring our dogs down with us for the 6 months we live in Mexico. Fleas and ticks are a major problem here. Our dogs have been on Bravecto for two seasons down here, no issues whatsoever plus no fleas or ticks.

[tumbler]

Like the anti-vaccine movement, there are a lot of scare groups popping up for just about any major flea/tick control product out there. I'm not convinced that most of those stories are grounded in true causation. "Correlation does not imply causation", etc...

http://www.snopes.com/bravecto-flea-and-tick-warning/

Disclosure: I'm a vet. My dogs are on Bravecto for the past year. For now, I trust the product. Like an medication out there, I take a cautious approach between what the drug maker tells me and what my patients and pet owners tell me. So far, no issues with Bravecto or Nexgard.

I'd go with this ^^^.

[bpm]

Ticks are a big problem in my area as is Lyme disease. I was using the K9 Advantix on my dog (topical application once per month) and switched to the Seresto collar 3 months ago. The collar stays on full time and provides (according to the specs) up to 8 months of protection. I like it much better than the Advantix and so far so good. I haven't found any ticks on him and he spends a lot of time outdoors with me and my kids. He's also vaccinated for Lyme.

[eippo1]

Slight thread drift:

I wish they hadn't stopped the development of the Lyme disease vaccine for humans...

I actually got in during the first round of vaccinations. Was a bit of a rough week after the first shot, but was fine for the booster rounds. Had a few ticks since then and no issues at all.

Got our dog vaccinated as well, but that was more because finding a tick on her is almost impossible and the ehrlichia, mange, & anaplamosis that she had when we rescued her wiped out her immune system. That said, we also were a bit hesitant with something hitching a ride in her system for a while and so opted with staying with Advantix. Works fine with her and we just up the timing during the summer when she swims.

P.S. A dog thread with no pics?! For shame...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c271/eippo1/IMG_20161122_004751_zps3pdqlg2d.jpg?t=1479749695

[tele]

https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5637/30830916296_2d5dbe42f4_c.jpg

[bpm]

Scotty.

[FlashUNC]

We've got our dog on a monthly Comfortis dose. Not as long-term as Bravecto, and the pill does knock her on her butt when we give her the dose, but we've found it works fine if we give it to her as a treat before bed and she's just out like a light through the evening.