Advantage - dog dies

MaeveD

I just heard today that my friends 8 month old boxer died after he used Advantage flea treatment. Her neck was hot shortly after he treated her, and she looked sick so he brought her to the vet, but she died later that night having a seizure.

He said he's looked on the net and hundreds of dogs have died after using it, has anyone here heard of a dog having a bad reaction before?

golden

Boxers have known to have seizures could be a number of factors that triggered the seizure, either way sorry to hear for the loss of the boxer.

Luxy

I've heard this before, it's shocking.
I'm very sorry for your friend too.

Another thing to remember;

If you treat a dog with a spot-on treatment, keep it well away from cats! Apparently the ingredients in spot-ons for dogs are lethal to cats, even the slightest contact with them will result in seizures & eventual death. They actually put this warning on lots of the spot-on treatments, but its really not made clear enough in my opinion.

I don't think these treatments should even be on sale. The reactions different animals might have are just not worth the risk.

peasant

We have three dogs and three cats, neither of them has ever been treated with any anti flea or anti tick product.
Neither of them has ever had fleas either, even though they all spend considerable time outside and we aren't particularly "anal" about cleaning the house and/or washing and bathing the animals.

The dogs do bring in the occasional tick, (usually only when there is cattle in the neighbouring field) but most of those are detected before they even bite (quick visual check combined with a belly rub every evening does that) and the few that manage to settle have all been found and removed very quickly.

One thing to keep in mind is that all those remedies are poisons in one shape or form and they do have side effects. Avoid using them if there are other options available, certainly don't just apply them unthinkingly.

PinkTulips

ticks are incredibly easy t remove, every cat i've had has actually enjoyed having a good rub down while i search for them and remove them.

and fleas are easily treated in the early stages, and are surpirsingly rare anyway, have had dozens of cats over the yars... only one has had fleas and was easily treated.

all these products are pecticides, toxic chemicals designed to kill the parasites, keep that in mind when using them.

i'm so sorry for your friends loss

Munster Gal

Luxy wrote: »

I don't think these treatments should even be on sale. The reactions different animals might have are just not worth the risk.

By that logic alot of medicines, both animal and human, should not be on sale - penicillin for example.

I've worked with vets for the past 13 years and have never come across a death from a spot-on treatment. Occasionally a dog has come in with an adverse reaction because the owner applied it in a place the dog could lick and therefore ingest it. I use spot-ons on my own animals and have done for years to no ill effect.

My sympathies go out to the dog's owner and family.

Luxy

Munster Gal wrote: »

By that logic alot of medicines, both animal and human, should not be on sale - penicillin for example.

My uncle's actually a vet in Cork too. We usually contact him first for advice when we intend to treat our pets for anything. He has told us time & again that he would not recommend spot-on treatments. He himself has seen deaths of animals as a direct result of their use.

You can suggest that penicillin shouldn't be sold either if you think about it in the same light. But you need to admit, penicillin not only has a lot more known about it & its effects than these relatively recent spot-on treatments, it is also far more closely monitored than spot-ons - which are simply sold over the counter. Penicillin is prescribed by doctors who will usually have prior knowledge about a patient's potential allergies before the prescribe it. Very few vets will check if your pet has an allergy to spot-on treatments before you use them. So even if these deaths are simply the result of an allergy, most people never know until it's too late.

My point is that such a medication should not be freely available, especially without far clearer & more stringent warnings given about the possible side effects. I think if it has to be used at all, it should be under the strict supervision of a vet, who will be able to advise the owner of what to do in the possible event of an bad reaction in their pet.

comongethappy

I've read about deaths due to the spot ons as well. I tried them on my cats and found that they didn't work against the fleas anyhow. Now I use 4fleas Protector, which contains Pyriproxyfen. It doesn't kill adult flea, rather it's a chemical that kind of acts like a flea birth control. It stops flea eggs from devolping, so you stop it's life cycle. Any adult fleas on your pet you can get rid of with a flea comb or give a 4 fleas tablet which kills the adults but only lasts for a day or so and is made to be ingested.

They don't seem to sell them here, but they have the up North in some pet shops or you can order them online from the UK. Before that I used to order Program from the states (active ingredient Lufenuron, with same effect as 4 fleas spot on). It had the lowest side effects and from what I read didn't seem to have any deaths linked to it.

ISDW

Luxy wrote: »

You can suggest that penicillin shouldn't be sold either if you think about it in the same light. But you need to admit, penicillin not only has a lot more known about it & its effects than these relatively recent spot-on treatments, it is also far more closely monitored than spot-ons - which are simply sold over the counter. Penicillin is prescribed by doctors who will usually have prior knowledge about a patient's potential allergies before the prescribe it. Very few vets will check if your pet has an allergy to spot-on treatments before you use them. So even if these deaths are simply the result of an allergy, most people never know until it's too late.

I didn't think that the spot ons were sold over the counter, that you could only get them from a vet, or if you have a prescription from a vet then you can get them on line?

Sorry about your friend's loss, it must be so hard to cope with, knowing it could easily have been avoided.

Luxy

ISDW wrote: »

I didn't think that the spot ons were sold over the counter, that you could only get them from a vet, or if you have a prescription from a vet then you can get them on line?

You can buy them in various places without prescription, just look at eBay for an example.

Alun

comongethappy wrote: »

Before that I used to order Program from the states (active ingredient Lufenuron, with same effect as 4 fleas spot on). It had the lowest side effects and from what I read didn't seem to have any deaths linked to it.

We used to use Program in the Netherlands too before we moved here, but it doesn't seem to be available here.

comongethappy

Hi Alun,

I recommend getting 4 fleas protector. It does the same thing as Program, but it's a spot on that lasts for 3 months (a lot cheaper too than ordering it from the states!)

They sell them on http://www.petconnection.ie/acatalog/copy_of_Flea_Treatments.html , or you can visit the shop in Newry. Here's a link to Johnson's for further details on the product: http://www.jvp.co.uk/catsdogs_4fleas.php

ISDW

Luxy wrote: »

You can buy them in various places without prescription, just look at eBay for an example.

You need to be very careful buying things like this on eBay, the product isn't always the real thing and you don't know what you're putting on your animals.

Munster Gal

ISDW wrote: »

You need to be very careful buying things like this on eBay, the product isn't always the real thing and you don't know what you're putting on your animals.

It's also illegal to buy prescription only items from abroad even if you supply a prescription.

Munster Gal

Luxy wrote: »

My point is that such a medication should not be freely available, especially without far clearer & more stringent warnings given about the possible side effects. I think if it has to be used at all, it should be under the strict supervision of a vet, who will be able to advise the owner of what to do in the possible event of an bad reaction in their pet.

But this is exactly what happens in practice. Advantage, Advocate & Stronghold - the most popular ones are prescription only and can only be prescribed to animals directly under the vet's care. The owners are advised on their proper use and first time users are warned to look out for adverse reactions. There's information given with the product also. You'll get the odd dog who'll have a slight skin irritation and they're then advised not to use it again.

I reckon that the practices where I've worked must have sold thousands of spot-ons and I've never yet prepared an ADR to report a death directly due to them. The place where I currently work only stocks 2 spot-ons along with alternative flea controls.