Anyone that uses Trifexis might want to read this. A lady on my EPI group posted about this after she lost her dog

https://www.facebook.com/TrifexisKillsDogs?fref=ts

I guess it was a matter of time before we started seeing some bad things happen. Every med has issues, and all of these meds are getting more and more toxic as we are trying to have them kill everything but the dog.

Here is the companion site I guess: https://www.facebook.com/InMemoryofPeaches?fref=ts

Like when Rimadyl first hit, it's hard to know the extent of the problem initially. I know that many dogs take this and appear fine, but no clue how many don't. And if your dog is one of the ones that doesn't, that many take it fine is not a consolation.

Found this link on the other FB site: http://www.australian-shepherd-lovers.com/safe-medication-trifexis.html

Thanks for posting this, I had no clue....

I didn't know either I knew some dogs vomited after taking it and Nikki's vet doesn't want her on it.

I took a look at the other links and it's scary...I'll stick with Heartgard.

I have given Risa Comfortis, the flea-killing portion of Trifexis (spinosad) without issue. Though only one dose thus far. I'd rather give nothing but I'm not having good luck keeping the fleas under control and am pretty much forced to use SOMETHING potentially hazardous to keep her comfortable.

Shoot, thats what my vet gave me for Mackie (Pomeranian) and Buddy (Chihuahua). Give we just got Van I haven't gotten it for him yet....

I agree with Lisa - every med is going to have some dogs that cannot take them. I wish we had a magic ball that could tell us if our dogs would be safe.

My sister has even a bigger challenge since one of her aussies is positive for the MDR1 gene. So many things she has to be careful using.

Regarding Rimadyl - I had one dog go into liver failure after only a few days on it. We ran blood work prior to starting it and all values were well in the normal range. She had a 50/50 chance of making it through, but lived (on liver medication) for at least two more years.

More recently Buddy was placed on Rimadyl after blood work. New tests 3 weeks later showed his liver and kidneys values were rising. We lowered the dose and new blood work is better, but not fully down.

He is 13 and can barely walk without it and I made the choice to monitor his blood often and keep him on it for now.

So - two dogs reacting to Rimadyl in my own home. Yet, I know so many helped by it.

I am using Trifexis for my own dogs and feel comfortable with the choice. I know there is some risk and my heart goes out to those who have lost dogs on this or any other medication.

I live in an area with high incidence of heart worms - sometimes we have to make choices. I doubt there is any heartworm (or flea) medication that has not contributed to some dog's death.

Bonnie, for Budddy (I haven't price shopped lately though): http://m.vitacost.com/country-life-liver-support-factors-100-tablets

I completely understand rimadyl and other nsaids when things are at the management stage (I know diane had good luck with previcox I believe, and I believe that the initial european dose for rimadyl was lower, which is why they had fewer problems than the u.s.). But there are so many choices for HW, that people that don't even need the full force of these meds are being convinced that they need all these combination products. For example, people that don't have a tick problem, or don't have a flea problem, or one but not the other. Or parasites...do we really need to deworm our dogs againt all those parasites once a month? Really????

I have a few months of Interceptor left, and then I have to make a decision. I think I am going to go back to Heartguard.

Just like humans, some dogs can tolerate specific medications while others can't. Since the Trifexis/Comfortis is a fairly popular drug I would assume we'd hear of more problems with the drug if it's as dangerous as that one FB poster claims. Like with my guys, Bruiser and Faith have no problem with either Comfortis or Trifexis while Slider had a seizure after taking Comfortis. Why? I'll probably never know the answer. I just don't give him either drug.

I posted this because a lady on my EPI group lost her dog because of the Trifexis: http://www.epi4dogs.com/apps/forums/topi...ime-combination

Since my vet also feels very strongly about not using Trifexis I thought it was worth posting

Unfortunately, anything we use on our pets can cause terrible consequences. It's not fair when it's your dog in the 1% or so that is negatively affected. I totally understand that. But any medication on the market can only ever be safe for the majority of dogs. . .not all. I feel for anyone who has lost a pet to a medication they gave to help their dog. I feel for everyone whose dog has had a negative reaction to any medication. However, nothing is ever 100% safe. You have to weigh the pros and cons of anything and make your decision. There have been plenty of dogs who have had negative reactions to topical flea/tick treatments as well yet others who are not adversely effected.

Like with anything, you have to weigh your options and do what you feel is best for your dog.

Thank you, Arycrest and DancingCavy - you expressed much better what I was trying to say.

I DO live in an area of high incidence of heartworms, deer ticks, fleas and other parasites. I made a choice due to seeing the results of what happens without protection.

When reactions are bad they are horribly bad - but the percentages are small.

Again - you have to make a choice.

Bonnie, I wasn't directing my last comments at you, just to be clear!!

Gayle, about the popularity and no problems, these things take time to play out. A few isolated cases here and there, then patterns *may* start arising, then consumer get more active, etc. It took the deaths of a lot of dogs from rimadyl before they did anything, and even now you don't see some vets following that protocol.

I fully expected comfortis to be the first one with major problems, because it does have reports of seizures in some dogs, when I looked quitte awhile ago. We are combining some very powerful insecticides and putting them on and in our dogs. It took me *years* before I realized that indy was reacting to frontline top spot (only one chemical!). I wondered why she always got worse in summer But it was a slow and delayed reaction.

No problems, Lisa. I did not take the comment personally. In fact I agree that in some areas these products may be pushed and not even necessary.

I also remember when people did not believe me years ago when I said my dog went into liver failure due to Rimadyl. I had to push my vet (no longer my vet) to do blood work first and she still almost died. Now, hopefully vets are doing more complete work ups and follow up and the owners are listening.

We all need to know the good and the bad or we can't make our choice.

I think that when my dogs are no longer doing therapy work I will stop using flea and tick products, other than something like Ark Naturals Flea Flicker, Tick Kicker.

As far as heart worm medications - that is scarier. When do you stop? I am puzzling that now with Buddy 13.

I use plain Heartgard, nothing else, and I dose as minimally as I can (watch the weather, give every 45 days, etc.).

FWIW I've never stopped giving any of the senior Hooligans HW meds (they get it 12 months a year). I was happy to find the Interceptor Spectrum which I ordered a few weeks ago and am putting all three Hooligans on it. I'll still give Bruiser and Faith Comfortis if/when they need it ... but am happier to only give it on an as needed basis.

Bonnie, I tripped over this the other day when looking for something else, about Rimadyl and Labs: http://srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html

I have never stopped HW meds. But I also have never given combination meds. I've either used regular Heartguard, and then I switched to Interceptor at 1/5th the regular dose, which only treats HW and not anything else.

So, I guess the question for me is about a regular deworming schedule, since my dogs have never been on meds that would regularly deworm. I never even ran annual fecals unless there were issues. However, with Jazz here and daycare requirements, I will do the annual fecal, and deworm if necessary. In theory, if the dog is on a monthly deworming, that's not necessary, but there is some question of whether that actually builds resistance. And there is some questions about the symbiotic relationship between some of these parasites and good health. The answers seem to get murkier????

I went out looking and found more and more dogs that are having problems with trifexis, sometimes after one or two doses. I did the same thing after comfortis had come out, and I certainly did not find the quantity that I am seeing here. It's pretty much convinced me never to use it, and also to recommend against it.

More...
https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=233950610012938&id=110886408938194

Looks like a lawyer is starting to look into this:
http://www.protectingtheconsumer.com/trifexis-flea-medication.php

Never had a problem with this and have been using it for 3 years now.

Interesting. I know my vet didn't want to use it on Ghost because it was too new and she didn't trust it even though the practice we both work at was trying VERY hard to push the product. I'm so VERY GLAD she didn't and preferred to stick with products she knew and trusted with my boy.