The Big Tick Project

I'm afraid she didn't say and I didn't ask. Last year a different vet (same surgery) recommended the tic collar which Evie wore quite successfully. To be honest that is what I went back for this year but saw a different vet who said that she would really recommend bravecto as a much more superior product to the collar. So that's what we came away with. I must say I didn't really like the collar (although Evie didn't seem to mind) as I felt sorry for her, what with that on plus her usual collar and in addition the halti collar when she goes out in lead. It all seemed a bit bulky.

 

I spoke to our vet in the week and mentioned Bravecto and asked if there were alternatives. She mentioned these (prescribed treatments, not over the counter stuff):

Stronghold
Prinovox
Monthly Spoton

Has anyone had any first-hand experience of these? I will be researching online shortly...

 

Bax uses the Ceresto (sp?) collar and has for 2 years. very light weight flat grey plastic collar, smaller than his normal collar. its good for 6 months. we hike every week or so and he'd gotten a few ticks before but he hasn't since we started wearing the collar! I like it cause im lazy and i dont have to worry about remembering to dot him every month.

 

I use Prinovox on the cat and a friend uses it on her dog with no ill effects. It doesn't stop either my cat or her dog from getting ticks though and it doesn't seem to kill them so they have to be removed manually. It does work on the fleas.

 

Details on Snopes here. Still undecided what to do, and his next dose is this week.

 

It's really hard I know. I've agonised for hours about what to do. Interestingly a note has now been added on Harri's records that he isn't to be given isoxazolines although the vet was adamant initially that they weren't the cause.

The FDA has also just released a warning about neurological side effects

I've been checking Harri regularly for fleas and ticks all summer and although many of my friends dogs have had ticks, he hasn't had any. We are also still flea free too. I'm still not sure whether this is because the repellents are working or whether the tales that Bravecto is actually retained in the body for longer than 3 months are accurate. 5 months is commonly quoted and I've seen reports of owners finding dead ticks for up to a year

 

We spoke to another vet in the week about Bravecto. He said he hadn't had any issues raised across the practice and gave his own dog Bravecto (our conversation was a bit more in-depth than this post implies). On that basis, our dog was given his next dose last week.

 

The study done in Ireland on Fluraner (bravecto)
Safety of fluralaner chewable tablets (BravectoTM), a novel systemic antiparasitic drug, in dogs after oral administration

 

The researchers here were employees of the drug company so have a strong vested interest in a positive result. I've yet to find a good independent study.

 

Ive seen one in Dutch. Again they tested on several dogs and state that on autopsy no dogs showed any ill effects. They do state that because the chemical has a long life and can build up in organs such as liver and kidneys they have found that overweight dogs are more at risk of side effects than healthy weight dogs.
It does concern me that so many dogs are being killed to test this one product.

 

Who paid for that study?

 

I think it’s to improve their products