ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has discovered the number of dog deaths pet owners blame on the popular pet medication Trifexis outnumbers the cases involving the Chinese jerky treats.
Elanco, the company that makes Trifexis, refused repeated requests from Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland to turn over its data.
Strickland filed a Freedom of Information request with the Food and Drug Administration and got the agency's data instead. It showed that since Trifexis hit the market, every 36 hours, a pet owner reported that Trifexis killed their dog.
Trifexis is the most popular flea and heartworm pill of its kind with more than 50 million doses dispensed. Most of the dogs on Trifexis are fine.
ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has discovered the number of dog deaths pet owners blame on the popular pet medication Trifexis outnumbers the cases involving the Chinese jerky treats.
Elanco, the company that makes Trifexis, refused repeated requests from Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland to turn over its data.
Strickland filed a Freedom of Information request with the Food and Drug Administration and got the agency's data instead. It showed that since Trifexis hit the market, every 36 hours, a pet owner reported that Trifexis killed their dog.
Trifexis is the most popular flea and heartworm pill of its kind with more than 50 million doses dispensed. Most of the dogs on Trifexis are fine.
read more at:
Owners blame 700 dog deaths on Trifexis | www.wsbtv.com
What is sad is that as long as it is FDA approved, people will continue to trust their drugs (human and animals)
The FDA has lit. that a dog is dying every 36hrs. possibly from Trifexis....(or at least reported as cause by owners) and they know it and allow it to continue
Sad.
Thanks for posting this. I started a thread with links from AVMA and EPA on spot-on flea/tick - adverse reactions in include skin, GI tract and nervous system.
Some vets do. Mine has always told me to never use any pill form flea/tick prevention. She is a breeder vet and recommends the same protocol she uses on her dogs.
the FDA is exists to keep us safe I mean, if they don't immediately take off a drug they know is causing 300-500 heart attacks per month and at least that many again "cardiac events" every single month in a drug targeted at humans, do you really think they give 2 ****s about our dogs?
Wow, this is terrible. Molly has trifexis. Last year it was the only thing that killed the fleas. On her 3rd dose, she did seem a bit sleepy/off that day. During the winter when the fleas were not so bad we went off it. This year, again the fleas did not respond to frontline, so she was on Comfortis and had a dose of Trifexis two weeks ago. No side effects this time, but I don't want to chance it.
Think I'll go back to using Heartguard and try Revolution for fleas. My vet told me to order it online for one of our cats who has flea allergies. So far all our cats have had a dose of Revolution with no reactions. Do you think Revolution is safer than Trifexis?
On Saturday my vet recommended it and I bought 6 months worth. I thought about it, researched it, and even posted here about it. By Sunday I returned it. I just can't take that chance, even a small chance. The fact that any of the ingredients come from China was enough for me to walk away.
It appears to be well known that spinosad can interact badly with ivermectin (Heartgard®). A study found ivermectin toxicity in dogs when given in conjunction with spinosad (Comfortis®). The findings suggest that spinosad increases the risk of ivermectin neurotoxicity by inhibiting the secretion of ivermectin to increase systemic drug levels and by inhibiting P-gp at the blood-brain barrier. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21321059)
There are lots of anecdotal reports of dogs suffering severe vomiting, stomach issues, lethargy, lack of appetite, kidney failure, seizure-like symptoms, vestibular symptoms and death after being dosed with Comfortis®. Many of these stories can be found in the comments under this veterinary article advocating Comfortis as a wonder drug.
The second active ingredient in Trifexis®, milbemycin oxime (trade name Interceptor), is also used in Milbemax (with praziquantel), and Sentinel Flavor Tabs (with lufenuron). It acts by binding to glutamate gated chloride ion channels in invertebrate nerve and muscle cells, causing paralysis and death of the parasites. It may also act by disrupting the transmission of invertebrate neurotransmitters. Adverse effects reported for milbemycin show (in order of frequency) 9,359 instances of it being ineffective against heartworm, vomiting (2453), diarrhea, ineffective against ascarids, depression/lethargy, ineffective against hookworms, whipworms, anorexia and many more.
Trifexis is also marketed under the private label Vethical ComboGuard for VCA vet clinics. Vethical also has a Comfortis® equivalent called Acuguard.
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