Heard on the news today that there have been reports of dogs throwing up, being lethargic, having seizures and dying after taking Trifexis. Has any one on here had issues with it? Would you give it to your animals after hearing about the issues? Would you continue to go to a vet that still recommends it?
2013-11-26T17:13:28Z
CindyRVT...there have been 4 reported deaths in my state alone. It has not only been the media reporting the stories. Vets have been filing reports with the manufacturer too.
2013-11-27T05:52:30Z
I do not use this product and never will. I just wanted to see how many more people are having issues with it. I have read that one of the ingredients comes from China (milbemycin).
?2013-11-26T17:51:18Z
We have read the necropsy reports on some of the specific puppies on trifexis whose owners claimed they were killed by Trifexis. In all 3 cases, three different veterinarians determined that the puppies did not die from Trifexis. The media should've followed up their story with the necropsy reports.
Our practice does recommend Trifexis and also Comfortis. Trifexis has Comfortis in it -- they are related products.
The only issues we've seen is vomiting in just a very few dogs. We tell the owners to give them another tablet if the vomiting occurred within an hour of taking it. If the dog vomited after an hour, they need do nothing. We give them a free tablet to replace the one that came back up. None of our patients have vomited again after repeating the dose.
Our vets both give their dogs Trifexis and are not stopping. They believe the product is safe. Could there be issues? Of course. But they told us that the chances of Trifexis killing a dog would be much less than people who have issues from over the counter medications, such as Tylenol. There is always a chance of a reaction to any medication.
If you are worried about it, then just use something else. That is what we are telling our clients. We, again, have seen no serious issues with it. The important thing is to use an effective heartworm prevention and a good flea product. We recommend Trifexis, Sentinel, Heartgard, and Revolution. Also Comfortis and Frontline Plus. Any of these products could potentially cause an adverse reaction, but heartworm disease is deadly.
I have used all of these products, with no problems. Again, though, if you are concerned about it, you do have other options.
Although it is a very good med and does its job well, SOME dogs are highly allergic to it and have disasterous results. It's like some people are deathly allergic to penicillin, peanuts or shrimp. My female pug had such a reaction and nearly died, but her father did fine with it. I guess there is no way of knowing in advance. IF your dog has not had a problem with it and has been receiving it for several months, I'm sure it will continue to be fine with it. If you HAVE seen a reaction, stop immediately. Comfortis has the same active ingredient, so don't use that either if your dog has had a reaction. After my dog had the problem, we switched to Revolution which is working quite well. I live in a forest with a lot of fleas and ticks and so far, so good with the Revolution which we have been using for 18 months. Bottom line: if you don't feel comfortable/safe using Trifexis, use something else.
I've heard a fast number of stories of people having issues with their dogs on Triflexis but I also know a whole bunch of owners who have their dogs on this combination medication and their animals are doing fine. Triflexis seems to be one of those medications that is very effective, but has deadly, horrifying or sickening side effects if your dogs body rejects it or is adverse to it. That's the case with a lot of medications.
My dog is correctly on Comfortis, for flea/tick control, *external parasites. Heartguard for Heartworms and a regular deworming pill for any internal parasites, when and if they are present.
I've never used this but I do have some friends who have their dogs on the medications and they do fine. Triflexis is grabbing some headlines for causing serious health complications in dogs.
Put both my GSD and Aus. Shepherd on it and the third day after I fed them and gave them the pill I was getting ready for the day when one of them did throw up, so now they are both on Sentinel. This was some time back and my vet did not give me a hard time about it, plus gave me credit. Not real sure I would quit my vet because of it, it would just depend if she gave me a really hard time about it. I haven't heard anything about this. Thanks. Couldn't put the Aus. Shepherd on heartguard for the same reason CDog gave.
I have never given it to my dog, because I researched it and it scared the crap out of me. I have herding dogs and they shouldn't have ivermectin (Heartguard) in case they carry the MDR1 gene. I think I got the last box of Interceptor in existence and fortunately when that ran out, Sentinel was back on the market. My vet said she hadn't seen any problems from it, but recommended Sentinel because it's been around for awhile.