07/19/2022
Ah yes. The viral post about Simparica Trio/Nexgard/Bravecto killing dogs is making the rounds again.
Before you share it:
TALK TO ACTUAL VETERINARY PROFESSIONALS.
Isoxazolines can cause seizures in a very, VERY small number of dogs. Most of the dogs affected are specific breeds who are already prone to seizure activity. We’ve issued thousands of doses of Bravecto in our hospital over 8 years, Simparica Trio for 5 years, and have not had a single negative reaction to date. Not one. We advise owners of breeds who are prone to seizures that the risk could be higher, and it is up to them which product they decide to use.
We personally use Bravecto on our own personal animals, as do all of our associate doctors, technicians, and support staff. We use both the canine and the feline products and they are amazing at killing and preventing fleas & ticks. My husband is a licensed DVM with 22 years of clinical and surgical experience, and I’m an LVT with 11 years of clinical and surgical experience.
Most of the Adverse Events reported to the FDA and other “reports” out there are owner-submitted claims, and the animals were never examined by a Vet or didn’t have a necropsy done with histopathology, toxicology, etc. to prove cause of death.
If I eat at McDonalds then die an hour later, an autopsy is required to determine the cause. Assuming it was caused by McDonalds without any form of proof is irresponsible, unprofessional, and unethical.
Correlation. Does. Not. Equal. Causation.
There are also MANY counterfeit flea/tick products on the market, and this has been a problem in the veterinary community for 20+ years. People buy flea, tick, and/or heartworm prevention products from someone on the street, from a discount stand or flea market, from a family member, from Amazon, from Ebay, or from pet stores in order to try to save money.
These are often counterfeit products that are not the drug advertised, products that have been tampered with in some way (diluted, concentrated, had other chemicals added, etc) in order to increase profit or shelf life, or products that are expired and repackaged or improperly stored which causes chemical changes due to high/low temperature.
All of these are well known and well documented as causing seizures, tremors, vomiting, stomach bleeding, chemical burns, labored breathing, or cardiac arrest.
So when looking at these owner reports, where did they purchase the product? How was it stored? Was it expired? How did they give it? What dose was it?
The only guaranteed authentic products are sold by veterinary clinics/hospitals and licensed veterinary pharmacy distributors.
Even after all of that, we have to consider the basic fact that everything in life carries risk.
0.6% of the US population has a peanut allergy. Many don’t know until they have a reaction one day as a baby or child and their lives are put at risk. We don’t remove peanuts from the shelves or become hysterical and warn everyone not to eat them.
Ibuprofen has one of the highest rates of adverse reactions among any drug. Commonly reported side effects include hemorrhage, vomiting, anemia, decreased hemoglobin, eosinophilia, and hypertension, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, upper gastrointestinal tract ulcer, dizziness, and dyspepsia. We never know if any of those are going to happen until they do, although some people are at higher risk so we advise them of that risk. We don’t remove Ibuprofen from the shelves or become hysterical and warn everyone not to take it.
Our lifetime risk of dying in a car accident is 1 in 107 here in the U.S. Yet almost all of us own cars and drive them daily. We don’t ban cars nor do we create Facebook posts warning everyone not to buy or drive them. It’s a risk we knowingly take because the odds are low and the benefit far outweighs that risk.
Everything we do, everything we eat, every medicine or vitamin or holistic product we take, everything we touch, everything we drive or ride, comes with inherent risk and while we can mitigate it to the best of our ability, we still never know when something negative may occur.
Life is unpredictable.
The FDA issued a warning so that pet owners would be aware and discuss with their veterinarian, but they recognize the low risk that is far outweighed by the benefit of these products, and they STILL approve them as safe and effective — and state as such on their website.
Don’t listen to every viral thing that goes around. Please talk to the people with actual veterinary medical degrees and get the information firsthand. Please use logic and common sense.
