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-   -   Tick/flea/heartworm meds (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=53008)

bendyfoot June 6th, 2008 10:31 AM

Tick/flea/heartworm meds
 
Ok, so I know this comes up all the time, but is there ONE SINGLE medication that will treat/prevent all of the above? We usually use Sentinel for fleas/HW, but ticks are now a concern too. What to do????

Love4himies June 6th, 2008 10:36 AM

I assume you are talking about dogs, in Canada there are no drops to control ticks on cats, and dog drops with tick control is very toxic to cats (I asked my vet for Jasper, who is a tick magnet). I think we live in the same area and the ticks are sooooo bad. I had one pulled of me, positive for lymes, and Jasper had a few, one was positive for lymes. That was just last summer.

I thought Revolution or Advantage did all three on dogs?

Dr Lee June 6th, 2008 10:38 AM

Revolution takes care of all of these. It is made by pfizer.

"Topical selamectin (Revolution®--Pfizer) is indicated for [B]flea [/B]infestations (Ctenocephalides felis), prevention of [B]heartworm [/B]disease (Dirofilaria immitis), and for ear mites (Otodectes cynotis) in both dogs and cats. Additionally in dogs, it is indicated for sarcoptic mange (Sarcoptes scabeii), and [B]tick [/B]infestations (Dermacentor variabilis). In cats: hookworm (Ancylostoma tubaeforme) and roundworm (Toxocara cati)." -Plumb's Fifth Edition

Here is the website:

[url]http://www.revolutionpet.com/default.html[/url]

bendyfoot June 6th, 2008 11:15 AM

Hmmm... according to the Revolution website, it only takes care of the American Dog Tick, which is not a lymes carrier. We had our first run-in with deer ticks last summer, and those are the ones we're concerned about.

I know there is a lymes vaccine available, but I've heard that it's had negative side-effects in herding dogs. Gracie is (we think) a collieX and Jaida's a GSD. Dr. Lee, do you know anything about this risk?

happycats June 6th, 2008 11:25 AM

I just started Buddy on revolution, as I was told it takes care of fleas ticks, and heartworm.

I did notice a bit of change in his mood (seemed down) as well as some very loose stools, as well as loss of appetite right after using it.
Not sure if the revolution was the cause. He's doing great now though.

Chaser June 6th, 2008 12:46 PM

I use Revolution - but hadn't realized it may not protect against all ticks. Interested to see responses about this.

Dr Lee June 6th, 2008 01:51 PM

[QUOTE=bendyfoot;602722]I know there is a lymes vaccine available, but I've heard that it's had negative side-effects in herding dogs. Gracie is (we think) a collieX and Jaida's a GSD. Dr. Lee, do you know anything about this risk?[/QUOTE]

To answer the questions on the American Dog Tick. I was also curious about this so I called Pfizer this morning and talked to their technical representative. She stated that at this time Revolution has only been tested against this species of tick. While we would assume that one tick species might die similarly to another from this medication, there is no data to substantiate this so any use of Revolution against other tick species would be off label and suspect in its efficacy. Furthermore the representative stated that Revolution is considered 'weak' in its efficacy against the American Dog Tick and that it takes 3-5 days of being exposed for the tick to die. So bottom line, while Revolution is a great medication, if ticks are the concern perhaps think about another product such as Frontline which has wonderful efficacy against ticks with a high safety range.

As far as lyme vaccine reactions, this vaccine certainly can have some serious vaccine reactions in some dogs. The specific breed sensitivity I am not familiar with but am researching it and will have a follow up post. There was some discussion on our vet network about lyme vaccine delayed reaction and this was one of the responses from Dr Alice Wolf:
[I]
"...I'd also consider switching to a different Lyme vaccine since we don't know which component is causing the problem. Theoretically, the Recombitek Lyme from Merial should contain less antigen thus be less potentially reactive."[/I] -Alice M. Wolf, DVM, DACVIM, DABVP

Hope that helps. I do not have a time frame on your answer bendyfoot but will try to get back to you. PM me if I forget!:pawprint:

bendyfoot June 6th, 2008 02:42 PM

Thanks Dr. Lee! The girls have their annual's booked for tomorrow afternoon so I figure we'll be discussing all this, but it doesn't hurt to be informed! I'll bring the name of that vaccine with me, in case we decide to go that route. Frontline does look like a good alternative, but a) I'd have to ship it from the US, and I'm not %100 sure I can do that and b) it doesn't provide HW protection. I don't know if you can combine Frontline with something else like Heartguard, or if they're contraindicated.

There are too many darn parasites!!!!!:frustrated:

Chaser June 6th, 2008 04:35 PM

[QUOTE=bendyfoot;602796]I don't know if you can combine Frontline with something else like Heartguard, or if they're contraindicated.

There are too many darn parasites!!!!!:frustrated:[/QUOTE]


I agree - this is confusing! I was under the impression I was getting a lot more tick protection from Revolution than actually seems to be the case...It's not as though we live in the woods but we like to go hiking about once a week. It seems impossible to find one medication that covers everything! :wall:

Dr Lee June 6th, 2008 06:14 PM

[QUOTE=bendyfoot;602796]I don't know if you can combine Frontline with something else like Heartguard, or if they're contraindicated. [/QUOTE]

Frontline and Heartgard work GREAT together - no contraindications. Both are made by Merial.:pawprint:

hazelrunpack June 6th, 2008 09:43 PM

All of our eight are on both Heartgard and Frontline Plus with no probs, bendyfoot :thumbs up The Frontline Plus is the best thing we've ever found for ticks, both the wood (dog) ticks and the deer ticks...and we live in Tick Central, so that's saying a lot!


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