Hi everyone, I have a 10 month old springer spaniel and live in the UK. I was recently advised by our vet to change from frontline to Bravecto as it was “more effective”, I would like to add that we had never had issues with ticks or fleas prior. It has been one month since his first dose however last week we noticed a significant lump in the skin tissue on his back thigh about 2.5cm diameter. I immediately took Harley to the vet as he was irritated by it and it was becoming sore within the day. The vet put it down to a skin infection and gave a weeks worth of antibiotics 4 days in I have seen no immprovement. Harley has also been scratching a lot and seems generally irritated with his skin. It was my husband that pointed out that he only started scratching after his Bravector tablet. I am now wondering whether Bravecto could be the cause of this lump which the vet is now suggesting he may surgically remove!!!!! And his poor constant itching. I wish I had done my research before trusting my vets advise. What I would like to know is, has anyone else experienced similar and is there any evidence to support my suspicions?
I have a horribly itchy dog. Vet said it was most likely fleas and put her on Bravecto. She is still itchy but she doesn’t scratch herself till she bleeds now. Haven’t seen a tick on her in 2 months since we started using it. No ill side effects that I have noticed
She probably still gets flea bites and is really sensitive to them, but they’ve been biting her less now. The place where I live is perfect for tons of fleas so this is as good as it can get for my poor dog
We gave our 7 year old dog Bravecto in March 2015 when she went for her checkup. We were told it was the latest and best for our girl. I wish I had found this site before giving it to her. She weighed 65.9 pounds that day. We had to put her to sleep Memorial Day. She weighed 49 pounds, had stopped eating. She had a tumor that had spread throughout her intestines and it was cancer. She was perfectly healthy until that dose. No one has even mentioned that it could have been this medicine. We are so upset. I wish we had not given it to her. She was the best dog anyone could hope for.
I hope this helps someone else make a better decision about Bravecto.
I’ve just read the posting on FB too from Pethelpers….I certainly won’t be using Bravecto and I had been contemplating it. At the moment I’ve put the new Seresto collars on my dogs – has anyone heard anything against these??
Pethelpers Inc have a posting on Facebook regarding one dog who died at four years old shortly after taking Bravecto of liver and kidney failure and one dog seriously ill from this medication. They said other dogs have died from complications within 30 days of taking it.
Personally, I would not give my dogs anything by mouth that kills fleas….
I’ve used bravecto on my 110 lb male and 50 lb female dog for 3 doses, about 10 months. No signs of any fleas or ticks. Before this I had used comfortis and before that trifectis with good flea results but because these meds are priced by the weight of the dog, bravecto works out to be much less expensive with the added benefit of no ticks which were still an issue. I understand some pet owners concerns about giving such a strong medication but I trust my vets judgement and for me, nothing else but pills has worked. Dips, topicals, nothing else even phases the amount of fleas we have in the warm weather months which is about 9 months out of the year. I’m in deep east Texas near the Louisiana border. We live on a lot of acreage that is heavily wooded. My dogs run through the woods which are crawling with fleas and ticks. The dogs also come in the house when I’m home, sleep in the house at night and I’m not willing to risk a flea infestation. Anyone who has ever dealt with that mess knows how horrible it is to get rid of them if they start laying eggs in your house. I have an indoor cat with skin allergies that can not be exposed to flea bites so for my situation and the quality of life I provide my dogs, pills are the best fit. I’ve had no problems with bravecto. The pills are like a small round cookie, mine eat them like they’re a treat. My vet said they will really last more than 12 weeks so I re-dose about every 14.
Hi All
I once used a product Activyl Plus. Didnt work..my Service Dog Booster had meningitis and came within 24 hours of death. He had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
http://www.cvm.missouri.edu/news/Booster2014.html
Hes a cancer survivor that almost died from a tick bite! Harsh chemicals or death? Im trying Bravecto BUT the lesson is..dont rely on a new product until you know it works. Be vigilant.
In Arkansas and Mississippi where I live, ticks and heartworm equal certain death. My choice is chemicals. Sure side effects but Ive had it with fleas,ticks,heartworms. I have 7 Labs and i cant comb every day so a good preventative is necessary. Its a rough alternative but beats what ive gone through due to perasites.
Hi,
I know this is an old thread, but I thought I’d post my experience.
I’ve been using Bravecto for 6 months (2 doses). When I was using Advantix II, I would find dozens of flees on my dogs for days after visiting a highly infested area. After I started using Bravecto, I haven’t found a single flea on him that wasn’t dying…even after spending hours in the same infested area. I comb him regularly and have never found a flea on him after leaving an infested area. My dog hasn’t had a single tick since using this medication, but he only picked up one in the previous 2 years so that doesn’t say much.
When I first started using this, my dog had picked up fleas from a friend’s house and the Advantix I had put on a week before wasn’t helping. My vet called the company, which said that Bravecto can be used concurrently with topical medications, so I gave him the Bravecto tablet immediatly. There were no ill effects and the fleas all died. It’s not something I would do regularly, but it’s good to know that it’s safe.
I do have 2 concerns with this product:
1) This product does not repel and requires the flea/tick to bite before killing. This is okay for ticks because it takes ticks 24-48 hours to transmit diseases and Bravecto kills in a few hours. Even better, they’re dead/dying when they drop off so they aren’t a danger to anyone else. However, it seems to make fleas sort of dizzy and easy to catch before they die. That means my dog is more likely to lick them up, and thus get worms.
2) Bravecto is hard to get from a vet’s office. My vet likes the product but says there just isn’t enough demand for him to stock it. This means I have to get it from online distrubuters, and that makes me really nervous. It’s a new enough product that I HOPE there aren’t a lot of counterfeiters out there, but you can never be sure.
Anyway, I hope this helps people decide if they want to use this product. I’d highly recommend it. It seems as safe as the topicals and works better. Of course, if you can get away with not using any chemicals, I’d do that, but it’s not an option for me.
First, I would like to explain something about sentinel and sentinel spectrum.
These two drugs do NOT kill adult fleas or eggs. If a flea bites your dog, this drug simply sterilizes the flea, so that flea can no longer reproduce.
Sentinel provides the flea sterilization, as well as prevention for heartworms, hookworms, roundworms and whipworms. It comes in a tablet form. Sentinel spectrum is a smaller chewy square that works for all of the above and tapeworms. Both are dosed monthly.
Secondly, to the person who was livid because they found fleas and ticks on their dog after using bravecto, please understand that this drug does not repel parasites. It only starts to kill them after they bite.
A simple google search of Bravecto (or any medicine, really) will bring up the scientific reports, trials and fda/cvm information. This is all honest, scientific information. Bravecto is extremely safe. Reading through this Freedom of Information Summary, you can read about all of the studies done and any and all adverse reactions.
For those who think oral is more dangerous than topical – topical soaks transdermally directly into the bloodstream. It also has the potential to be spread between animals, as well as humans. Some require placement in spots along the back. If the dog then licks around his back where he was treated, he has then taken the drug transdermally, as well orally. I, for one, would rather know exactly the dose my dog is getting, without the fear of my children getting it on them by touching the dog, or touching the dogs bedding, etc.
For those with dogs in the 75-80 pound range that claim this doesn’t work, your dog is at the very top of the dosage weight. It is possible that the dose is just not strong enough for your dog and you should speak to your vet about using the next size up, which in this case would be for 88lbs. In most cases, this is perfectly acceptable.
All flea and tick treatments are pesticides. No matter how they are administered. If you are against chemicals completely, that is one thing. But, if you are against only particular chemicals, I would say do some research.
Here is the link for the FOI Summary, provided by the FDA:
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AnimalVeterinary/Products/ApprovedAnimalDrugProducts/FOIADrugSummaries/UCM399075.pdf
We started using the Bravecto cookies about 6 months ago (3rd time now), and we love it! And so does the dog 😉 Fleas and Ticks die within 2 hours, and the dog is protected for up to 12 weeks!
Watch the video I made of my dog taking Bravecto: youtu.be/-Wgp4Dnkg3s
You will also see me trying to use the spot on stuff that we used before, the dog remembers it well, and doesn’t like it / runs away :p
-
This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
Rick R.
HI I live in Australia and my dog Iggy did the Bravecto trial. Iggy was covered in fleas a hundred plus it was horrible so I thought Id reply to a free trial that was in the local newspaper. She qualified so we started the trial the fleas dropped off with no side affects. Ive just found out this product is finally a name not just a number so I`m going out to get it.
My 9 year old min pin recently got fleas for the first time. We live in FL and went from living in a home with no other animals, to living in the city, where many other animals are walked in the neighborhood. Im not a fan of medications for myself or my dog, but seeing fleas swarming throughout my dogs hair and finding flea dirt (poop) everywhere freaked me out. I actually didn’t know what was going on, since he never had fleas before. The vet I went to mentioned bravecto and said it was new and also mentioned frontline etc. I ended up choosing bravecto because I wanted to get rid of the problem immediately. I was concerned if a medication that lasted so long would be good for my dogs organs etc. My dog did not have any adverse reaction and the fleas were gone within 1-2 days. The only thing I noticed about 2 weeks later, was on my dogs eyes. There were thin white marks on the outer corner of his iris. I know this could be related to my dog being 9 years old, but I didn’t see them before.
Anyway, I’m unsure if I will use the product again. I prefer a less aggressive approach. Also, even thought my dog is free of fleas, do the flea eggs still live in my house on the couch etc, waiting for bravecto to run out so they can hatch on my dog again? Should I get my sofa steam cleaned etc? Pillows, blankets? I have no clue. I want to do all I can to prevent this from happening again.
Hi everybody, I gave my dog Bravecto at the beginning of November, and the other day found a bunch of ticks on her, and I am FURIOUS! I promised myself that I will never use anything for my dog unless I absolutely have to, the groomer said that she found few fleas, few people thought I was irresponsible for not regularly giving my dog prevention from anything and everything under the sun… So I decided to give it a try.
My dog has a sensitive stomach, I made sure she ate well before I gave it to her and she tolerated it well. No OBVIOUS side effects, but when I found couple of ticks 3 wks later, I was LIVID.
It is really difficult to get honest information. It is a new med and it is being pushed onto vets, who then push it on their customers… The only scientific info I found is a study from Australia stating that it is OK to use it with Scalibor…
From now on, my darling will get regular checks and hygiene, and if necessary local preparation, no long acting chemicals…
Thank you!
Hi Lynn, is Bravecto a tablet or a spot on??? you mention Comfortis so Id say it’s a tablet, have you seen any problems with dogs that are very sensitive to tablets get ill from Bravecto….My boy doesnt do to well on any medications & vet adviced against Comfortis so are the ingredients the same as Comfortis & Trifexis….I even hate putting on the Frontline Plus spot on, I always check his paws after a walk as they are white & kill the flea as I dont have any fleas at home BUT I have a cat who brings home fleas, the vet said if you have a cat you’ll have fleas, do they make a tablet for cats, my cat has an iron stomach….
Hello,
I work in an animal hospital and can tell you that Bravecto has made an amazing impact in the US flea and tick market. It was launched in Europe last March and in the US in June. This product has the FDA’s approval and works amazingly well in fleas and ticks. Fleas start dying in 2 hours and ticjs are dead by 12 hours (faster than anything else on the market). Comfortis and Trifexis does not kill ticks at all and is more expensive per month.
Bravecto has already sold tens of millions in the US since June. The safety data is the most amazing. Bravecto even has a pregnant and lactating label which Most other flea and tick products do not have. (That reflects the safety of this product).
The best thing about the product is not only does it work super fast but it lasts 12 weeks. You only have to dose your dog 4 times a year! It is so easy with very little worries as a pet owner. Both my dogs use Bravecto, and I have been so surprised at how well it works.
No need to be weary with this product. We haven’t seen a flea and tick product with this kind of safety data in a long time. Plus, it’s economical. You can usually buy it from your vet for like $50 for 3 months. Buy 6 months and get $15 rebate. Net cost ends up around $85 for 6 months!!
Hi, all…new to this site, but found it doing a search on “Bravecto”. The little gal behind the front desk at my vet’s office told me that this was the best, absolute safest product from my old dog. A few years ago, another receptionist told me the same thing about Comfortis, which killed my dog.
I think I’ll pass.
I’ve been using Sentinel for my dogs for years and years with never an issue of any sort. Knock on wood!
I wouldn’t try Bravecto, it’s just too new a product and lasts too long. Also the group of vets I see are all in consensus about new products. They like products to be around awhile to get a better feel for efficacy and side effects. I’ll stick with Sentinel. We’ve never had a dog with HW. We’ve also never had a dog with fleas and that’s saying something considering we’ve been living in Georgia for a little over Georgia. The South is pretty well known for HW and an over abundance of fleas and Mosquitos.
-
This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
Dori.
Hey guys. I’m currently interning with a vet that is very excited about Bravecto. He says it’s the same as NexGuard, only it lasts longer. I’ve not personally explored it myself, but he seems to be liking it. He believes in a “why use it if you don’t have to” approach to veterinary medicine, but living in Florida, you cannot skimp on flea control.
That said, such a new product is a bit worrisome. Especially a product that’s got such a high dose of flea meds that it’s lasts three months. However, if it’s what works for you and your dog, go for it. I’m taking my dogs off Trifexis (Comfortis plus heartworm preventive) because it really bothers me, especially with my oldest dog.
For just fleas, I really like Little City Dogs (a sort of generic Program pill). Its safe even at extreme over doses, and it’s new enough that fleas are not yet immune to it, yet the active ingredient (lufenuron) is well known enough not to be sketchy. Not to mention, it’s extremely affordable, at just $25-80 a year for cats and dogs of all sizes.
http://littlecitydogs.com/smallpetfleacontrol.html?
I will be trying Sentinel this go around as my new alternative to Trifexis. It’s $90 for a whole year for my 60 lb lab mix. Seems like a safer and MUCH cheaper alternative.
Has anyone tried the new chewable flea and tick prevention medicine called Bravecto? I’ve tried Parastar and Frontline Plus and have gotten fleas with both. Also does anyone know if I can use Comfortis and that together?
