Sentinel
 

So, we changed vets the end of 2015. Previously, my fur butts have taken comfortis for fleas and we used Heartgard for heartworm preventative. Rin and Tyson went for annual check ups December 2014. The new vet was adamant Comfortis/Triphexis was very dangerous. She prescribed Sentinel, which prevents fleas and heartworm.

I absolutely rely on a vets knowledge about what is safe for my pets and Sentinel is also cheaper so all should be well.

This is my problem, Rin and Tyson took thier first dose of Sentinel mid January. Tyson started scratching like crazy the following day...and then I noticed Rin is loosing huge clumps of hair...the stuff is laying around everywhere. I thought, what in the world is going on here???? AT any rate, these symptoms subsided after about 10 days and I wondered "Did the Sentinel cause this?"

Second dose mid February....same thing....itching and hair loss for approximately 10 days.

Now it's time for another dose next week, I called the vet and explained everything to her. She thinks I'm the nutty dog lady now and feels positive the Sentinel is not the reason and to bring Rin and Tyson to the vet....

I'm so frustrated :confused: I have done some research and found these symptoms are possible with Sentinel but "rare."

1) Has anyone else experienced these symptoms with Sentinel?

2) Any suggestions for oral flea prevention. I absolutely don't mind going back to heartgard for heartworm prevention (we take it year round here in Florida) but I definitely need oral meds, the topicals DO NOT work for fleas.

I have never used Sentinel. I am using Heartgard Plus but when my currently supply runs out i going to switch to Sentinel because it covers Tapeworms and Armani has had tapeworms

Trifexis is dangerous. Have you thought of using nexguard for fleas and ticks?

Is nexguard better than K9 Advantage II?

Taylor,

Thx for the suggestion, I will do some research and ask the vet about Nexguard.

AS to the Triphexis....it must be a kick back (money) thing. Why would so many vets recommend something if it's dangerous? Our new vet said "absolutely not" to Triphexis but the old vet recommended it as soon as it came on the market....

It's not a topical. Topicals make my dog act like she dosen't feel good so when it came out I asked the vet about it and she had nothing but good things to say about it. When everyone in the office saw me with the box they to had nothing but good things to say. We have had no issues with it.

I really don't know but I have heard some really scary and bad stories. We had at least one member here lose there dog because of it.

Unfortunately, sometimes money does sway us the wrong way

I use Sentinel Spectrum with both dogs since that is what my vet sells. We have had no problems with it.

Sentinel is what I with with ZoE. We've been using it monthly for four years without incident.

Reactions are always possible with any medication.

My vet wont prescribe it at all for small dogs...I dont know about large dogs....she is completely against it and has said it is not safe for Yorkies.

get some flea buster powder for your house, fleas will be a thing of the past

I've been using Comfortis and Heartgard on Louie for 2 months with no issues. A good friend of mine has had her Sheltie on Trifexis for 3 years without issues. Another friend has used Trifexis on his dogs for even longer than that with no issues. My aunt has been using Comfortis and Heartgard for both of her Shih Tzus for 5+ years with no issues.

I've heard nothing but good things about it in person. I only hear the horror stories online. What's the deal?

Also, if your vet thought you were crazy because you think there must be some connection between your dogs' symptoms and Sentinel, maybe you need a new vet. If your dogs were experiencing those symptoms RIGHT AFTER they took Sentinel, TWICE, there is a very good chance that Sentinel is the reason for their symptoms. They may be allergic to an ingredient in it, the chemical composition of the medication may not agree with them, etc. My diet, exercise, and general schedule is rather stable ... If I were to take some new medication, all of a sudden develop terrible rashes when taking the medication, but my doctor told me "There's no way it's the medication!" I'd be gone.

Oh, another thing. You really should look up the ingredients used in the flea medications. For example, the active ingredient in Comfortis is spinosad. It's used to treat fleas in pets, treat fleas in farm animals, kill bugs on VEGETABLES (that we end up eating!) without harming the plant, and it's also used as a lice treatment in humans.

The combination milbemycin oxime/lufenuron is used in Sentinel. The combination milbemycin oxime/spinosad is used in Trifexis. Milbemycin oxime and lufenuron, both alone and in combination, are NOT used in plant or human products and they are NOT reccommended for such! Go figure! Your dogs could be having a reaction to either milbemycin oxide or lufernuron! If it's milbemycin oxime, that means you can't use Trifexis, either. Something else to think about: milbemycin oxime is shown to be less effective in heartworm treatment than ivermectin, the main active ingredient in Heartgard and Iverhart. Both ivermectin and pyrantel (the second active ingredient in Heartgard and Iverhart) are used in human medicine.

There have been many people who's dogs did great on the Trifeixs and then dropped dead no joke! There have been several deathly sick dogs on here who the only thing that could be found to be the cause was Trifexis. It is not safe and it is not worth the risk to have your dog on Trifexis and I would beg your friends to stop using it. All you have to do is google it to see all the terrible warnings and stories.

There are terrible warnings and stories about every brand of pet medication. No pet medication is completely safe. It's just like prescription medications for humans. Do some humans have adverse reactions to some medications and, as a result, have a severe reaction causing chronic medical issues or even death? Absolutely. The same goes for pets. There is a risk you have to take with all medication. Putting my pet on Sentinel, Nexguard, Bravecto, or any other medication has the potential to be equally as detrimental as Comfortis or Trifexis can be.

Additionally, just because something is new does not mean that it is bad. Sentinel has been around for much longer so it does not receive as much flak. Trifexis has not been around for as long. It was back in 2011, and that was when Facebook started to get popular, which allowed people to express their concerns about the product, share it, spread the anger, etc. People who haven't even used Trifexis on their dogs joined the bandwagon. Hell, animal lovers who didn't even have dogs joined in! They all claimed Trifexis was extremely dangerous and killed tons and tons of dogs! Where did these people get this information from? Facebook, Reddit, blogs, pet forums, and other completely random, unreliable sources! How many scientific studies have concluded that Trifexis is any more dangerous than Sentinel or Nexguard or other medications? None!

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From Trifexis' release in 2011 to the end of 2013, out of the approximately 1,400,000 dogs that took Trifexis, 0.02% got sick, and 0.0005% died! Those numbers are inaccurate in favor of Trifexis nay-sayers, too! I'm rounding up, on everything! The months from release to the recorded sicknesses and deaths, the assumption that every pet owner gave their dog Trifexis every month for 36 months, the number of sick and dead dogs. In actuality, the percentage is much lower for both sickness and death!

I have all of the math for this saved in a document if you really want to see it.

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My point is, it's all hearsay. The next medication to be bashed will be Bravecto. In a few years everyone will forget all about the Trifexis conspiracy as they blog about how terrible Bravecto is. Personally, I'm rather skeptical on that one, as I don't quite see how it can be all that safe when it's effective enough to last in a dog's system for three full months. But I'm willing to see what the scientific studies have to say.

By the way, Trifexis is extremely dangerous in dogs who have worms in their system! They warn you of that, just like they warn you that your dog will vomit if they don't take Trifexis on a full stomach. They say you have to test the dog for worms before giving Trifexis. People ignore the warnings and then complain that their pets get sick. Granted, vomiting the pill up isn't so bad, but you know what I mean. It's just as bad as giving your 4 pound dog a dose of Trifexis for 50 pound dogs, then complaining that Trifexis made the dog sick!

It's a lot worse they just some meds having side effects. This is worse then the Chinese chicken jerky. The statistics are not right and there are vets willing to back up that is is not a good medicine and very dangerous. If your willing to risk your dogs life then that's up to you but I would not suggest it and will continue to warn people about how very unsafe this medicine is and I pray for the day it comes off the market.

Vets should not be prescribing heartworm meds without doing a test. You can not believe me all you want but until you have read through some of the stories you won't get it.

I have read through many stories. Sometimes, within the story, you can actually find the cause of the problem! Then when you point it out to them, they just say "No, it must have been the medication!" completely discounting the fact that it very well may have been another factor. They are stories. That's it. A friend of mine has a dog that became extremely sick on a raw diet, which was very well-prepared. Does that mean that a raw diet is unsafe for all dogs? NO!

I'm risking my dog's life just as much by giving him what he's on now, which is Comfortis and Heartgard. I would also risk his life just as much by putting him on Sentinel, Nexgard, or Bravecto.

If you have a link to a scientific study that proves that Trifexis is more dangerous than other flea medications, I would not use it on my dog. But, from everything I have read, all I see is normal people claiming things that require evidence to prove, and guess what? They usually have none of it. As for those who know for sure that Trifexis was the reason their dog got sick, not all medications work for all dogs!

I've been using Sentinel for all my dogs for years, with no problems at all. I changed vets a few years ago, and the new one also recommends it.

I do think raw feeding is unsafe for dogs and again there are many vets who feel this way even one of the vet associations. I do not feel that the other meds are as risky for the dogs lives especially not as risky as Trifexis. I believe there was a study done and two of the ingredients used in trifexis are dangerous to mix and should not be put together.

I was using the raw diet as an example. Many dogs do extremely well on raw. That is a fact. I would not raw feed my dog, but many do with great success.

There was no study concluding that spinosad and milbemycin oxide are dangerous when used together. There was a study that concluded that spinosad was dangerous when used with large, off-label doses of ivermectin, which is the main active ingredient in Heartgard. In order for the effects to occur, you would need to give your dog over 10 times the recommended off-label dose of ivermectin. It's similar to giving your small dog 10 Heartgard chews and a Comfortis pill.

There are also a lot of risks with raw feeding. I'm not going to back down, Trifeixs has killed and continues to kill and make dogs sick. It is dangerous no one should use it and it should be pulled from the market. Disagree with me all you want it doesn't change the facts that many vets are blaming deaths of there patients on it. If it such a false statement why would soooo many news stations report on it.

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Alright, if that is the way you think, then I will back down. Just so you know, just because it is in the news, that does not make it credible. For example, they make a big deal out of certain court trials in the news. Then, years later, you may learn that the person who was considered "guilty", who was sentenced life in prison, was actually innocent the whole time! Not to mention the fact that each news station/newspaper puts their own spin on it, more often than not dragging out-of-date or downright false information into their story. Did you know that QVC has their own article on Trifexis? Yes, QVC. The TV channel that sells jewelry, kitchen products, and other random things that normally have absolutely nothing to do with pets, medicine, or health!

I have read up on spinosad, ivermectin, lufenuron, afoxolaner, you name it. Basically, I have extensively researched all of the flea and worm treatments that I have considered giving to my dog. I would feel better giving Louie the Comfortis and Heartgard combination, as opposed to Trifexis. That is because they have been around for a longer amount of time and I have been able to do research on the ingredients in combination with each other.

Read this article. I completely agree with everything the author has written. Maybe it will help shed a little light on what you're reading. It's totally fine to be skeptical of Trifexis, as you should be with any medication. But to claim that it's so much more dangerous than every single other flea and worm medication out there is simply unfounded, considering there is no real evidence to back up said claim. Seriously, I just decided to give some comments a look ... Person A says, "My dog is experiencing these symptoms after a year on Trifexis!" Person B replies with, "Actually, that breed is very prone to those issues. I have experienced it myself, years ago. Do you think that could be it? Did you ask the vet?" Person A never responds back. Person C and Person D enter in, saying how Trifexis killed their dog.

Fishy, is it not?

I never meant to start a debate about the safeness or effectiveness of any product.

The bottom line for me is this. I used the same vet for many, many years (even before I got my Yorkies). I trusted him and his partners. When we got our first Yorkie, Rin, the vet recommended Heartgard (for heartworm) and comfortis for fleas. Tyson came along, he also took Heartgard and Comfortis. When Triphexis came on the market my vet recommended this medication and stopped carrying the Comfortis. I trusted the vet and used the products he recommended with no ill effects for either of my Yorkies.

In January 2014 Rin went into the vet's office for a scheduled dental cleaning. Rin was treated very poorly throughout that miserable day and I was furious with the vet and the vet's staff for various reasons. This had nothing to do with flea/heartworm treatment.

In December 2014 Rin and Tyson were due for annual check ups and vaccinations. I took them to another highly recommended vet in the area. This particular vet insisted Triphexis was dangerous for small dogs and would not prescribe it (nor does she carry it at her clinic). She suggested Sentinel. I really have no choice...in my area it is impossible to buy prescription flea medication without a prescription. NO vets office will sell them unless your pet is an established patient.

I trust the vet I am currently using. I will listen to the vets advice about flea prevention.

My original intention for this thread was to determine if anyone had experienced the same side effects and if there were other suggestions for oral flea medication. I will ask about the Nexgard....because Triphexis is not an option at my vets office.

If I were you, I would definitely go with Nexgard. It actually kills the fleas, it doesn't just deem them infertile like Sentinel. If you're in a flea-heavy area, which you probably are (because yay Florida), I wouldn't recommend Sentinel. In theory, at least, it's not a good idea if there are lots of fleas around. Oh, and it kills ticks, which is a HUGE deal!

Edit: Lovetodream88, I replied to you but it's "awaiting moderation". Not sure why. I didn't throw in curses or anything, haha.

Uhtoh were you bad lol