Posted on 02/02/2014 2:49:58 AM PST by Grumpybutt
ATLANTA —
Channel 2 Action News has discovered the number of dog deaths pet owners blame on the popular pet medication Trifexis outnumbers the cases involving the Chinese jerky treats.
Elanco, the company that makes Trifexis, refused repeated requests from Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland to turn over its data.
Strickland filed a Freedom of Information request with the Food and Drug Administration and got the agency's data instead. It showed that since Trifexis hit the market, every 36 hours, a pet owner reported that Trifexis killed their dog.
Trifexis is the most popular flea and heartworm pill of its kind with more than 50 million doses dispensed. Most of the dogs on Trifexis are fine.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsbtv.com ...
from the article:
“Trifexis is the most popular flea and heartworm pill of its kind with more than 50 million doses dispensed. Most of the dogs on Trifexis are fine. “
Now it could be more than 700 dogs out of 50 million died from trifexis or it could be less.
But 700 out of 50 million is probably less than a lot of human drugs. Reporting at this stage is too early and there may be a lot more cases or in some cases the dog may have died of something else and was coincidently taking trifexis.
But is it is too early to tell and too early to say Bush’s fault and too early to say China’s fault, which are basically the two default options for blame.
Anything from China for dogs needs to be avoided. Thanks for posting this alert.
Ping worthy
The good news is that Congress just passed an act allowing China to process American chicken for human consumption!
I think the take-away lesson here is to avoid all pet products from China. I certainly do, after that mess back in 2007.
How do you know what is from China and what isn't?
I think that it is the law that consumer products from foreign countries have to identified as such.
In cities of the temperate to semi-tropical southeast, like Raleigh in North Carolina, for example, the fleas can become an infestation very quickly.
Contact topical medicines are no match for these little bastards. Add to all this the very real threat of mosquito-borne heart worms, and about the only thing dog owners have found that works are the two monthly medications that are said to be the ingredients in Trifexis. Separately, the cost adds up quickly. The vets, or at least some vets, push the Trifexis as an alternative, with the responsible caution to watch for neurological and GI symptoms.
Personally, we insisted on our husky taking the two medications separately, primarily because it worked. Cautiously, after a few months, we have just switched her to Trifexis for this mid-Winter month to see what's what.
I had no idea this medication was made in China. That's reason enough for me, in this situation at least, to switch her back next month, unless the separate treatments are also made in the "People's Republic."
But, again, we've found no treatment as effective against fleas. So she's going to be taking that medicine, whether it a compound, like Trifexis, or by itself.
Thankfully, she shows no nausea after dosing and only a moderate, short-lasting lethargy that fades after a day or so.
My dog Hank has been on this for 14 months. So far no problem. But this report does worry me. Trifexis doesn’t repel ticks. Hank still gets ticks.
That's verified?
You know what's going to happen?
The Chinese are going to throw in some of their Avian Flu infected chickens. Watch and see.
I cannot believe the powers that be can be so stupid as to allow this!
And the companies that are pushing for it. Have they lost their minds??
We purchase all meat and eggs from a local farmer. Still, this is indeed troubling. What about when I go out to eat? I don’t know from where that food comes.
We had our Beagle and our Chihuahua on Trifexis for about a yar with no noticiable side effects. Our vet says he has his dogs on it also. I always ask the vet whether he would give it to his dog before I give my pet a medicine.
We did not use Trifexis last season. The fleas have become immune to the Frontline. Last year it did not work at all and we had terrible flea problems. We finally bought some Diametaceous Earth and dusted the dogs and carpets and back yard with it. Worked like a charm.
We treat our dogs with Advantix year round. We’ve never had a case of fleas unless it was a stray walk on. Sometime we will treat a stray with a light dose of Sevin to keep from spreading fleas to the other dogs. Ticks are another thing. Two of our outside dogs will get about 4 or 5 ticks a year. The other one live inside with us and has never had a tick.
http://www.amazon.com/Diatomaceous-Earth-Food-Grade-10/dp/B00025H2PY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
LOTS of reviews, almost all glowing. This stuff is good in the garden too!
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