We are having a major tick infestation at the moment. I usually use X-spot, but the vet today told me that many ticks and fleas seem to be becoming immune, and she gave me the Bravecto that Lochan had mentioned. So far I can report that Poppy ate the chewy tablet with gusto, so it obviously tastes good! Other than that I can't give any reports so far, but I'll keep you updated as to whether it really does work for the stated three months. Apparently it works by killing attached ticks, rather than by repelling them.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Day 2 after taking the Bravecto. No tummy problems at all, and no ticks have attached since taking it, though whether that is just luck I can't say. She had several unattached ticks after our walk this morning, which I picked off and flushed down the toilet!
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Day 3 - no adverse reactions from Poppy. This morning I found one dead shriveled tick attached to her leg, and one live one on her neck; I removed both. Reading the packaging information, Bravecto should give protection against fleas for 8 weeks, and against ticks for up to 12 weeks. It is not a repellent; ticks or fleas have to attach in order for it to work. Fleas will be killed within 8 hours; ticks within 12 hours. The woods are simply crawling with ticks at the moment, and they can carry meningitis and Lyme disease, so treating against ticks is a major concern to me. I am lucky that Poppy is blonde, so after every walk I check her over very carefully for the pesky little blighters. The advantages so far are that when using Bravecto, the dog can go straight into water, as it doesn't wash off and won't affect fish or other aquatic life. Also there's no worry of poison transferring from the fur onto hands - which is certainly a worry at least for the first couple of days with the oil treatments, and also with the collars. I remain concerned that it isn't a repellent - though frankly even with frontline or x-spot ticks still attached. The jury is out for now. I want this to work, but I'm beginning to think there is no wonder treatment. Good old checking and grooming is going to remain super important for the next couple of months, I think!
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks I'm very interested in how this works. I usually use frontline now as that is what my vet recommends but we don't have a tic problem around home it's usually only when we go to Scotland or the lakes. I did use programme tablets with my old lab. Of course that doesn't kill the flea just stops reproduction but I stopped as he did seem to get an upset stomach a couple of times. Probably a coincidence. I know you said its not a repellant. I'm wondering if anything is actually a repellant from these nasties. How would a repellant work ? A smell or coating on the fur ? I'm also interested in using an oral product rather than a spot on as my two dogs are likely to lick each other which worries me. Looking forward to your results Karen.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Since we got a major tick invasion in Tyrol atm too i got one of those oral tabletts for Odin too. Haven't given it to him yet because he was dewormed 2 days ago and had some runny poo as a side evect. We usually used a Xspot but since he is in water all the time it just washes of too fast. I'll give him the tablet today or tomorrow(depends on the consistence of his poo today ). I'll report how it works out for us.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Christoph, my vet said to wait at least a week between giving the Bravecto and worming tablets.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks [quote author=Karen link=topic=6560.msg87702#msg87702 date=1402646371] Christoph, my vet said to wait at least a week between giving the Bravecto and worming tablets. [/quote] Ah thank you for that info!! so i guess i'll wait till next wednesday then!
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Interesting read Karen , thank you . I too think that whatever we use, good old eyesight and checking will still be necessary . I treated our two recently, but still had to take a tic off Millie the other day with the little tic removal tool , hate the pesky little blighters
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks [quote author=Jen link=topic=6560.msg87698#msg87698 date=1402644994] I'm very interested in how this works. I usually use frontline now as that is what my vet recommends but we don't have a tic problem around home it's usually only when we go to Scotland or the lakes. I did use programme tablets with my old lab. Of course that doesn't kill the flea just stops reproduction but I stopped as he did seem to get an upset stomach a couple of times. Probably a coincidence. I know you said its not a repellant. I'm wondering if anything is actually a repellant from these nasties. How would a repellant work ? A smell or coating on the fur ? I'm also interested in using an oral product rather than a spot on as my two dogs are likely to lick each other which worries me. Looking forward to your results Karen. [/quote] There surely is no difference surely in the dog licking off a product from another dog, to giving it orally, both are injested.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Really interested in this product. Good to hear that it's going well so far (even if it's not a repellant).
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks That's a good point Stacia I'd not thought of that. : I just assumed a spot on treatment is basically a pesticide and shouldn't be ingested. I don't know what or if there is a difference between the chemicals used for spot on treatments and those used for oral treatments. Perhaps somebody else will know. ???
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks There definitely is a difference, frontline and x-spot etc contain something that is very toxic if ingested. Obviously the active ingredient in Bravecto isn't toxic when ingested. I am sure Lochan will be able to enlighten us more.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks This is quite difficult to write concisely about because there is such a large number of different flea/tick products available all of which do something a little different but I'll try to summarise so apologies if it gets too long! The majority of these products target the insect nervous system causing paralysis and death. As the receptors on the insect nervous system are somewhat different to those of mammals, these drugs are fairly specific to insects and have low toxicity to mammals even in fairly major overdoses (for example, it is possible to feed 5 times the normal dose of Bravecto to 8 week old puppies with no adverse effects). There are two ways the products kill insects. Either they are topically active and are absorbed through the gaps in the insect cuticle and cause paralysis and death (e.g. everything with imidacloprid such as Advantage, Advocate, Advantix, Seresto, also fipronil so Frontline, Effipro, Fiprospot, etc) or the insect has to ingest the agent when it bites the animal (selamectin in Stronghold, fluralener in Bravecto, etc.) Generally speaking products which are ingested by the insect rather than absorbed kill the insect more quickly. There are also two ways of application to the pet. Topical administration to the animal whereby the product spreads through the fatty layer of the skin and sits there waiting for insects to absorb it through their cuticle, or oral administration to the dog/cat whereby the insecticide is usually stored in fatty tissue and released into the blood giving the insect a lethal dose when it takes a blood meal. The advantage of topical administration is that very little active ingredient is absorbed by the dog/cat. However, due to the specificity of the insecticide for the insect rather than mammalian nervous system even if your dog eats a product designed for topical use the worse that is likely to happen is salivation and nausea as the carriers used to allow the active ingredient to spread over the skin taste vile. The disadvantages of products which sit on the dog skin are that they can contaminate the dogs environment (waterways, etc) and that they are much, much easier to wash or lick off than the manufacturers would have you believe hence the speed of kill and duration of efficacy of the product in the field are not what happens in carefully controlled trials where the dogs do not swim/roll in fox poo etc etc. Products which work by oral administration to the pet obviously do not suffer from these problems, but suffer from their own set of issues - if the dog vomits, it may not be absorbed, if not given on a full stomach may not last as long as the data sheet indicates, etc. It used to be thought that these products were of no benefit in animals that had an allergy to flea bites, as the fleas have to bite to be killed. However, it has been shown that these products kill insects so much more quickly than topically active equivalents that the dogs are actually bitten fewer times per infestation hence even flea allergic animals are OK with them. Also a brief mention of the pyrethroid type insecticides. These are toxic to cats and very toxic to fish and contaminate waterways. However, they are the best at repelling insects (ticks, fleas, sandflies, mosquitos, etc). There are pyrethroids in Seresto and Scalibor collars, and also in Advantix Spot On. Finally to add to the confusion not all topically applied products are topically active. For example, Stronghold is applied to the dogs skin but is absorbed and kills parasites when they bite. Advocate contains both a topically active product which sits in the fatty layer of the skin and also one which is absorbed. Advantix contains a topically active contact killer and also a repellant. Sorry for the huge essay, but I hope it helps with some of the confusion around these products. They all do slightly different things and target different parasites so in every case it is wisest to discuss which product to use with your local vet who will know the local issues with parasite control and be able to advise you accordingly.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Gosh thanks Lochan, that is a really super and actually very concise overview! Very useful indeed!
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Very useful write-up, thanks Lochan. Out of interest, what treatment do you use for your own dog? (Our own vet uses Bravecto for his dog so we going to try it for Harvey too)
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks I have just swapped my two over from Stronghold to Bravecto. We don't have a tick problem locally but I have a problem with two obsessive swimmers and rollers in fox poo hence something which doesn't wash off or contaminate waterways is important for me to cover fleas. Just about to go on holiday to a tick area so we'll see how the Bravecto does, although I might take a couple of tick-repellent collars with me just in case they get covered.
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Just found another tick (dead and shriveled) on Pops' belly. The Bravecto is doing its job!!
Re: Bravecto tablets against ticks Karen,thanks for starting this and Lochan your information is excellent ,thankyou . We don't have a lot of ticks here but I have lifted a couple off Dex.My vet wasn't confident with products available here so she writes me a prescription that I get filled in the UK for Advantix... I bumped into her the other day and in the chat said I was due to pop in to get a prescription for a UK trip in July and she mentioned she knew there was something more effective and she would look it up for me.....I wonder if it's Bravecto?
