I’m posting this because I just saw a thread from a year ago, stating that fleas become resistant to Frontline Plus, and recommending dog parents to “use the stuff the vet gives you instead”.
First of all, the story about drug-resistant fleas is an urban myth and is categorically untrue. Frontline Plus has been used safely and effectively over thirty years. You must apply it properly every 28 days. But it is extremely effective and completely safe for your pet. If you still have flea issues after use, you must wash thoroughly all soft furnishings and start keeping yoir dog clean.
My main reason for posting is the horror I felt when I saw dog parents being advised to use Nexgard / Simparica / Bravecto / Credelio.
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE GIVING ANY MORE OF THESE DRUGS TO YOUR DOG.
I have spent the last two years doing intensive research, reading up on my own, speaking with other dog mums and dads and also with a consultant at a London vet hospital and our own vet.
All of the above four prescription-only drugs contain an active ingredient which ends in the letters, L A N E R. It might be Axfolaner or Sarolaner or something similar, but they are all from the same family. This is an extremely aggressive ingredient. When you give your dog their “tasty, chewy tablet” each month, you are topping up the significant residue that remains in their body after the previous dose. It can take months or years for their body to reach its limit. With our little schnauzer, it took four years of Nexgard for her to suddenly have violent cluster seizures. Her brain scan showed no epilepsy, and the consultant told us it was extremely rare for a dog of seven years old to suddenly develop epilepsy. This consultant also said it was “more likely than not” that our dog’s attacks were a result of the build-up of Axfolaner / Sarolaner in her little body. We took her off this stuff immediately and put her back on Frontline Plus, which worked perfectly well for the first three years of her life. Frontline Plus, Spot On and their worming tablets - NOT prescription ones, I mean the ones you buy off the shelf at the big pets’ chain store - are the safest and most effective way to prevent and kill fleas, ticks, mites and worms in yoir dog. I researched the active ingredients in these - Fipronil and (S)-methoprene. Their safety record is exemplary. Please do some reading up yourself, but bear in mind that every time you give your dog their Simparica or Nexgard, you are creating a ticking time bomb. The only reason there aren’t tens of thousands more anecdotal cases published is that vets refuse to acknowledge the connection between seizures and the drugs they make a fortune from. By all means disregard this. But I feel better sharing. We know of five dogs in our area alone whose parents believe these drugs have caused neurological reactions. Go safe, and stick to the tried and tested ones that don’t need vets’ prescriptions.