Charlie… our beast!
We had a scare this past week. It was time for Charlie’s Trifexis dose, a combination heart worm and flea preventative. I gave him food, then the pill and as usual he didn’t feel too good during the day. Normal, it can cause stomach upset, vomiting, etc. I always time the dose so I make sure he makes it past the one hour point without vomiting. He did. Whew, I thought, coast is clear. Not. About six hours later he started to stumble. He was disoriented. He was stretching his neck back and his eyes were partly closed. He had tremors. I felt his heart. Not knowing what “normal” was I did know that his chest felt quite like an explosion over and over. We took him to an emergency vet clinic in Mount Pleasant, SC called Veterinary Specialty Care. These people were nothing short of amazing. They acted promptly. They took him in the back to be seen by the doctor. Then we were called into a room where the doctor told us that his heart rate was dangerously high, 220. After trying to rule out everything in the world, his diagnosis, as she suspected was Trifexis toxicity. Trifexis works on fleas by messing with their neurological system. Sometimes it can do the same in dogs which would explain the odd behavior, the tremors… he stayed overnight so that he could be monitored, he was sedated so he could sleep through this reaction. They’ve seen it many times. UGH! Ever since Sentinel disappeared off the market we’ve all been steered toward Trifexis, in part because the darn fleas have gotten clever and are starting to not respond to the older meds. I can tell you it was a scary time. It took a few days before he was fully himself again, now he’s left with nothing but a shaved leg 
– so he’s fine, and all is well! We did take him to our regular vet for a follow up, and this was the second Trifexis Toxicity case in three days… I don’t want to alarm you, I just want to make you aware.
If you have any questions about giving Trifexis I would research it thoroughly, I thought I did, but…
IF YOUR DOG IS HAVING ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS, (not acting normally, arching head up oddly, difficulty walking, stumbling, if their heart rate feels strangely fast, drooling (other than normal), tremors, vomiting and more…) GET THEM TO THE VET OR EMERGENCY VET IF YOU CAN.
UPDATE: Charlie’s new regimen is Program and Capstar for fleas (Capstar only once a week for first six weeks) and Heartgard for heart worm… read more HERE!
This is from the Trifexis website:
For technical assistance or to report a suspected adverse drug reaction, contact Elanco Animal Health at 1-888-545-5973. Additional information can be found at www.trifexis.com. Alternatively, suspected adverse drug reactions may be reported to FDA at 1-888-FDA-VETS or http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ReportaProblem/ucm055305.htm
Thank you to my many Facebook friends who sent well wishes and prayers, it made all the difference! Catch you back here tomorrow!
Everybody wants to cut corners by using combo products like Trifexis, but from doing my own research, there’s no better combo than heartgard and frontline. just saying.
Hmmmm, cut corners? Trifexis is quite expensive. It was never our intention to “cut corners”. His previous regimen was Sentinel and Comfortis (the part of Trifexis that caused the reaction). Sentinel has been taken off the market due to manufacturing problems. Every vet in our area is recommending TRIFEXIS, in part because the fleas have gotten pretty smart and aren’t responding as well to Frontline, Advantage, etc. Our new regimen is Advantage Multi, which is heart worm and flea together… Your regimen is a good one, and one that he was on a while back. I’m not sure if you’re located in or near Charleston, SC where the flea population is sky high or if you are located elsewhere. Be glad that your combo is working for you and your pet, I hope it continues to! Thanks for commenting.
UPDATE: his new regimen for the past six month has been PROGRAM (fleas), HEARTGARD (heart worm) and CAPSTAR (fleas, but only use this once a week for the first six weeks. It kills the life cycle of the flea. You can also use it at any point if they appear, it kills them in 30 minutes) this has been working great! (http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/archives/fdaDrugInfo.cfm?archiveid=13672 to see the info)
Hello Barbara. I have a toy poodle (Inga) and I am giving her trifexis, she has not had any issues yet but I am hearing more and more negative stories about this med. I will take her off that stuff before it does more damage. I feel bad for having given her these nasty chemicals. I live in Florida so fleas are a big problem all year long…Thank you for sharing, I will try your regimen
Marion, don’t feel bad! Trifexis does work for many dogs… the reaction Charlie had was frightening, and was after he was on it for a while (not his first dose)… darn fleas are bad here in SC as well… good luck with your new regimen… Charlie also gets hosed down (he gets so hot) after walking our greenway (public pathway)… not sure if that could possibly help any! You sound like a good “dog mom” too Inga
Hi there… I realize this is an old post, but just out of curiosity, how much does Charlie weigh, and what dosage was he getting?
I wrote a little about Comfortis/Trifexis reactions here:
http://shibasenji.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/comfortis-monthly-flea-protection-in-an-oral-dose/
Charlie weighed about 24 pounds and was given the 20.1-40 pound dosage… as your post suggests, it’s the dosage for the size dog that may be a problem… however, since he was taking Trifexis, and part of that is for heartworm, we couldn’t lower the dosage (especially since we live where mosquitoes are abundant)… I enjoyed your post, full of great information! And GREAT observation to the reaction/dosage of the dog – for now the Program and Heartgard is working great… fingers crossed! Also… I just received something in the mail about SENTINEL… that’s what he was on originally, and the manufacturer had problems and stopped producing it for years… apparently its back on the market. I’m sticking with what we’ve got for now… thanks for commenting!
So glad to hear that your regimen is working, and that there are no more negative reactions from Charlie. Scary what your emergency vets said about seeing so many incidences of Trifexis toxicity though! Makes me wonder if the manufacturers are listening??
We also separate flea and heartworm medication, and stagger dates of administration whenever possible. The whole mess with heartworm medication manufacturers is so frustrating.
I agree M.C.! It’s frustrating when you have a regimen that is working and then poof… its off the market, ugh!
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