Use NexGard for fleas/ticks? From the makers of Frontline

[mrsd2006]

I've never even heard of this stuff. We usually only use Comfortis for fleas, but my vet recommended this stuff because it works for ticks too (we are in the woods a lot)

Anyone have any experience with this? It was expensive as hell at my vet, $150 for 6 months (50 lb dog). Probably would be cheaper somewhere else. 

I hate trying new meds but they really do need tick protection also (we are in the south so  lots of fleas and ticks)

Thanks

[Deleted]

Nexgard is a fairly new drug. The active ingredient is afoxolaner, which was approved by the FDA in 2013 for use in dogs against fleas and ticks. It's similar to the insecticide fluralaner, which is the active ingredient in Bravecto, which was approved in 2014. Both are oral chewables.

My dog had a bad case of fleas last fall after going to the dog park. Two Frontline doses and several Capstar doses didn't help. We bathed her and vacuumed a ton, but she still had live fleas and was scratching constantly. The vet recommended Bravecto. One chewable is supposed to protect the dog for 3 months. It was $50 for one dose. Within a couple days of taking it, she stopped scratching and we haven't seen any fleas since (while also keeping up with vacuuming frequently).

I believe it worked, and she didn't have any side effects that I know of. My area is not heavy on ticks at all, so my concern is mostly fleas. I don't plan to take her to the dog park again, at least until I know she is protected. Right now I'm deciding what ongoing flea med to keep her on. Since I also want heartworm medicine, I might just put her on Comfortis (she has been taking Heartgard thus far). My concern with Bravecto is that it is a pretty new drug, and adverse effects are not fully known at this point.

[cmeon]

What are you currently using for ticks? Is it not working as well as it once did- or never was very effective?

We're in central FL and only "prevent" heartworms these days- we never see fleas (our big pups came home with them, but, a dose of plain old Advantage fixed that), and haven't seen a tick for 8 years (when we had 6 dogs and our neighbors had an "outdoor" hound). My holy grail for the ticks was a Preventic collar- amitraz (it comes in various forms now). It was extremely effective in our case and without side effects, but, it's pretty harsh stuff (shouldn't be used around cats, shouldn't be used on super tiny dogs are two cautions I recall).

I think I would try other preventatives (the devil you know...) before one of these new ones, but, ticks suck- so, it's entirely possible that I'd be less cautious if things were bad.

[momof2boys]

I have been using Nexgard for the past year, and love it! I love that my dog doesn't have the oily patches on him now from topical meds (he is 140 pounds so thats a lot of oily stuff!). I love that my kids aren't touching the oily stuff, or a flea/tick collar. In the past year I only saw one tick on him, it was just walking on him so hadn't bitten yet. For full disclosure he did test positive for Anaplasma this year so at some point a tick did bite him and stay on long enough to transmit the disease, but nothing is 100% and we live in an area that we see a TON of tick born diseases so most dogs get diagnosed at some point. It is expensive (its 18.50 per dose at my vets) though if you buy Heartguard with it they have some good rebates right now. But overall, i'm very happy with it!

[mrsd2006]

Apr 21, 2015 11:49:30 GMT -5 @moonbeam said:

Nexgard is a fairly new drug. The active ingredient is afoxolaner, which was approved by the FDA in 2013 for use in dogs against fleas and ticks. It's similar to the insecticide fluralaner, which is the active ingredient in Bravecto, which was approved in 2014. Both are oral chewables.

My dog had a bad case of fleas last fall after going to the dog park. Two Frontline doses and several Capstar doses didn't help. We bathed her and vacuumed a ton, but she still had live fleas and was scratching constantly. The vet recommended Bravecto. One chewable is supposed to protect the dog for 3 months. It was $50 for one dose. Within a couple days of taking it, she stopped scratching and we haven't seen any fleas since (while also keeping up with vacuuming frequently).

I believe it worked, and she didn't have any side effects that I know of. My area is not heavy on ticks at all, so my concern is mostly fleas. I don't plan to take her to the dog park again, at least until I know she is protected. Right now I'm deciding what ongoing flea med to keep her on. Since I also want heartworm medicine, I might just put her on Comfortis (she has been taking Heartgard thus far). My concern with Bravecto is that it is a pretty new drug, and adverse effects are not fully known at this point.

Comfortis doesn't cover heartworms, only fleas. I haven't heard of Bravecto either. We stopped using topicals a few years ago and have been using Comfortis for fleas, but do need tick protection as well. We use Heartgard for heartworms also. 

[mrsd2006]

Apr 21, 2015 19:17:00 GMT -5 cmeon said:

What are you currently using for ticks? Is it not working as well as it once did- or never was very effective?

We're in central FL and only "prevent" heartworms these days- we never see fleas (our big pups came home with them, but, a dose of plain old Advantage fixed that), and haven't seen a tick for 8 years (when we had 6 dogs and our neighbors had an "outdoor" hound). My holy grail for the ticks was a Preventic collar- amitraz (it comes in various forms now). It was extremely effective in our case and without side effects, but, it's pretty harsh stuff (shouldn't be used around cats, shouldn't be used on super tiny dogs are two cautions I recall).

I think I would try other preventatives (the devil you know...) before one of these new ones, but, ticks suck- so, it's entirely possible that I'd be less cautious if things were bad.

Not currently using anything for ticks. We have a place in the mountains we go to quite often and it's pretty heavy wooded so lots of ticks, but i only found a few last year (mostly after they were crawling on me...but no bites). 

I have some diatomaceous (sp?) earth I'm going to put out in the yard too. 

[mrsd2006]

Apr 24, 2015 5:57:55 GMT -5 momof2boys said:

I have been using Nexgard for the past year, and love it! I love that my dog doesn't have the oily patches on him now from topical meds (he is 140 pounds so thats a lot of oily stuff!). I love that my kids aren't touching the oily stuff, or a flea/tick collar. In the past year I only saw one tick on him, it was just walking on him so hadn't bitten yet. For full disclosure he did test positive for Anaplasma this year so at some point a tick did bite him and stay on long enough to transmit the disease, but nothing is 100% and we live in an area that we see a TON of tick born diseases so most dogs get diagnosed at some point. It is expensive (its 18.50 per dose at my vets) though if you buy Heartguard with it they have some good rebates right now. But overall, i'm very happy with it!

I'm glad to hear that. I've posted a few other places as well and everyone's been happy with it, including two vet friends that I have asked. It was more like $25 a dose at my vet for a medium size dog ($150 for 6 months), which about gave me a heart attack. I'm hoping i can find it cheaper on line. 

[jane6672]

We use Nexgard - it's what the vet recommended. I've found 2 ticks on him (at the same time), and they were both dead. This is a really tick-heavy area, so it does work quite well.

It is pricey, though.