First Dose Of Trifexis....Not Good.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Well I finished out my supply of Interceptor which the Vet hooked me up with when she knew it was going to become very scarce, and I had to give the Doods a different Heartworm med.  The Vet thought that Trifexis was the next best alternative.  I was reluctant because of some of the things I've heard here on DK and elsewhere on the Internet, but she said that most of her patients were now using it without any reported problems.  I gave them each their dose last night and watched them for a few hours...they were fine.  This morning they wouldn't eat their breakfast which is a problem because they vomit bile if their stomach stays empty for very long in the morning.  I did convince them to eat some chicken which Murphy vomited up a short time later along with some of what must have been last night's dinner.  They have both been sleeping most of the day....they clearly don't feel well.  I took the remaining three doses back to the Vet this afternoon and told the Tech what happened.  She credited me for all of the doses and we switched to Heartgard for next month (considerably less expensive than Trifexis).  Hopefully they'll be able to eat and hold it down tonight.  I just wanted to share this.  I know that there have been other Doodles who had the same reaction.  There are lots of different reactions being reported on the net along with one Vet who seems to be trying to put together some data.  Does anyone know why the Interceptor has been unavailable for the past several months....my Vet Tech didn't seem to know.  Also, has anyone had any issues with Heartgard?  I know that's been around a lot longer than Trifexis, and there doesn't seem to be the same type of issue with side effects.

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

http://journalstar.com/business/local/novartis-extends-restoration-...

Okay, something weird happened with my post, too. I found this article in the Lincoln, NE, Journal Star that says limited production has resumed at the Novartis plant. They specifically mention Sentinel and Excedrin as back in production. Novartis says they expect to begin shipments in the fourth quarter of the year.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thanks for the reference.  I'm a little worried about the fact that the plant closed initially due to multiple problems and citations that were serious enough to take months to fix.  That doesn't speak too well to their quality control programs.  If Heartgard works for my guys I may stick with that.

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I agree with your concern, Jane. From what I've read, the problems seemed to be isolated to their packaging processes--not the actual production of the meds.

To me, that is a bit of comfort--but the fact that the packaging problems happened in the first place is very distressing.

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

Jane,

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

okay no idea where the rest of my comment went......

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

http://www.thebark.com/content/interceptorsentinel-shortage This also explains why Excedrine has been taken off the shelves

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That "burping" has been happening to a lot of us the past few days when we try to post replies.

[BG and Gavin]

Poor guys, I hope it resolves soon.  You shouldn't have to worry about medicine making them sick :(

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Hope the pups are feeling better soon.

[Colleen, Jake & Baxter]

 Jake just had his first dose of Iverhart Plus this month and so far so good.  He is suffering from some hot spots now but it is not due to the Iverhart.

Jane - I hope your doods are feeling better by now.  Jake has been on interceptor since I adopted him and it's so frustrating to have to change over to something else.

[Lia & Pippa]

Pippa was on heart guard the first few months that I had her and did just fine with it (even as a little puppy). She was also on frontline plus because the fleas and ticks are REALLY bad here right now. The frontline didn't seem to be effective for the fleas (I was still finding them on her) and so the Vet said we should switch her to something else. He was nervous about putting her on Trifexsis because it apparently doesn't really work against ticks - and as I said ticks are bad this year but he didn't know what else to do for the fleas so we decided to try the trifexsis. She has been doing just fine with it - it is nice that it is one pill for both heart worm and flea prevention. He said to just watch for ticks and if we were planning to be in a woody area to treat her with frontline  a few days before (I've avoided this because I feel like she has enough chemicals going into her body as is). She acted totally fine with the Trifexsis and I hope it stays that way for her!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am sorry to hear this Jane. I'm still using Interceptor but I am a stockpiler. I don't have the energy to read all the responses now but in case no one has answered your question about why Interceptor was unavailable:http://news.vin.com/vinnews.aspx?articleId=22041

I hope the doodles do better on Heartguard.