Bad Skin Reaction To Advantix?

[Guest UrsaLunar]

Am new to this forum and don't have a GH (yet! waiting to hear back from Buddy's rescue group!), but do have two GSDs (Oskar who is a long coat GSD, and Gaia who is a smooth coat - we swear one has some GH in her though!) ... posted this query to the GSD board I'm on as well, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask here too

 

Am wondering if I may be way off base in thinking my Oskar had a reaction to Advantix, but wanted to see if it was not uncommon ...

 

Our old vet retired earlier this year - had been in process of switching to local vet I'd heard great things about for everyone because getting up to where he was located wasn't so easy anymore. Old vet recommended Frontline - had no problem with that other than the fact that Oskar still contracted Lyme disease while on it (early in the season maybe?). New vet highly recommends Advantix so we tried that.

 

Within a couple days of first Advantix application Oskar started scratching at himself - everywhere. Tried washing out that area but it was too late - he kept scratching. Gaia had had an application at the same time with no problems. To alleviate Oskar's obviously dry skin (other than a few flakes it didn't look irritated) we gave him a bath in the nice Lanolin based shampoo we've been using on him for some time without issue.

 

This time I made special care to rinse it out of him, and to rinse more when I'd thought it was all out. But I might not have gotten his very wooly thigh that was furthest away from me - I know I rinsed it well, but maybe not as well as everywhere else.

 

A few days later I'd spent the day very busy cleaning at home - remember hearing Oskar licking at himself and telling him to "stop the lickey-licks" - the dogs know the sound of the vacuum used to make me nervous, and respond like it still does - and didn't think to check what he was licking. Then rushed out the door to take oldest son to the dentist's ...

 

Hubby arrived home before I did and met me at the car, "Have you seen Oskar's leg?" he asked.

 

Oskar had licked off a patch of fur the size of a large man's hand off of his thigh!

 

We cleaned the area off and put anti-biotic ointment with pain reliever on it, and used medical tape to loosely yet securely tape to his fur a folded square from one of the silky old cotton sheets I keep for lining doll clothes and making bandages out of to keep the ointment in place and dirt out of the sore & raw area - and left a message with the vet's office (it was after hours) begging to see Oskar the next day.

 

Saw the Dr the next morning and he agreed it was a reaction to something I'm thinking Advantix possibly exacerbated by a poorly rinsed gentle shampoo and worry. He's had baths before, and he's heard me vacuum often enough, LOL! XD

 

Dr trimmed around Oskar's licked-away patch to expose it more for cleaning, and gave him a shot of anti-biotics. And when we left a prescription of capsules for more, and a nice spray for the area that has a topical anti-biotic and an analgesic - in an aloe & lanolin base with a bitter taste so pets won't lick it more. It works GREAT at keeping him from licking, and he seems greatly relieved at each application!

 

So all I can assume is that the Advantix, that was making him itch already, must have been the catalyst.

 

Have already determined not to use it on Oskar again - but still wonder if anyone else had a dog that had a similar reaction to Advantix?

Edited June 9, 2008 by UrsaLunar

[ShantisMom]

My GSD does fine with it. My grey had a horrible reaction to it. She screamed, spun in circles and started chewing herself. I immediately bathed her and that helped. I never used it again.

[GeorgeofNE]

My Grey did fine on it, but my vet refuses to prescribe it for me because I have cats and it cannot be used around cats.

 

No flea/tick medication prevents Lyme disease, FYI. I suppose your vet suggested Advantix because it is better at repelling ticks--Frontline doesn't do that. That's why I wanted to use it. I recently learned that it is OK to use a Preventic collar on greyhounds--so maybe you could try that?

[Guest crazy4greys]

Some dogs have a bad reaction to the K9 Advantix.

 

My vet will not sell it to greyhound owners, not because some have cats, but because of the bad reactions he has seen.

 

I would suggest using something else for your GSDs.

 

For my greys, I use Advantage, it controls just fleas, then I have them wear the Preventic Collar for ticks.

 

For some reason, the fleas in my area are not affected by Frontline Plus.

[turbotaina]

One of our adopters used it and it caused seizures so bad that the greyhound had to be put down I've queried a couple of my favorite vets and neither of them think that these types of adverse reactions are greyhound-related - they just happen to fall within the normal range of adverse reaction among all breed types. However, I won't use it and I won't recommend it to anybody. The worst adverse reaction I've seen to Frontline Plus was hair loss at the application site when the product was accidentally applied twice (we didn't know the dog was treated at the kennel and so when the dog came to us, we treated and it caused hair loss and irritation). Frontline Plus may not be the best product out there, but it's pretty good and it seems to be one of the safer ones. It's what we've used on more than 700 foster dogs in our group. You can always go the Advantage/Preventic route, too.

Edited June 9, 2008 by turbotaina

[Guest UrsaLunar]

EEEK!!! Those sound like some BAD reactions!

 

A responder on the GSD board also said one of her dogs had a similar reaction to Oskar's, including bumps all over skin. I didn't see that thru his thick coat, but where he licked off small bumps were everywhere, thought that was irritation from the licking but was probably wrong again!

 

We have cats, the K9 Advantix vet knows that but it wasn't brought up ... he's very holistic oriented so am wondering if he hadn't heard of/seen any of the bad reactions? One of our cats, Caleb, cuddles right up to Gaia on a regular basis - so even if she didn't have a reaction am thinking I shouldn't continue it for her either.

 

And we also have small boys - 3 and 5, one of the reasons why we're interested in Buddy, he adores and is gentle with children - so am thinking a preventative collar might not be so good. Because well, the boys adore and are gentle with dogs and wouldn't be so comfortable with them touching the collars (which you know they'll do even when actually trying not to).

 

Spoke to my Dad this AM who was an exterminator for a while after retiring to FL (he's now back in insurance) ... he said that the topical flea/tick preventatives we put on our pets have a significantly higher concentration of the effective chemical that they sprayed around homes!

 

Am thinking my best bet is feeling the dogs all over each evening to check for ticks and treat fleas IF they get them ... or going back to Frontline Plus.

Edited June 9, 2008 by UrsaLunar

[Guest ChancesMom]

My GH had a reaction as well. Not as severe as some of the above but I noticed that anytime anyone even touched him any near the area I had applied he would turn his head that way and the whole top part of his bodies skin would crawl. The Advantix did not soak in like the Frontline that I had used before (I changed on my Vets recommendation). It was still there after a week. I gave him a bath which did not do any good. After talking to Vet and a representative from Advantix I used Dawn Liquid which finally got rid of it. It will be Frontline for me from now on.

[Houndtime]

We used Advantix for a while without any problems. Then John E started getting very weird on the days it was applied. He would rub up against the wall, lay in the back of his crate and some other unusual behaviors. I called my vet and she said there had been no other complaints in her practice that she was aware of. We went back to Front Line Plus, but the Advantix does work on mosquitos which the Front Line doesn't.

[Guest ChancesMom]

We used Advantix for a while without any problems. Then John E started getting very weird on the days it was applied. He would rub up against the wall, lay in the back of his crate and some other unusual behaviors. I called my vet and she said there had been no other complaints in her practice that she was aware of. We went back to Front Line Plus, but the Advantix does work on mosquitos which the Front Line doesn't.

 

I read in another post that you could spray Skin So Soft from Avon on them to keep the mosquitos away.

[SPDoggie]

We also had a problem with Advantix but not with Frontline, so hence that is our flea/tick preventative.

[Guest shelbygirl07]

Am new to this forum and don't have a GH (yet! waiting to hear back from Buddy's rescue group!), but do have two GSDs (Oskar who is a long coat GSD, and Gaia who is a smooth coat - we swear one has some GH in her though!) ... posted this query to the GSD board I'm on as well, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask here too

 

Am wondering if I may be way off base in thinking my Oskar had a reaction to Advantix, but wanted to see if it was not uncommon ...

 

Our old vet retired earlier this year - had been in process of switching to local vet I'd heard great things about for everyone because getting up to where he was located wasn't so easy anymore. Old vet recommended Frontline - had no problem with that other than the fact that Oskar still contracted Lyme disease while on it (early in the season maybe?). New vet highly recommends Advantix so we tried that.

 

Within a couple days of first Advantix application Oskar started scratching at himself - everywhere. Tried washing out that area but it was too late - he kept scratching. Gaia had had an application at the same time with no problems. To alleviate Oskar's obviously dry skin (other than a few flakes it didn't look irritated) we gave him a bath in the nice Lanolin based shampoo we've been using on him for some time without issue.

 

This time I made special care to rinse it out of him, and to rinse more when I'd thought it was all out. But I might not have gotten his very wooly thigh that was furthest away from me - I know I rinsed it well, but maybe not as well as everywhere else.

 

A few days later I'd spent the day very busy cleaning at home - remember hearing Oskar licking at himself and telling him to "stop the lickey-licks" - the dogs know the sound of the vacuum used to make me nervous, and respond like it still does - and didn't think to check what he was licking. Then rushed out the door to take oldest son to the dentist's ...

 

Hubby arrived home before I did and met me at the car, "Have you seen Oskar's leg?" he asked.

 

Oskar had licked off a patch of fur the size of a large man's hand off of his thigh!

 

We cleaned the area off and put anti-biotic ointment with pain reliever on it, and used medical tape to loosely yet securely tape to his fur a folded square from one of the silky old cotton sheets I keep for lining doll clothes and making bandages out of to keep the ointment in place and dirt out of the sore & raw area - and left a message with the vet's office (it was after hours) begging to see Oskar the next day.

 

Saw the Dr the next morning and he agreed it was a reaction to something I'm thinking Advantix possibly exacerbated by a poorly rinsed gentle shampoo and worry. He's had baths before, and he's heard me vacuum often enough, LOL! XD

 

Dr trimmed around Oskar's licked-away patch to expose it more for cleaning, and gave him a shot of anti-biotics. And when we left a prescription of capsules for more, and a nice spray for the area that has a topical anti-biotic and an analgesic - in an aloe & lanolin base with a bitter taste so pets won't lick it more. It works GREAT at keeping him from licking, and he seems greatly relieved at each application!

 

So all I can assume is that the Advantix, that was making him itch already, must have been the catalyst.

 

Have already determined not to use it on Oskar again - but still wonder if anyone else had a dog that had a similar reaction to Advantix?

 

 

yes, my Pom has this reaction. You can see it in a matter of hours after applying the medication. Our vet told us that if the reaction is making the dog miserable, wash it off with some Dawn dishwashing detergent and the reaction should stop. She was very specific with the type of detergent to use. I put it on him last month and he had the reaction so i washed it off. He has no reaction to Revolution, only the Advantix so i won't use it on him anymore.