My dog has seizures after heartworm/flea meds. Should I stop them?

I'm so sorry Pippi is dealing with this. Unfortunately for a small dog, heartworms can be life threatening, so I would certainly try to find a heartworm preventative medication that will work for her. I generally recommend Interceptor or Sentinel for seizure dogs because the medication does not cross the blood-brain barrier and cannot cause seizures. Vaccinations are a little trickier because the answer depends on Pippi's lifestyle and her risks of being exposed to different diseases. Here is one way to help decide what vaccines would be beneficial for her, then you can discuss with your veterinarian if the vaccinations are work the risk. https://www.aaha.org/guidelines/canine_vaccination_guidelines/vaccine_calculator.aspx Finally, Pippi is the right age for epilepsy to develop, so other stressors may also cause seizures, and you might need to put her on medication for the siezures if they continue. I have attached more information on seizures below. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=560 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

You can stop them cold turkey and see if she improves. Otherwise, it may be a good idea to see a neurologist. If you live in an area that is high risk for heartworm you may want to consider an alternative form of protection, like topical formulas.

Great question! As far as actual drug interactions, there is no concern with administering potassium bromide with any oral or topical heartworm or flea/tick preventatives. Some oral flea and tick preventatives (such as Nexgard and Comfortis/Trifexis) state to administer with caution in dogs with a history of seizures. That said, these results come from a controlled studies where several of the dogs had a history of seizures prior to the administration of these medications. On a personal side note, I give my own 10 year old dog Nexgard and Heartgard as well as potassium bromide for seizure control without hesitation. I do not feel that the studies are controlled well enough to indicate a causal relationship between Nexgard and seizure activity. That said, if you have major concerns, you can always use a topical flea/tick preventative, such as Advantix.

Hi. Unfortunately there is no "all natrual" and effective flea/tick/heartworm prevention medications. It takes an actual medication and antiparasitic medication to prevent these. The natural products you see when you look in to these are not nearly as effective or studied as those recommended by your veterinarian. This is obviously completely your decision, but from a medical standpoint I do not recommend the all all natural medications or collars for this. If your pet is having reactions to vectra and interceptor, please discontinue them and speak to your veterinarian about other options such as revolution, heart guard, simparica or Brevecto. Good luck.

Depending on the type of heart worm preventative you gave, it can cause upset tummy like vomiting and even diarrhea. Next time I would recommend to make sure she has had a full meal prior to giving the medicine or you can change to a different medicine all together. Finally, if she isn't improved by tomorrow I would contact your vet for an exam and make sure she doesn't need any fluids or anti-nausea medicine. I hope this helps.

If the episodes occur in close proximity to administration of one of these products (24-48 hours) then it could be related to the medication. In these cases the product should be stopped and the pet should be transitioned to a different one. Another potential cause could be a type of seizure. You did not mention an age for Max, but seizures in dogs can be due to epilepsy (typically diagnosed at a young age but can be diagnosed later in life), metabolic cause (hypoglycemia, Addison's disease), central nervous system infections/inflammation, or an intracranial mass (typically more of a concern in older patients). If he has not had a full physical exam performed recently by his veterinarian I would recommend having it done, along with routine wellness blood work (serum chemistry, complete blood count) to rule-out organ dysfunction/metabolic cause.

It is possible that Crickett was showing a reaction to using these products. It is also possible that she was having something like a seizure that was unrelated. I recommend to play it safe and have a Crickett examined by her veterinarian and have her blood work checked to make sure everything is normal. It also sounds like your flea prevention is not working. Please do become immune to products. Speak with your veterinarian about what type of flea product is best to use for Crickett. The oral flea products are best for dogs but some dogs who have seizures cannot tolerate them. I hope this helps.