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ProMeris by Fort Dodge


Barb Scott
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I am battling the fleas from hell this spring. Frontline Plus is useless and I am having trouble with Advantix as well. which had been great up to this point. My research shows some pretty scary things as well regarding ProMeris.

 

There are several other new flea and/or tick preventatives on the market as well, TriForce, Vectra 3D, and Comfortis (pill for fleas only). Can you tell I have been researching???

 

I am however reluctant to be one of the first to try these as Google research leads to some scary things about a few of these and mixed reports.

 

I too would be anxious to hear any stories on any of these.

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When I took the new pup to the vet's Thursday, she showed me all of these new products (samples from the companies), but told me that she didn't think she would be recommending them (or ordering them), as they had some pretty toxic ingredients in them (as in toxic to dogs--go figure). She did show me the flea pill, and said that at first she was skeptical of it, too, but then learned that it contained an organic ingredient, and so felt comfortable with it. She said she has some clients that she thinks it will work well for. However, it does nothing for ticks.

 

A

 

ETA: yes, she said the Promeris was just Mitaban in a different form, rather than a dip...

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We've started promoting Comfortis (the pill) at work, and thusfar we've had good reports from it. I just gave my dogs a dose 2 weeks ago because I'd seen a few fleas. They're swimmers, so the topicals weren't helping much. So far, so good on the Comfortis. I was reluctant to try it, but I'm liking what I see.

 

We've had no complaints or issues with it. We looked into getting Promeris, but thankfully didn't. One of the other local clinics has seen several reactions, and the owners are complaining about the white residue it leaves behind. I guess we'll see what happens in the long-term, but I'm thinking Promeris is going to have some problems unless they improve the formula.

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I too have read some negative reports about Promeris. I personally am VERY thankful I don't have to worry about fleas or ticks!! My heart goes out to you that do (I grew up in Florida with dogs, so.....) !! In any case, remember the six-month heartworm injectable that has now gone away? I wouldn't be trying ANYTHING that new right away. Let someone else be the guinea pig!

 

diane

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We tried promeris last year, but only once. I had already decided before reading all of these reports that I wouldn't use it again. The smell of the stuff is absolutely horrific! I didn't want to be anywhere near my own dog after we put him on it. I still have a 5 months worth of the stuff, but I won't use it again especially now that I'm hearing a lot of bad stuff about it. It did work though. I'm not sure what we will do now. Frontline is worthless, and we have cats so advantix is out as well.

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Yet again my standard rule that no chemical is touching my dogs until it has been on the market at least 5 years safely, has proven a good plan :rolleyes:

 

I can't believe how the drug companies, and the vets, let the public's pets be used as paying guinea pigs.

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I realize this will apply to very few of the dogs here, but if any of your dogs are on a TCA, SSRI, or MAOI do not use amitraz as it is also an MAOI. Combining too much of any of these may cause serotonin syndrome, which can be fatal.

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I realize this will apply to very few of the dogs here, but if any of your dogs are on a TCA, SSRI, or MAOI do not use amitraz as it is also an MAOI. Combining too much of any of these may cause serotonin syndrome, which can be fatal.

 

Melanie - what is a TCA?

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I realize this will apply to very few of the dogs here, but if any of your dogs are on a TCA, SSRI, or MAOI do not use amitraz as it is also an MAOI. Combining too much of any of these may cause serotonin syndrome, which can be fatal.

 

Well, that's nice to know. My epileptic foster dog is on an SSRI, but no one ever warned me about Amitraz. I don't use Preventic collars (I've never found them to be useful), but it woud have been nice to have been warned.

 

Melanie - what is a TCA?

 

Tricyclics

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We're considering carrying Promeris at the vet clinic I work at. As of right now, the only flea/tick prevention we carry is Frontline, and we're having increasing probems with clients reporting that it's not working. Personally, I'm not having any trouble with it (knock on wood), but the clinic's at the point that it's necessary for us to start carrying something else as an alternative. We're looking at a handful of products.

 

I've heard some of the "bad things" that have been said about Promeris, and I will say that some of them are more scare tactic than genuine concern. I'm not saying it's completely safe or that there haven't been any reactions, but it's not the evil that it's being made out to be. One of the common stories is how Promeris will eat through a styrofoam cup. In actuality, a LOT of chemicals or liquids will eat through styrofoam without being harmful to skin. Surprise surprise, this reporting started by other the representatives of other drug companies going around to vet clinics and doing a demo with Promeris and styrofoam.

 

I know some people in the area that have used Advantix with good results after Frontline stopped working. Then I know others who have tried Advantix and had it not work any better. :rolleyes: Unfortunately, I think we're at the point of people just needing to try the individual products for themselves to find one that's working for THEIR dog in their specific area.

 

I've used Promeris on all of my personal pets (cats and dogs) and some of the foster dogs. I didn't have a single reaction. No skin issues, no excessive itching or dry skin, no bizarre behavior, and it hasn't killed any of them. :D At the clinic, we have about 10-12 employees and AT LEAST 50 pets amongst all the employees. From what everyone's reported, it's worked well for everyone and nobody's seen any adverse reactions. And as an aside on the "smell"...Promeris smells like eucalyptus when it's wet. The smell goes away (or is supposed to) once it's dry. Personally, I like the smell of eucalytpus and use it in diffusers, so it doesn't bother me. But if you want to use Promeris and don't like the smell, you can also apply it when you're not going to be around the dog - when you're going to work, when the dog's going to be crated for a bit, etc.

 

Again, I'm not endorsing Promeris or anything. To each their own and all. I just wanted to say that, from personal experience, I haven't seen any problems.

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Here is only what I know from my very own personal experience.

 

TriFroce, made my 90 lbs German Shepherd sick. Very lethargic, trying to vomit etc. Fixed her right up with giving her 4 baths. Already after the first bath she was remarkably better. This is a very healthy dog. Never had any issues with her. This stuff will never come into my house again!

 

Frontline, they all accept it well but it hardly works anymore. And I don't even use it much anyway.

 

ProMeris. After having read many reports about how bad this stuff is, I still let my vet (also my best friend) talk me into using one of my dogs for a tial dog. This dog has allergy and demodex problems. ProMeris is also supposed to be getting ready to be labeled for use with the pesky mites. In the same weekend, I took this dog a four hour drive south (without her ever having been on long rides at all - she is a BC rescue) for her spay. We did her late in the day, spend the night, applied the ProMeris the next day and then left about 5 hours later to travel back home. Due to her skin being very tough and because of the reports I had read and after talking to the rep who also mentioned that ingestion is an issue, we did choose to muzzle her and keep her muzzled till it was gone. She did just fine. She was a bit sleepy on the way home but that could have been the surgery and the stress as well. No drooling, vomitting or anything else. So yes, I took precautions due to what I had seen but it worked wonders for her. I am going to continue using it. And it is fairly obvious to me, due to all of her issues that this dog has not got a very good immune system and she still handled it fine. I think it would be wrong to disregard the warnings about ingestion (which was also a bit issue with the mitaban dip) or to take a risk on a dog that had known reactions.

 

Comfortis. I inquired about this one as well. For my HA dog. She has terrible problems with fleas. One of the few dogs I try to keep on something as much as I can and as little as possible. And the fleas are already terrible here. I was warned that in dogs with seizure problems that Comfortis is indicated as not being the thing to use. Now my girl does not have seizures but I am a bit worried about it. So I choose not to use it on her. But I can't say anything else on that one because it still sits in my purse!

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One of the big things I like about Promeris is that, if it works like it's supposed to, it's an IDEAL option for dogs with flea allergy dermatitis. Even if Frontline is working for a dog, it doesn't stop the fleas from biting the dog, and one bite can be enough to set these dogs itching and scratching and biting themselves raw. Promeris is supposed to paralyze the fleas' mouths so they can never bite, which keeps the flea allergy dogs happy.

 

That's all assuming Promeris works as it's marketed. I don't have any proof and haven't used it enough to know if it REALLY keeps the fleas from biting at all.

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