Safe flea and tick medication for dogs

mayday981

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well in these crazy. 

We found out a couple weeks ago that my wife is pregnant. A week before we found out, we had adopted a puppy. Now we're trying to decide if we need to get our puppy tick and flea medication. We've been researching and we saw there was a study we saw about a possible link between flea medication and autism: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922790/

But on the flip side, we read that ticks and fleas can cause miscarriages and birth defects: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100503161429.htm#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20discovered%20that%20bacteria,of%20bacterially%20induced%20birth%20defects.

WeI wanted to ask if anybody had heard if medication like tablets like bravecto would be safe. We want to stay away from any spray just in case it gets to her. However we know there's dangers too since even in tablet form, the medication does get concentrated on the skin: https://nitrocdn.com/efuJsKtDyptHinJPkZsojPmTOBGlNDxZ/assets/static/optimized/rev-f0ab43a/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FDA-Flea-01-1.jpeg

We also thought about just brushing her afterwards whenever she goes outside. It would be a lot of work, but I guess that would be a safe solution?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. 

meggyme

I think they are similar, but I use trifexis for my dog and have not had issues. As long as she stays awake from the gel while it’s wet she’d probably be fine but it would be worth asking the doctor. They also have those flea collars, but I don’t know how effective they are.

swizzlemalarkey

mayday981 said:

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well in these crazy. 

We found out a couple weeks ago that my wife is pregnant. A week before we found out, we had adopted a puppy. Now we're trying to decide if we need to get our puppy tick and flea medication. We've been researching and we saw there was a study we saw about a possible link between flea medication and autism: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922790/

But on the flip side, we read that ticks and fleas can cause miscarriages and birth defects: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100503161429.htm#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20discovered%20that%20bacteria,of%20bacterially%20induced%20birth%20defects.

WeI wanted to ask if anybody had heard if medication like tablets like bravecto would be safe. We want to stay away from any spray just in case it gets to her. However we know there's dangers too since even in tablet form, the medication does get concentrated on the skin: https://nitrocdn.com/efuJsKtDyptHinJPkZsojPmTOBGlNDxZ/assets/static/optimized/rev-f0ab43a/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FDA-Flea-01-1.jpeg

We also thought about just brushing her afterwards whenever she goes outside. It would be a lot of work, but I guess that would be a safe solution?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. 

Honestly never even thought that pet medication would be that harmful since you’re not really coming into contact with large quantities of it. I give my dogs two different oral medications for fleas/ticks/heartworm monthly. They’re prescribed by the vet. I guess you could brush the dog but idk how effective that would be considering fleas/ticks/mosquitoes are fairly stealthy and you’re risking your dogs health that way. You could always bring it up to your wife’s medical provider to see what they say. 

chichiphin

it is really not safe for your pup to forego these medications - especially if you live in an area where ticks are common. it wouldn't have even crossed my mind when it comes to tablet meds to consider them "unsafe" for pregnant women - we use trifexis and simparica in a combination. My OB only mentioned cats/cat feces as a pet risk.