# Thoughts on new flea/tick pill NextGard?



## HavMe1 (Jan 17, 2014)

Hi folks! Has anyone tried Nextgard? My vet sold me a pack of 6 today (I believe it was $90) and he was RAVING about it. These are the beef flavored chews taken once a month. My vet has been following the clinical trials and waiting anxiously for this product to come out. He's extremely confident in it's safety and efficacy. It's apparently a game changer. Toby will still need to take his heart worm pill once a month, as well... This is not like Trifexis - which I have heard can cause multiple organ failure and death. 

There isn't a lot online about Nextgard and I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments.

Happy Hav-ing today! 

p.s. I'm teaching Toby to switch from the dangling bell to go outside to the kind of bell you might right at the front desk of a hotel style today. It's SO fun to train my little cutie and he is so proud of himself. He's 4 months old (as of yesterday) and we JUST took away the pee pee pads. So far, two accidents in a week in the house but the key is PREEMPTIVE pee and crating when unable to watch. Both accidents our fault. Here's the trick - have him ring the bell and let him out every hour or so. Don't go out with him, and stand watch on the other side of the sliding door. He wants to come back in to be with us, so will perform just to come back in.  It's working!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

There is no way I would feed my dog a substance toxic enough to kill fleas that bite him.


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## HavMe1 (Jan 17, 2014)

*Flea and Tick medicine*

Thanks for your reply and I very much respect your opinion and your honesty. I do not feel comfortable allowing ticks into my home. I have struggled and suffered through Lyme disease since 2007 and I do not wish it on anyone. At one point I was crawling up the stairs on all fours! I will do whatever is necessary to protect my 8-year-old son who lives in the house with my fur-baby. I practice minimal vaxing but I won't budge on my position on breaking out the big guns on this. It's a serious, serious disease and cedar oil and the like is not enough. I live on the edge of a forest area. I have to consider the health of my puppy but also the responsibility I have to my family.


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## HavMe1 (Jan 17, 2014)

I think I'm going to return this brand. It doesn't protect against DEER ticks only dog ticks. 

Deer Tick/Black Legged Tick (Ixodes scapularis)
Lyme Disease • Anaplasmosis
Western Black-Legged Tick (Ixodes pacificus)
Lyme Disease • Anaplasmosis
Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus)
Ehrlichiosis • Hepatozoonosis • Babesiosis
American Dog Tick (Dermacentor variabilis)
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma americanum)
Ehrlichiosis • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Gulf Coast Tick (Amblyomma maculatum)
Hepatozoonosis


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

HavMe1 said:


> Thanks for your reply and I very much respect your opinion and your honesty. I do not feel comfortable allowing ticks into my home. I have struggled and suffered through Lyme disease since 2007 and I do not wish it on anyone. At one point I was crawling up the stairs on all fours! I will do whatever is necessary to protect my 8-year-old son who lives in the house with my fur-baby. I practice minimal vaxing but I won't budge on my position on breaking out the big guns on this. It's a serious, serious disease and cedar oil and the like is not enough. I live on the edge of a forest area. I have to consider the health of my puppy but also the responsibility I have to my family.


Everyone has to make their own choices. But YOU asked for our thoughts and comments.

Incidentally, since the tick will need to BITE your dog to be killed by this stuff, it is going to ride into your house anyway. You just have to hope it has bitten the dog before it falls off.

I am well aware of the danger of Lyme and other TBD&#8230; I live in New England, on the edge of the woods also. But I think the best defense against TBD's, and you have to do it for people as well as dogs, is to check thoroughly for ticks, from head to toe, AT LEAST once a day, preferably every time the person or animal has been outside.


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## HavMe1 (Jan 17, 2014)

*Update on medicine*

Apparently, the dog tick is the hardest tick to kill. So, I will be going with the medicine. Everyone knows how hard it is to find fleas and ticks on a dog, especially with all that fur. I need to be as careful as humanly possible. I never found a tick on my body, yet I got Lyme disease. Think about all the crevices, nooks and crannies on _his_ body! We're talking between the toes, inside the ears, the whole nine yards. If I take him out every 2 hours to potty, that's a heck of a lot of checking. I will feel for ticks and comb through his fur daily but I just don't think that I could live without the safety net of killing any that slip through and attach.

I've even gone through the process of removing all leaves and green ground cover in my very large backyard. More than half of my yard has been replaced with pea gravel. I will take any and all steps I can. I'll admit, I'm probably borderline insane/obsessed about ticks at this point in my life. I've been a vegetarian against hunting since 1989 and now I don't mind folks hunting deer as much.  Sad, but true.


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## SJ1998 (Feb 4, 2013)

Have you talked to anyone at UT or A&M about how to protect yourself and your dog? Usually the schools in the area are really good sources of info and ranchers know a lot about how to protect their animals. We started using the DE in the corners near the walls etc and I think it actually works over the long term. I still put advantix on the dogs as in my area, that is the only one that seems to work.


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

HavMe1 said:


> Apparently, the dog tick is the hardest tick to kill. So, I will be going with the medicine. Everyone knows how hard it is to find fleas and ticks on a dog, especially with all that fur. I need to be as careful as humanly possible. I never found a tick on my body, yet I got Lyme disease. Think about all the crevices, nooks and crannies on _his_ body! We're talking between the toes, inside the ears, the whole nine yards. If I take him out every 2 hours to potty, that's a heck of a lot of checking. I will feel for ticks and comb through his fur daily but I just don't think that I could live without the safety net of killing any that slip through and attach.
> 
> I've even gone through the process of removing all leaves and green ground cover in my very large backyard. More than half of my yard has been replaced with pea gravel. I will take any and all steps I can. I'll admit, I'm probably borderline insane/obsessed about ticks at this point in my life. I've been a vegetarian against hunting since 1989 and now I don't mind folks hunting deer as much.  Sad, but true.


I understand where you are coming from. Our youngest daughter is disabled from Lyme and two other coinfections from the deer tick, one of which can be fatal. She went misdiagnosed for about 15 years and, thus, is having a very, very hard time. She is actually eligible for a service dog due to the seizures she has developed from the disease and after speaking with a trainer, has opted to not get one because she feels that it would be a "tick taxi" and bring ticks into the house which would freak her out. It certainly is a big problem here in the Northeast and quite scary, I might add. Good luck with your decision.


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

I live in an area crawling with deer ticks. I also hike my dogs and have had Lyme 3 times. I loved Advantix and it repelled the deer ticks. I just can't use it with my guys as they had a horrible reaction to it. 

I use Preventick collar in conjunction with frontline plus.


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## HavMe1 (Jan 17, 2014)

Hi folks, I'm getting access to the deck that is shown only to vets on the product. I'll let you know my findings. I moved to Texas from NJ so, hopefully, it's less likely here and I can further protect my son from getting it. We had deer in our yard everyday in NJ. I haven't seen one here yet. Scorpions are a concern, though! We had one in our house crawling on my son's arm. Yikes!

So sorry to hear about your dear daughter! Mine went misdiagnosed for a long time, too. (Fibromyalgia, Lupus, etc.) Let's hope someone finds a way to kill those buggers for good. Antibiotics aren't thorough enough. 

Lyme 3 times?! Let's hope that's the last round. Good thing you're catching it early enough. 

Sending healing!


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## Miss Rosa (Jan 22, 2014)

*Ticks and Lyme's disease*

My daughter's friend was visiting in New York for a wedding a couple of years ago. She got bit by a tick, they removed it and didn't think anything of it. Then she started getting sick and found out she was pregnant and has Lyme's disease. Thank God her son is alright but it really hard on her and her family. Her son is two now but she has to live with the disease now. Make sure you protect yourself as well. Good luck.


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## Lillysmom (Oct 9, 2012)

As much as I hate using pesticides on my dogs, I will be watching to see how this one works. I don't use anything but natural oils on my two little dogs, but they never go off pavement during walks. My sheltie though goes on hikes in a nearby state park so he needs something stronger. He had a terrible reaction to K9 Advantix, so we have always used Frontline Plus. I had Lyme disease 15 years ago that was not diagnosed or treated promptly and had several years of terrible symptoms - I do not want to go through that again or put my dogs through that! That being said, NexGuard does appear at first glance to be a safer alternative. Though it is only approved for prevention of dog ticks, I have read that it is expected that it will kill all types of ticks. I always like to wait and see after something has been on the market a while first before trying it.


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## HavMe1 (Jan 17, 2014)

Thank you, Lilly's Mom!


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