Heads up on Promeris - product warning

Ok...I can share my experiences!  We haven't had fleas in years here...but....they picked up a few and as a result 3 out of 4 have staph and 2 are itching like mad (broken skin, coat loss, etc).  I put frontline on 1 and vectra on the 3 others and there was no change.  I have a friend that got Promeris samples and after some research decided to try it.  I'm flea combing, they get garlic, but I needed something to get the few fleas we have while treating skin issues, etc.  I put the Promeris on them at 7:00 last Friday night so I could keep an eye out for allergic reactions and put the cats up so they couldn't be with the dogs while the product was wet.  For the record, Vectra also has some STRONGLY worded cautions about cats and their product. 

My experiences so far:  NO adverse reactions by my dogs (aged 5 mos. to 6.5 years) at all.  The smell IS very strong....and was rather obnoxious while I had 4 freshly treated dogs at my feet.  However, they didn't seem bothered in the least and I didn't suffer any bad reactions, either.  I put them to bed at midnight and by morning the product was dry and the smell was mostly gone (as in you have to put your nose on the dog).  The amount of product is more than frontline but didn't seem excessive.  I called their info hotline and they said start at the shoulders and run it to the base of the skull, which I did.  The application spot has a very small bit of residue but basically doesn't stand out from the nontreated spots.  Frontline seems to disappear completely but the vectra seemed to stay more greasy than the Promeris. 

Will I use it again?  Probably.  Next month I'll do two dogs on Promeris and two on Frontline again.  I have one that needs a weekly bath and using shampoo does reduce the efficacy of Promeris.  If we go some place where there are ticks I will more than likely use Promeris as of right now.  I lost my older bc girl to complications of a tick born disease that she contracted while on frontline so I'm very nervous about ticks in general. 

I hate using a new product but I felt like I didn't have much choice at this point.  I don't like chemicals and avoid flea/tick treatments at all cost and will stop using Promeris and or Frontline as soon as the flea issue is resolved and we're not in tick country.

 Soooo....bottom line....Promeris is a new product and I can see how animals or people with a sensitivity to chemicals and or pungent odors might have a problem, but my guys had ZERO reaction...and the fleas are gone, too.  I think everyone has to examine their dogs, their dogs' medical history, and current flea problem in determining what to use and keep an eye on reported adverse reactions

 

pap2labc

For the record, Vectra also has some STRONGLY worded cautions about cats and their product. 

As does Advantix - which share similar ingrediants. Only toxic to cats if ingested while the product is still wet.

pap2labc

I think everyone has to examine their dogs, their dogs' medical history, and current flea problem in determining what to use and keep an eye on reported adverse reactions

But how do you explain an entire cat shelter losing all their hair after two months of Promeris use? The reaction was not immediate....the side affects showed up after a few days - when the product dried.

I'm not saying YOU shouldn't use it - if your guys don't have a problem with it.... I personally would never use it on my animals after seeing the reactions I saw.

I don't know and can't explain your cats' reaction.  I didn't use it on my cats.  I gave everyone some good tugs at the application site and no hair came out, just some puppy fuzz where the baby is blowing coat.  But then I didn't see a ton of residue, either.  The cat version probably has a different formula.  Like I said, I'm not for it or against it, but since I've used the dog formula one time, I thought I'd post my experiences.  It wasn't an easy decision to make and I'm certainly not buying stock in Fort Dodge.  I'm also not saying "Go out and buy this product...it is GREAT!"  I can see where many people would find the smell offensive!  Blech!  It did get much better after it dried, though.  I spent 3 hours with my dogs, observing their behavior, etc., ready to wash it off if I thought it was causing a reaction.  If I do use it again, I'll do the same thing. 

It does seem to be providing the break that my dogs needed to end the itch cycle.  This is the 1st nightly flea check that didn't yield a single flea.  For over 10 years I've used frontline only when I needed so I was sad when it stopped working. 

Of course Promeris isn't available in Florida so it's not exactly easy to get.  Did you order your supply from out of state?  What did the company say when you called them and reported your cats' reactions?

 

pap2labc

Of course Promeris isn't available in Florida so it's not exactly easy to get. 

Uh.... yes it is. You can ONLY get it through your vet. We get ours through a vet supply company - I did not deal with the return on that one. I know they sent us a bunch of Vecta in replacement.

"Uh.... yes it is. You can ONLY get it through your vet. We get ours through a vet supply company - I did not deal with the return on that one. I know they sent us a bunch of Vecta in replacement." 

 

Oh..my bad then.  Sorry.  I was going by what the Ft. Dodge guy told me when I phoned last Friday before putting it on my pack and what some friends said they had heard from their vets.

I'm not endorsing the product but figured if someone was asking about it, I could offer my personal experience and observations.

 

  

Hm... interesting. We are in FL, and I know a few vets around us that are starting to offer it in their clinics. Our supplier came to us with this product probably about 6 some months ago...

I have no problem with you sharing your expierence! I also shared mine, and I hope people will read both postings and go from there.

Hope it continues to work for your crew.

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, but the smell was just too bad. The first day I put it on him the fumes from it gave me an asthma attack. I'm not sure what we will do now. Frontline is worthless, and we have cats so advantix is out as well.

I've always used advantage on all my animals. There are not a lot of ticks where I am - so I'm not worried about that. Only one of my cats likes the dog - so if I did need to use Advantix or Vectra I could. Those are only toxic to your cats if they lick it while it's wet. Just keep the pets seperate over night - and you should be fine.

Callie I really respect your opinion.  Have you run across a safer form of fighting tics and fleas?   Since Shadow had cancer and he was on Advantix since he was a pup I often find myself wondering if that had anything to do with his cancer.   My vet has not mentioned Promeris and doesnt offer Frontline ( I lost a Basset to tics with religious monthly doses of Frontline) so I wont use it.  Rocky has had 2 doses of Advantix and we are heading into flea and tic season.  What do you recommend?  Anyone else have a safer way?

For fleas I use Frontline Plus on ALL my animals.  If I find they HAVE fleas, they get a Capstar tablet for two days.  I also treat my home (floors, rugs, curtains, upholstery) with a nylar product that "kills" flea eggs and is effective for 365 days per application.  It is a pain to do, but lasts for a long time.  We had a flea episode and after I did these three things I have not seen one since.  If I found my animal had fleas, I'd get Capstar ASAP, not apply another flea preventative along with whatever I already used that didn't work.   

 It does seem a little odd how this one email is circling like wildfire...certainly makes you wonder who wrote it. On the other hand, I did want to say I have boxers and it seems they are allergic to almost anything....BUT I have been using promeris and have had no problems at all and most importantly I haven't seen a flea or a tick. I have also accidently gotten it on myself and had no reaction at all.  My veterinarian did make sure and tell me not put it where they could lick it off because of the chances of them becoming lethargic. She also said her Ft Dodge rep was very very informative and up front about the product and the differences between it and the other medications currently on the market. It seems that maybe education is the cure for most of this problem. I'm not a huge Ft Dodge user, nor am I saying there will not be reactions in other circumstances but this has been my personal experience with promeris. As a side note, I have heard the reason the owners face swelled up was because she hugged and kissed several of the 7 dogs after applying the product...not sure if this is true, but it would certainly explain the problem!

 

You may want to check out what this says about Amitraz, the ingredientent use din this product for ticks.  My hsband alsmost fell ove when he read the warning not to touch you dog for 5 days after dipping it iwht this product, plus all kinds of other warnings.  Callie was right on the money.

 http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=0&articleid=1376

Again I can only speak to the Amitraz portion -- but most of the problems don't show up *then*.  I used it for a long time (2 years) with Muffin for demodex (back then it was the ONLY thing you could do). 

When he got cancer (mast cell) later I didn't think a lot of it because, after all, he *defined* Immune-suppressed.

BUT -- a couple of months later we found what was actually the *primary* tumor that just hadn't been evident.  Why?  Because it was a TOE.  The entire little toe on his back right foot WAS a 'tumor' (there wasn't a tumor ON the toe -- the toe itself became a tumor).

It had always been a little red since the middle days of him getting the Amitraz treatments.  (he STOOD in a dip of it).  My vet is pretty positive (and this is my *regular* vet, not a holistic vet) that it was the contact with the amitraz that caused the cancer.

It is a mega carcinogen.  Read the labels folks. 

Good greif, it's hardly a "mega carcinogen". I think you should read the label. I would seriously question the judgment of a vet that would tell a patient that a medication caused a cancer that has not been shown in any studies to be associated with that type of cancer. http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/24d-captan/amitraz-ext.html

 FWIW - http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/promeris.asp