Inoculated

Simparica and Other Related Oral Flea Medications.

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 20:06:00 +0000

I was asked on Facebook to comment on the report of an adverse incident following the use of the oral anti-flea and tick medication Simparica. Here's what I had to say:

Simparica is indeed a common flea drug. It's one of a family of four chemically-related oral flea medications, Nextra, Bravecto, Simparica, and Credelio. All are members of the isoxazoline family, which work by targeting the fleas' and ticks' nervous system receptors.

A veterinarian, Elizabeth Carney, DVM, has been following and documenting the first three of these drugs for years on her blog, Your Pets Need This. You can find her excellent posts, which include FDA Adverse Drug Event Reports (ADEs) which she had to obtain by filing Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIAs), by searching for them on her site. You'll see the three most recent on her home page, but there are many more. On the basis of her findings, Dr. Carney has decided not to prescribe these drugs or to use them on her own pets.

Here is the safety warning from the Simparica website:

"IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: Simparica is for use only in dogs, 6 months of age and older. Simparica may cause abnormal neurologic signs such as tremors, unsteadiness, and/or seizures. Simparica has not been evaluated in dogs that are pregnant, breeding or lactating. Simparica has been safely used in dogs treated with commonly prescribed vaccines, parasiticides and other medications. The most frequently reported adverse reactions were vomiting and diarrhea. See full Prescribing Information."

Your mileage may vary.

As for me, I fully agree with Dr. Carney. If I were still in practice, I, too, would not prescribe them. The adverse neurological events, while uncommon, are quite dangerous. There is no antidote, and no way of removing the drug from the body.

As a general principle, I am not keen on any flea or tick treatment, oral or injectable, which works by getting the drug into your pet's bloodstream. In order for the drug to work, the flea or tick must first bite your dog. None of these drugs have any repellent effect whatsoever. That means that whatever harm can occur from the bite will occur. For example, fleabite allergic dermatitis, or flea allergy, is caused by a component of flea saliva which reacts with one of the body's immune system chemicals, complement, to form the substance that triggers the allergy in susceptible pets. Killing the flea after it has already bitten will obviously do nothing to improve the situation. It's possible to make a slightly better case for the drug's usefulness as a preventer of tick diseases, since the most serious require the tick to remain embedded for a number of hours in order for transmission to occur. However, the irritation, itching, and skin infection from whatever organisms are present in the tick's saliva will still occur.

Think of it – how would you like to fight mosquitos by swallowing a pill, turning your own body into poisoned bait, then standing there and letting the mosquitoes feast on your generous all-you-can-eat buffet because you know they'll die afterwards? Wouldn't that be a Pyrrhic victory?

Dr. Hyram Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 03:12:00 +0000

Last month marked the 29th anniversary of the still-unsolved murder of my friend Dr. Hyram Kitchen. At the time of his death, he was Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. He was just 57 years old.

For those who are interested, here is a web page about the murder I set up years ago. I have kept it online through several hosts ever since. In addition to the information I included, there is a link at the bottom of the page to the entry about Dr. Kitchen on the Knox County (TN) Cold Case page. If anyone has any information whatsoever that might help solve the case, please contact the sheriff through that page.

Press accounts of the unsolved murder of University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Hyram Kitchen

UPDATE-– April 23, 2019: That web page was getting a little long in the tooth, so I just rebuilt it.

Resignation from the Republican Party

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 01:20:00 +0000

Ever since I rooted for Tom Dewey to beat Harry Truman in 1948 – 68 years – I have considered myself a Republican. No more. As of now, I am a conservative Independent. I will not be associated with a party which would nominate a man such as Donald J. Trump as its presidential candidate.

The GOP has just committed suicide. May its death be as swift and painless as possible.

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 22:18:00 +0000

"It has now become the doctrine of a large clan of politicians that political honesty is unnecessary, slow, subversive of a man's interests, and incompatible with quick onward movement."

~~~~~ Anthony Trollope

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sat, 23 Apr 2016 11:02:00 +0000

"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost."

~~~~~ Chauncey Depew

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 11:56:00 +0000

"The more I see of men the more I like dogs."

~~~~~ Madame de Stael

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 06:51:00 +0000

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow firm there, firm as weeds among stones."

~~~~~ Charlotte Bronte

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 09:44:00 +0000

"The more help a person has in his garden, the less it belongs to him."

~~~~~ W. H. Davies

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 09:37:00 +0000

"Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct."

~~~~~ Thomas Jefferson

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:55:00 +0000

"Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character."

~~~~~ Henry Clay

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 23:21:00 +0000

"A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company."

~~~~~ Charles Evans Hughes

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 14:18:00 +0000

"There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start."

~~~~~ Charles Baudelaire

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 13:44:00 +0000

"The office of government is not to confer happiness, but to give men the opportunity to work out happiness for themselves."

~~~~~ William Ellery Channing

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:14:00 +0000

"The man who can speak acceptably is usually given credit for an ability out of all proportion to what he really possesses."

~~~~~ Lowell Thomas

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 07:18:00 +0000

"Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company."

~~~~~ Booker T. Washington

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 08:01:00 +0000

"An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather."

~~~~~ Washington Irving

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 11:16:00 +0000

"I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile."

~~~~~ Walter Chrysler

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 13:46:00 +0000

"Human societies, like human beings, live by faith and die when faith dies."

~~~~~ Whittaker Chambers

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 14:05:00 +0000

"You can't imagine how stupid the whole world has grown nowadays."

~~~~~ Nikolai Gogol

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 08:30:00 +0000

"The nations of antiquity rolled away in the current of ages, Israel alone remained one indestructible edifice of gray antiquity... preserved by an internal and marvelous power."

~~~~~ Isaac Mayer Wise

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 12:34:00 +0000

"There are few retreats, that can escape the penetrating eye of avarice."

~~~~~ Thomas Clarkson

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 23:30:00 +0000

"Technology has forever changed the world we live in. We're online, in one way or another, all day long. Our phones and computers have become reflections of our personalities, our interests, and our identities. They hold much that is important to us."

~~~~~ James Comey

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 07:40:00 +0000

"Half our mistakes in life arise from feeling where we ought to think, and thinking where we ought to feel."

~~~~~ John Churton Collins

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 07:44:00 +0000

"For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still time."

~~~~~ George Sutherland

Thought for Today

noreply@blogger.com (Inoculate128) — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 12:39:00 +0000

"It is because the people are citizens that they are with safety armed."

~~~~~ Joel Barlow