Mount Vernon Animal Hospital
Seresto Collar concerns
Seresto Collar concerns
We've received a lot of questions following the recent USA Today article on Seresto collar safety and possible adverse effects. We take your pet's health seriously here, and understand your concern after reading this story. The EPA and FDA take these reports seriously and investigate to determine if the product is the cause of the problem, and if so, they can issue warnings or cause the product to be removed from sale. This has not happened for the Seresto collar.
We have consulted with leading veterinary toxicologists to evaluate the validity of the USA Today article and determine the best course of action. At this time, we have not seen any scientific information that makes the case that the Seresto collar is dangerous to pet or human health. And there is certainly risk from tick-borne diseases if not using effective flea and tick control. There are FDA warnings on almost all of the oral flea and tick products (Bravecto, NexGuard, Simparica, etc) for side effects including tremors, seizure and comas. If you are not comfortable using the Seresto collar, we are happy to give advice on alternatives.
We will continue to monitor the situation and will pass along any new information that comes to light.
Here is an article detailing the toxicologist's conclusions at this time.
Summary:
-People can report anything as an adverse effect while using the collar. This does not mean that the collar caused it.
-Toxins/poisons/chemicals normally cause the same type of adverse effects in a population, within a spectrum (such as ibuprofen, which can cause stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhea, gastric ulceration and kidney disease, as the exposure increases). This means that we should expect that reported adverse effects from the collar should be relatively similar, within a spectrum of some having less severe and some having more severe reactions. This is not the case in the raw data from the EPA. There a dozens of disparate potential side effects, from a ruptured eardrum to renal failure, and everything in between. This makes it less likely to have all come from the same cause (the collar).
-The potential side effects in people is similarly random.
-The company who made the collar, Bayer (now Elanco) is a reputable company.
-We have sold thousands of collars since 2012 and have seen only a handful of local skin reactions as side effects.
ANY PET CAN EXPERIENCE AN ADVERSE REACTION FROM A FLEA AND TICK PRODUCT AND IT IS ALWAYS RECOMMENDED TO REPORT ANY ADVERSE EFFECTS TO THE MANUFACTURER AND EPA/FDA, WHICHEVER IS APPROPRIATE.