Thread: Site Specific Allergy to Frontline Plus?

Tonight Atka Sat down and scratched. I took a look (always check for ticks) and she has a hot spot in the vicinity of her last application of Frontline Plus. At the Vet's recommendation she also wears a Preventic Collar.

Her application of frontline Plus was on March 4th which was 32 days past her previous application and today is March 13 so it is 10 days since the application. She also got a new Preventic collar at the same time.

Now, she has this hot spot that I discovered tonight.. and it is fairly extensive. Of course I clipped the hair and washed the area with water and Providone Iodine (tame iodine) and tomorrow, first thing I will be on the phone with the vet and taking her there for a skin scraping to be sure it isn't something else.

I am a bit aggrivated I did not pick up this sooner because I brush this dog top to bottom every couple of days and have done this at least 7 times in the last 10 days.. yet I did not see this (maybe it came on that fast in just the last two days). I hope that cleaningit and opening it up to the air will help (clipping it.. my beautiful dog is a bit moth eaten looking tonight!)

The question is:

Have you ever:
1.) Had a site specific allergic reaction on your dog from Frontline Plus (I have used the product in the past with NO reaction EVER on this dog and on my previous dog)?

2.) Have you used the two products together (Frontline Plus and Preventic collar)?

Yes. That is why I asked question #2.

The Frontline application area is a ays from whereshe wears the collar.. that is higher up. I do the applcation where it is for that very reasoning.

However, if I understand Frontline it is a systemic so it is absorbed thru the skin into the dogs system. This is why it doesn't washoff.

However, I am sure the Vet will want to do a skin scraping to be certain it isn't something else. I looked on line and all I got were general anecdotal discussions that it sometimes happens without much background info.

I will ask about the powder.

I give this dog a little Vitamin B12 and I give her a little Wheat Germ Oil for her coat (A,D and E fortified). I brush her really regularly and her coat shines. She is.. er WAS.. the picture of health.. now she looks like a horse reach down and took a hunk out of her back..

This is all bothering ME more than it seems to bother her. Of course it will also bother my bank account.
Rather ME get sick with good health coverage I have than the dog get sick w/o insurance!!

When dogs develop flea allergy dermatitis, it often occurs on the neck right where the collar lays. If you treated with Frontline 10 days earlier, most of the fleas should be gone, but there is a chance that one or a few fleas jumped on the dog and survived. If your dog is very sensitive to flea bites, it could cause a lesion like this. That's the first thing I would think of.
When you feel around his neck, do you feel any little scabs on the collar area or ahywhere else on your dog? I would doubt that both the spot on and collar would cause such a sensitization.

Well, here is the thing. I check the dog and the cats for fleas regularly. My cats have NO fleas. One time Naughty picked up 4 fleas. Since he never had fleas he went NUTS. I bathed him and did the whole thing (and that is what you get when you let the Advantage lapse and Naugty went out on a leash in the grass in the fall ). I found exactly 4 fleas. He acted like he had 100.. but never having lived with them, he must have felt like his skin was crawling.

That was 5 years ago in another house and well b4 I had a dog.

It is winter here so picking fleas up outside is unlikely. I am absolutely vigilant on this topic. There are no other bumps, no red water when she is bathed, no flea specs on any of these guys (she gets bathed once a month a day b4 getting the Frontline and Heartguard, but this last time it was too cold so no bath). I use a slicker on her for brushing her and I look at the hair for fleas and flea specks (use a slicker on the cats too and look)

However, the deer ticks are a lot different and Lyme disease is a real issue for people and dogs here. So, there is a lot of tick vigilence too. Ticks will arrive on your clothing and pets all year long.

The reason I believe my vet would do a scrape is to be sure there are NO mange mites. Easy enough to check and the dog is right there. Rather be safe than sorry. He may also check for a fungus. The dog is there, why not. Lets rule these out.

B. (my vet) has been my vet for 20 years. We have laid on cold concrete together saving cows with calves presenting wrong.. and we have saved not a few dogs and cats. He is real dog oriented (while his one partner is more Cat oriented, tho B and I have met at the Clinic one or two nights to pass a tom Cat Catheter to save one of my cats).

This clinic is truly one of the best around. They still have a decent large animal practice. The experience among the 5 vets there adds up to about 85 years. They keep up on the latest stuff and I will trust their guidance on this.

However, I saw this mess on my dog and it just feaks me a bit, especially with the care I give her! It is like by giving her the best I can, I have done damage! I found this on her and I was a bit upset. No, its not life threatening but it looks bad and it hurts her some.

When I cleaned it up it hurt. She cried a little and took my forearm in her mouth.. could have ripped my arm apart but she just held it gently in her molars while I cleaned her up (and I just let her).. as Gentle could be even tho I was hurting her. I think that bothers me too. She is such a GOOD dog.

Oh trust me.. I have a LOAD of questions about the two being used together. I had no problem since this was incepted last June.

The issue here is just such RAMPANT Lyme disease which I can get too. I have her vaccinated against it, and I am thinking that this might not have happened if I had not also replaced the Collar at the same time.

After our Vet Appointment today at 1:40 I will let every one know what happend.

I am also going to discuss this with someone I know who runs a portion of the Pesticide Licensing program for the area. I know she is 100% holistic on flea and tick control. I don't think I can go that far.. maybe an alternative in between.

I used to do heartguard the same way.. stopped in November and started in April. Same with spot on Flea control. The issue here are these disease carrying ticks that come on all times of the year. Like I said, I have a battery of questions...

Well, here is what he thinks happened:

There may have been a break in the skin at the time of, or shortly after, application. He is not sure it is a reaction (allergy) or a reaction that was the result of a bacterial infection getting set up due to a break in the skin.

All that being said, he also noted that this dog might be one of those relatively rare ones that cannot take ANY type of spot on treatments. It may be that she reacts only to Fipronal Product. He thinks the skin was broken, perhpas just slightly, in the vicinity of the application because he noted that a bacterial infection appeared to be set up (I did note a slight sour sort of smell, and he said that is typical of a bacterial infection that has set up house in the area). I always look for skin breaks before applying the stuff and saw none, but that does not mean she did not scratch herself soon after or that there was a break in the skin a little way from the application site that I did not see.

Treatment is topical Neo Predf Powder as suggested by Patt, a single low dose of Cortizone to get things calmed down and the antibiotic Cephalexin (1 pill 3x a day for 10 days).

He told me No More Frontline and to keep the Preventic Collar on because the Frontline for ticks will wear off b4 they see her again in April.

He said he has started to leave Frontline as there is Advantix and another completely new product which repels ticks (Frontline kills them after they bite and the new stuff does too, but sooner and repels as well). The plan is to, in April, try the new stuff and if she has no site specific reaction then we are good to go forward from there. Because the newer stuff also repels, it means no more Preventic Collar either.

So, my somewhat moth-eaten dog is now home and we will go from here. He did clip more hair and said, "Nothing we do today will add to your dog's looks..."

BTW she is now 70 pounds which is all the weight she should be.

I had the exact same reaction on an Australian Cattle Dog. I applied the first dose, no problem. About 5 weeks later, I applied the second dose. I noticed he seemed itchy for about a week. He does not wear a collar. Then I was washing him and noticed a nasty hot spot a little over a week after the application. The hair has now fallen out. My others dogs had applications also, but seem okay.

Never use Frontline Plus with a flea collar. First of all it's not necessary. Second of all, it can cause damage to your dog or cat. Flea collars are fairly useless anyway. If your dog is developing a sensitivity to topically applied flea and tick products, try Revolution which is internal. Check with your vet first of course.

My schnauzer, Maggie, uses Frontline Plus and I am suspecting she is having an allergic reaction although she has used it for several years. Down her back where I apply the medication, she has developed lots of bumps which turn out to be scabs that eventually fall off. I am thinking about not using Frontline for the next few months and see if the bumps go away and stay away. She is kind of a weird dog, she is allergic to grass! I have trained her to do her business in the street when I take her for walks and when she goes out by herself in our yard she wears vinyl boots. This has helped tremendously. Before she was always licking her feet and turning her paws brown. Now they are pure white. It's sad though that she can't just go out and play because she always ends up laying in the grass and then her tummy gets all red. Curious if anyone else has this problem.

Any break or trauma to the skin can cause a hot spot outbreak. Another dog nipping and biting on them while playing, overly excessive grooming, fleas and ticks, ect. Certain foods can cause them as well, such as diary along with others.

Exactly what is a hotspot?