Merck Animal Health has been hit with a class action lawsuit by consumers who claim that their dog and cat drug Bravecto contains a pesticide that is harmful to pets.
Bravecto tablets and topical medications are used on both cats and dogs, and are marketed as a way to prevent ticks and fleas for up to three months.
Plaintiff Valerie Palmieri says she paid just under $50 for one Bravecto chewable tablet to treat her 78 pound German Shepherd Jake for fleas and ticks.
After taking the pill, Jake started to vomit, did not eat, and began to show symptoms of lethargy, according to the Bravecto class action lawsuit. The plaintiff reportedly took Jake to the emergency animal clinic after the dog was no longer able to walk.
Palmieri claims that she contacted Merck to talk about Jake’s possible adverse reaction to taking the drug. The company allegedly denied that that Jake’s sickness was caused by Bravecto but offered to pay for the emergency room visit.
However, the company would only pay if she signed an agreement which would release any claims against the company, according to the Bravecto class action lawsuit.
The plaintiff states that she refused to release her claims as she wasn’t sure if Jake’s symptoms would be long-term and was still not sure if her dog’s symptoms were caused by the drug.
After more tests and a trip to a neurologist, the plaintiff’s veterinarian allegedly told her that he “presumed” that Jake’s diagnosis of meningitis was a result of “Bravecto toxicity,” which was contrary to what she was told by the defendant.
Since he ingested the drug, Jake has continued to have neurological episodes, according to the Bravecto class action lawsuit. In September of this year, he reportedly fell down a flight of stairs and broke his leg. The plaintiff claims that she has spent “tens of thousands of dollars” treating Jake after he ingested Bravecto.
Palmieri says that when she purchased the tablet, the packaging and materials enclosed therein did not state that neurological adverse reactions were possible when taking the pill. In addition, the defendant allegedly did not tell veterinarians about the possible safety issues that the drug posed to pets.
“Because Defendant failed to disclose the risks of Bravecto to consumers and misrepresented the safety of Bravecto, consumers would be reasonable in purchasing Bravecto to treat their pets in a safe manner,” the class action lawsuit notes.
The Bravecto class action lawsuit also states that in September 2018, the FDA issued an alert about the possible neurological events that are associated with medicines like Bravecto to treat fleas and ticks.
The FDA has subsequently asked manufacturers to change their labels to “highlight neurological events because these events were seen consistently across the isoxazoline class of products” and “to provide veterinarians and pet owners with the information they need to make treatment decisions for each pet on an individual basis,” according to the Bravecto class action lawsuit.
The plaintiff states that the defendant now discloses that there may be some neurological reactions to taking Bravecto, including tremors, ataxia, and seizures.
“Every consumer who purchased Bravecto without being informed of the true facts about its health and safety risks prior to purchase was injured at the point of sale when, instead of obtaining a safe flea and tick medication, they obtained Defendant’s unreasonably dangerous and defective product,” the Bravecto class action lawsuit states.
Did you purchase Bravecto for your pet? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiff is represented by Mark A. Dicello, Adam J. Levitt, and Amy E. Keller of DiCello Levitt and Gutzler LLC and Jessica J. Sleater and Ralph N. Sianni of Andersen Sleater Sianni LLC.
The Bravecto Class Action Lawsuit is Valerie Palmieri v. Intervet Inc., et. al, Case No. 2:19-cv-22024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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1,807 thoughts onBravecto Class Action Says Meds Aren’t Safe For Pets
I tried Brave echo for my cat. The vet said this covers flea,tick,and worms. My cat has had such a terrible reaction. Where I put the topical Brave to it burned her skin. It was like a chemical burn. I had to keep bathing her to try to help the burn to not spread. After this my cat became mean and would go after my other cats. She whines alot.It has been terrible She has not gotten better
I have a 7 year old lab/airdale mix and I gave him Bravecto spring of 2021 2 months later he started slowing down followed by vomiting and diarrhea. A few weeks later his appetite decreased with weight loss and dark brown urine. Took him to the vet and was told he didn’t know the cause I was given doxycycline for 3 weeks. All his vitals were normal. His urine began to clear, but continued to have diarrhea and no appetite. On the 13th dose he had dark brown urine again so called the vet and he said shouldn’t be any reason to stop the antibiotic, but I should get his urine analyzed. Urinalysis showed signs of bladder cancer. Please add me to this class action.
We were watching my sister’s cat and she started kind of acting funny so we took her to the vet and they said that she had fleas even though we really didn’t see any fleas but I guess it’s possible and obviously since we were cats sitting we didn’t want it to get out of hand so they gave us bravecto for all of our cats.
The next day my sister’s cat started having seizures and acting all crazy. She was literally showing signs of literally going insane almost like jumping around crazy and just clawing herself until she bled it was the creepiest thing ever, and one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen an animal go through.
We contacted the vet and told us to bring her and the other cats and to all get evaluated just to make sure and they said that they were sending my sister’s cat to the hospital and our cats were fine to come home so we took her over to the hospital and dropped her off.
My sister came back into town and we waited for them to tell us what was going on and bravecto was contacted by our vet to let them know about the adverse reaction..
We get a phone call a couple days later after we’re told that she’s doing better that the cat passed away. Our vet told us that bravecto offered to do an autopsy on the cat like a couple days after. We brought her home and buried her before we even got the call. So we ended up digging her back up which was very traumatizing let me just say.
My dad had to be the one to do it. Anyway, we sent her back in for the autopsy but then they told us that they contacted the emergency vet’s office who evidently put her in the freezer while we waited to pick her up causing the autopsy results not to be correct but said they saw signs of neurological symptoms probably caused by eating a mouse which is crazy because she was an indoor cat and yes we both live in the country at both houses, and mice have been known to come into the house, but when we first took her in we were just making sure that she was okay because she was just acting a little skittish and the next day after the bravecto she started acting literally psychotic like making herself bleed psychotic.
So according to the autopsy that they paid for and that they said wouldn’t necessarily show anything because the body was frozen they say they are not at fault because it showed some neurological symptoms by possibly eating a bad mouse but because she was frozen they don’t know for sure.
They ended up keeping her body and never sending her back home and disposing of her I guess wherever they saw it.
I guess we’re never going to get real truths about that day, but I do know that it’s awful suspicious that the veterinary hospital froze the animal instead of calling us immediately upon the time they knew she was going to pass. Any other time this has happened they called and let us know that the animal was declining quickly and if we wanted to come say goodbye we could but in this case we didn’t get a call until the next morning and she had already been gone almost 12 hours in the freezer before they even contacted us.
I think maybe because bravecto was paying for the visit that bravecto instructed them to put her in the freezer so that they could use the completely Frozen excuse as to why the autopsy wouldn’t be viable to give us answers in court or otherwise.
I thought that they were being nice offering to pay for her visits and get all of her stuff checked out and even after she passed I thought they were being nice trying to figure out what happened to the cat for us but then after all the excuses and all the weird stuff I realized I think they were just trying to cover up their own tracks.
If you’re a pet takes bravecto don’t let bravecto pay for any bills for you make sure you do it on your own if you can.
I’ve been taking my Pit/Bassett in for licking his feet excessively, bumps appearing all over his body, facial paralysis, a tumor behind his left ear causing his ear drum to rupture. The vet says it’s neurological. I’ve been using Bravecto on both my pets. My Lab has developed a lump on her head between the eyes. After reading all of the comments on here I’m wondering if the Bravecto is the cause. I will not continue using Bravecto.
I recently was prescribed Brevecto ($56. A pill) for my 2 miniature poodles.no prior history of any neurological disorders.one poodle would not chew his but my other poodle did.she started licking her lips,opening and closing her mouth,throwing up.she wouldn’t move.called the vet and was seen same day giving her some fluids and injection for vomiting.so actually merck and vet poisoned my dog.thank goodness my other poodle refused his.too late to get in on lawsuit.??? Sure vets are getting a kickback by poisoning our pets to make money.sinful greed.!!! I am submitting my vet bill for purchasing the poison and the emergency vet bill.in the meantime not sure what is safe.
One of my Australian Bulldogs has just given birth, we have 3 healthy normal pups, one with a long pronounced gasp that did not survive, another had passed at birth and was unable to be resucitated and we have 3 ‘alien’ looking babies that are under developed, they don’t appear to have spines and have no genitalia, 2 have grown to a similar size to the ones that have survived and another had passed at half of their weight.
This girl has had 2 litters previously of 8-10 pups and all pups were good and healthy, the only thing that changed was giving her Bravecto for the first time. Generally our dogs are all on Nexguard Spectra and we have never seen an issue in any of them but Bravecto claim that this is safe to give to pregnant bitches and our vets also believed this to be the case. Personally I believe the Bravecto has caused our issues this time and will never be using it again – gutted for our girl it has been an awful labour for both of us. ?
Bravecto was given to my perfectly healthy, NEVER sick cat on 6/26/18. She dropped dead 7/26/18. If it’s not too late, please add me to this class action suit.
On a routine annual check up i was speaking with my vet about us soon to be traveling with our dogs and she recommended to me about Bravecto being an oral medication for dogs that lasts up to 3 months versus the other brands of flea and tick medication which only last a month. So we decided to try it with my male terrier mix. Previously he had always been using a topical medication so this was the first oral type he’s tried. My dog was perfectly healthy until I gave him Bravecto. September 1st 2021 was when I gave it to him. 3 days later he urinated all over the bed in the middle of the night. I woke up to feeling something wet all over the bed. Immediately I could smell the urine. I figured shoot maybe one of the dogs had an accident. Which is uncommon because our dogs are house broken they know better. When it happened again the next night I was thinking ok something is not right here? Then it happened again 2 nights later and every other night after that. At this point I knew something was wrong with my dog. He’s got a clean bill of health so something is definitely wrong. I contacted my vet right away to make an appointment which is actually still tomorrow September 16, 2021. So I’ve been dealing with diapers for my dog every night and accidents in the house everyday since I gave him the Bravecto. Not sure if he has a urinary tract infection or just some kind of incontinence but this is driving me crazy knowing my dog that had a clean bill of health is now having issues because of this flea and tick medication. I’m very concerned and I pray after seeing the vet tomorrow and running some tests that there is nothing serious now with my boy. Do not give your dogs Bravecto. I’d like to join in on this class action lawsuit if someone can please reach out to me. Praying my boy will be ok.
On a routine visit my veterinarian persuaded me to give a Bravecto pill to my 7 pound, 8 year old schitzu, Secret for tick prevention. He said that ticks could kill her and that without it she could bring a tick into my home that could be dangerous for me. I fed it to her with her dinner that evening as he instructed. I thought about how large the pill was for such a tiny dog. 4 hours later Secret collapsed. For 3 days she was vomiting, lethargic & could hardly walk. She had to be put down at the end of the third day due kidney failure from the toxity of the drug indicated by her blood work. I am retired and she was my baby. I am still devastated. My vet refused to take any responsibility.
My son just got home from dropping his dog off at the emergency vet. Otter is a 6 year old Lab mix that was very healthy until being give Bravecto. He has been vomiting, having uncontrollable diarrhea, lethargic, high fever, shaking, weakness and trouble walking. He has been to the vet twice for fluids and meds and today (9/10/21) is so much worse he had to be hospitalized at an emergency vet hospital. My son is out of work and has no money to pay for this. Otter is a wonderful dog and we pray he lives through this nightmare. His blood work has been good so they are not sure what all is wrong but the vet said it is due to Bravecto. This is a heartbreaking situation. My name is Marcia Gordon and Kris Oak is my son.
I have a 4 year old Yorkie. On August 23 2021 we have him Bravecto and two days later we started to bite his tail to the point he took the tip out of him. He was bleeding profusely. We took him t the hospital to get cleaned and cured. Since then, the dog continues to bite his tail and his paws. We have been going to the vet and the hospital to get him cured. We cannot leave the dog for one minute alone because he starts bitting himself and becomes very angry. The vet recommended to get him in a cage most of the day until he gets relaxed and his tail finally cures. That has been impossible because when het get out for water and food, making his necessities he goes crazy and bited himself again having us taking him to the vet again.
We have tried everything now. We are desperate. My girls are crying all the time watching his lovely dog acting crazy. It’s like having s different dog at home.
Need help here please!!!