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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1,797 thoughts onBravecto Class Action Says Meds Aren’t Safe For Pets
We recently gave our beautifully silky black Lab Shepard Dane Mix Rory her third dose of Bravecto in three years with no previous side effects but this time she got really sick the next day. She became lethargic wouldn’t eat diarea vomiting. It seemed as if she was poisoned.Then she seemed to turn around but unfortunately she got much worse we took her to the vet and stayed two nights all the tests said low platelets low red blood cell low white blood cells and kidney failure.The vet wanted us to put her down. They only gave her three days.After 1 week she is still fighting.She has lost so much weight won’t eat drooling she will drink some but we have been giving her I.V. fluids.We pray she pulls through but it doesn’t look good.
We have our Ruby her first dose of Bravecto and within a day she had stopped eating. Then came the stumbling and when I took her to the vet, she collapsed on their floor and couldn’t get up. We had to carry her to get her weight and into the room. She had lost 15 pounds already. She had blood in her urine and would twitch. They did a CBC and found out her red blood cells were dangerously low and her white blood cells were dangerously high. She could barely move. We ended up having to put her to sleep. We never had any issues like this before Bravecto!
Bravecto is a silent killer. I wish I had asked questions before giving my dog this medication. He was an amazing dog, energetic, the happiest dog ever. I decided to take him to a check up appointment on 9/19/22, everything was fine and he got prescribed hartgaurd and bravecto. A day after ingesting this so called Bravecto, he started showing symptoms of lethargy, not eating, no bowel movements, throwing up, nothing. Not one vet we took him to could diagnose him. It got to the point where he did not even want to move or get up when you’d say his name. Took him back to the vet on 9/24/22, he pooped a very tiny bit and there was blood in it. But the vet couldn’t tell me why? Or didn’t check. He got prescribed nausea medication for the vomiting he was experiencing as well. The next day things took a turn for the worse and he was just glued to the floor. Ended up bringing him to the emergency vet and his white blood cell was over 60,000. Normal WBC is around 16,000. His x-ray showed his liver was enlarged and the vet mentioned something about free fluids in his abdomen, assuming he was internally bleeding. They did absolutely nothing for my baby. We could not watch him suffer no longer, we decided to put him down. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE YOUR ANIMALS THIS MEDICATION PLEASE.
My dog was a healthy 1yr old pup before the vet recommended the bravecto pill for fleas. They told me he was allergic to flea saliva and highly recommended this pill. I now regret not asking questions because it was hell seeing my pup go through that pain. He was very lethargic at first, but then he would throw up and diarrhea all over. It got so bad he had to be hospitalized for 4-5 days (I don’t remember numbers it happened a while ago). It only got worse because after they told me he was showing progress and I got to take him home then the neurological problems started. He bumps into everything, falls frequently, his eyes twitch left-right like he has severe vertigo. His eyes, nose, and ears are extremely scabbed. I’ve spent so much money to get my pup the help he needed to be comfortable to the point that I had considered maybe putting him down because he was suffering to even breathe at times. Bravecto wrecked him because it happened right after that pill and he was on it consistently but I had no idea that was the cause. I want to know the steps to go about this because I’m so angry.
My dog was a healthy 1yr old pup before the vet recommended the bravecto pill for fleas. They told me he was allergic to flea saliva and highly recommended this pill. I now regret not asking questions because it was hell seeing my pup go threw the most pain. He was very lethargic at first, but then he would throw up and diarrhea all over. It got so bad he had to be hospitalized for 4-5 days (I don’t remember numbers it happened a while ago). It only got worse because after they told me he was showing progress and I got to take him home then the neurological problems started. He bumps into everything, falls frequently, his eyes twitch left-right like he has severe vertigo. His eyes, nose, and ears are extremely scabbed. I’ve spent so much money to get my pup the help he needed to be comfortable to the point that I had considered maybe putting him down because he was suffering to even breathe at times. Bravecto wrecked him because it happened right after that pill and he was on it consistently but I had no idea that was the cause.
I am suing Brevecto..I gave it to my puppy and he has had diarreah…uncontrollable. He was perfectly healthy and is only 4.5 lbs. There was nothing on packaging that said of any side effects
They will pay for the past vet visit and all vet visits pertaining to this poison. My dog is a show dog also. They will pay!!!
I had a 105lba German Shepherd that was the love of my life!!! Zoey had ALL of these problems and kept getting worse and worse until we just had her put to sleep. I still can’t even look at her dog house. All after taking Bravecto. Those bastards didn’t tell us anything. Jesus.. I hate them. I miss my dog- and she was MY dog. She was my rock. I hate them! Sue the shit out of this company. The seizures that my poor Zoey had. I HATE them now that I just found out about this! 09/11/22
I am so so sorry for your loss. My TWO beautiful healthy dogs died two weeks ago within 5 days of each other. I will be looking at Bravecto. I had always tried to avoid pharmaceutical use but I made an exception because of fleas. Will def do research on this product!!
I just gave my 13wk old puppy bravecto 3 days ago and he has sores/scabs rash under his armpits and is not eating like he was n im very worried about him after reading these comments the vet said only side effects are upset stomach and acted like its perfectly safe to give him all i know is if something terrible happens the vet is not going to like me i promise
My poor dog has had a neurological episode after taking this medicine. She was fine and now the nerve in her eye has been damaged and no tears will produce. After consulting with two doctors, they both believe this is a direct result of the medicine. I’d like to know if anyone else’s dog has had the problem. I have spent close to $2,000 just on visits and medicine.
WOW!! First off, I want to thank you all for sharing your experiences with this drug, and secondly I want to convey my sincerest heartfelt sadness for what you and your poor loved furbabies are going through! I do hope all the babies recover soon 💖
I just happened to decide to Google Bravecto Orange, because I’m supposed to give it to my 15 month old Havapoo “Hunter” today. I won’t be doing that now! So thank you all very much. I am also going to look back over the names of previous flee/tick medicine given to her in the past, as she has gone through alot of “unexplained” illnesses. Now I’m wondering how much of that was associated to something like this. I can’t believe my vet never warned me about any possible side effects. I’m pretty upset about that, and will let them know when I return the still sealed box!!
I purchased oral Bravecto for my Shichon Lacie who was a healthy 16 month old. I gave her the second dose( gave her one dose three months prior and never realized even though she was larthagic then too but started throwing up a day later and would continue to throw up periodically through the weeks, thought it was because she wasn’t eaten much! So mad at myself for given the second dose) three month dose in May 2022 and immediately she was larthargic and the next day was throwing up, her eye was shut and still larthargic. I took her to the vet and she was also having broncular problems, which turned into pneumonia. After many many office visits and thousands of dollars and not to mention my poor little girl suffered so much!!! And how ironic that after 3 months it got out of her system and she started getting better!!Thank God, especially when her vet said that it was a fight to get her better as the phenomenon wasn’t going away. My vet helped with putting in a claim and I just found out today that Merk said it wasn’t caused by bravecto!!! Sure they would say that. I’m so beyond upset over this and why is it still on the market!!! What’s it going to take.Hundred of Thousands have lost their lives and so many have suffered by using this product. When you Google it sure does day it can cause broncular problems, especially in mix breeds. I would really like to be a part of this lawsuit.
Gave my pup bravecto 11 days later ended up have seizues for over an hour and landed in Emergency Vet for 3 days. 3000.00 later he is stable and able to come home. Vet never mentioned that this could trigger seizures
In March of 2021 my dog Mathias received a dose of Bravecto. About two weeks later he had a seizure.
Mathias was a healthy 2 year old at that time.
I took Mathias to the vet who ran a lot of test and had nothing conclusive afterwards.
I asked about Bravecto being the cause of the seizure because I had researched adverse reactions from Bravecto prior to the vet visit. My vet would not comment. Approximately one year later Mathias experienced another seizure. Then one month after the second seizure he experienced a third seizure with ataxia.
I took Mathias to another vet for a second opinion. This vet did not have much to say about the possible cause of the seizures but wanted to run a bunch of test and prescribed a dog food that was supposed to help his brain.
I brought up Bravecto as the cause and she then said it was epilepsy.
I have been giving Mathias pure CBD now to help control the seizure activity and it has been working great.
I recently took him for an annual checkup and vaccinations.
This time we saw a different vet at our regular clinic. During his checkup the vet asked what we used for flea and tick control. I took this opportunity to let him know we no longer use any type because of Mathias’ seizures
but only use natural flea control.
I was able to voice my concerns about Bravecto being the cause of the seizures. This vet agreed and even stated that Bravecto causes seizures in some dogs.
Today Mathias had a seizure that lasted for 11 minutes. This is heartbreaking to watch Mathias go through this needless event when it could have been prevented.
I am so angry I was not informed about the risks of using Bravecto. I would never have subjected my beloved dog to this poison.