Bad rash after flea bites?

Has anyone´s dog had an allergic reaction to flea treatment?

• I gave both of my dogs Pro Meris Duo flea and tick treatment which the vet gave me and a few days later, one of the dogs became really ill. She developed a rash all over her body and the spots grew massive and were bloody and weeping and incredibly itchy. The vets had no idea what the problem was and after days of antihistamines and antibiotics she was still getting worse. They decided then to give her steriods and little by little she looks a tiny bit better although she is still constantly trying to scratch her face despite the lampshade collar on her head and is still quite distressed. A dermatologist took some biopsies and thought it might be an immune system disease but the results of the biopsy have ruled this out but they are still unsure of what the problem could be. The drug company are not admitting anything but seem to be looking into it and have advised that we don´t give her the treatment again (not a chance of me doing that)! She now looks like she should pull through but it has been a scary week. Another strange thing is that a day after her lumps appeared, I developed an itchy rash all over my face and had a temperature. I asked my doctor just in case he had any ideas which might also help the dog but he seemed stumped too! I don´t particulary agree with dosing my animals with chemicals every month anyway so this is the first time in a while I have done so as they had picked up some fleas, and I don´t know what to use from now on. I did use frontline once with no problem but the vet prescribed this one as they seemed to be picking up a lot of ticks (and the dog who had the reaction also seemed quite allergic to tick bites). I have just found a site where someone is explaining a reaction in her cat and she explained that the drug company do tests on other animals to see how much they can take before becoming ill/dying which I find appalling. In order for people to keep their animals pest-free other animals are dying to make sure the dosis are correct. Does anyone know of a treatment for fleas which doesn´t involve chemicals entering the animal´s bloodstream and which has not been tested in a cruel way? Is this possible?

• Answer:

  Yes and a friend of mine had exactly the same problem with the same thing 2 months ago. Mine happened a few ears ago with another product I can't remember the name of and was just as bad as your one. If it had not been for the visible skin signs I would have thought he had biliary. I do not use anything other than frontline. I only put it on at least 1 whole day after a bath and never every month - only when I think there may be a problem. I make sure it is only as prescribed and I even go as far as not washing my dogs with anything other than an non-perfumed soap.