The Side Effects of Revolution Pet Treatment
Only those who truly care about their families health, search for posts and articles like this one, which highlight the symptoms and potential side effects of different pet treatments. Which is why I know that you are a kind and compassionate person, who only wants the best for every member of your family.
And knowing that makes me proud to blog about the side effects of Revolution for cats and dogs, because I know that you will use it to compare against other pet parasiticide products, so that you make sure you get your pet's the highest quality of pest deterrent available.
Now, to start us out, I've always felt it's best to get the worst out of the way first. So let's discuss the worst potential side effects of Revolution Pet Treatment (as well as most other treatments available today).
If you notice your dog or cat showing signs of any of these symptoms, call your vet right away:
Muscle Weakness/In-Coordination - In 1% of clinical trials, some pets experienced extreme muscle weakness which lead to difficulty standing or walking. This can happen if your pet gets too large of a dose, or if they have a natural undiagnosed allergy to anything in the treatment. If this happens, your pet will need to see a vet right away. Because of this risk, it is always best to try any new pet treatments in the morning, so that if any adverse reactions appear, you will have plenty of time to get your pet into a vet within the same day.
Rapid Breathing/Panting - Because Revolution enters the blood stream, it can sometimes have a negative effect on your pets heart. In a small minority of pets, this can cause hypertension, which can lead to stroke or heart attach. If you notice these your pet is panting excessively or breathing very rapidly, take them into the near vet as soon as possible.
Muscle Tremors - If you notice that your pet is shaking uncontrollably or experiencing heavy muscle tremors, call your vet and schedule an appointment for as soon as possible.
Skin Burning - Out of 1743 animals tested, less than 2% had an adverse reaction that caused their skin to burn after application of any chemical pet treatments. If you notice that your pets skin appears is covered in a rash, peeling or your pet seems to be in great discomfort around the application site, you will want to take them into a vet right away.
Most of these reactions rarely occur in 5 out of 100 animals, meaning that it is not likely that your pet will have a serious reaction. Though being armed with this knowledge, helps you care for them if they do happen to be a part of the 5%.
And now that we've gotten through the tougher parts of this discussion, let's cover the more common side effects and some ways that you can help your pet cope with them, while the treatment relieves them of pests.
Temporary Hair Loss - More often then not, this happens with animals who already have sensitive skin, and with most of those cases, the sensitive pet is even more in need of pest treatment than pets who are not so sensitive. Though because the pet has sensitive skin, they will sometimes lose some of the fur around the site where you put the treatment. So long as they do not appear to have been burned, they should regrow the hair within a week or two at most.
Digestive Upset - Diarrhea, vomiting and stomach upset are the most common digestive side effects. They can cause your dog or cat to not want to eat or play for a little while until their body has processed the parasiticide. You can help them through these side effects by making sure they drink plenty of fresh distilled water, which will help keep them hydrated and help them process the treatments more easily.
Hyperactivity - When Revolution enters your pets bloodstream through their skin, it can sometimes cause them to have an elevated heart beat, as their body deals with the treatments reactions. This will make them anxious, as they will not be sure about what is happening to them, and that is usually what causes the hyper activity. You can help keep them calm by giving them their treatment in a dark and quiet room, and then staying with them for at least 30-45 minutes after the treatment.
Drowsiness - On the other side of the coin, some dogs and cats have seen the alter-reaction to hyperactivity, which is Drowsiness or Lethargy. As their body gives into the process of the pest treatments, they might need to sleep while the battle between bugs and love, wages on. If your animal finds themselves with this reaction, the best thing you can do is to help them get comfortable, and then check on them from time to time, to make sure they are still able to get up, walk around a bit and drink some water.
Drooling - It is recommended that every pet who gets a dose of Revolution, gets it right between their shoulder blades, to prevent them from ingesting the medication. That being said, we all know that our pets have a way of reaching the spot, no matter how crafty you try to be, and that means that there is still a chance that they might ingest the treatment.
When this happens, it most often causes excessive drooling as their body works to get the taste and the chemicals out of their mouth. You can help your pet through this by offering them plenty of fresh water to drink.
In most cases, the worst you're going to see is a displeased cat or anxious dog, whom are not very happy to have been treated, but who will be very happy in an hour or so, as they are finally flea and parasite free again.
Comment(s)156
The next day I saw that one of my cats lost his fur where I applied the Revolution. His skin in that area was red and he didn’t want me to touch it, meaning, it HURT. He LOST FUR from the harsh chemicals in Pfizer’s Revolution. I was very upset. I shudder to think—if this is the FDA-approved version available to the world and it is so caustic that it burns fur off of cats and causes such enormous problems as people are describing on this site, then what did the studies do to the poor laboratory animals they did animal testing on?
I will never EVER use this product again!
Please stop pouring chemicals on your pet. Check out this great book: “Homeopathic Care for Cat & Dogs” by Don Hamilton, DVM. It contains natural remedies for many pet conditions and has many suggestions for flea control with no side effects.
After this ORDEAL, I bathed my cat, who had licked all her Revolution off, in order to drown the fleas. It was a much better solution than toxic poisonous pharmaceuticals. Reason: 1) it worked 2) my cat did not suffer 3) it was free.
A general statement but the post was mainly to help people be aware of any possible side effects so they can take action.
3 of whom show no side effects of Revolution, I got a Beagle in the month of Nov 4yrs old, clean bill of health, in April started to give Revolution to the beagle and couple days later had his first siezure that I know about, called previous owner - never any history of seizures.
I did not put two and two together until the 3 time I gave him revolution, and always about 2-3 days after he has a seizure, I actually even skipped a month of no medicine and no seizure.
I read up on the internet and in some cases - Yes, there have been incidents of reported seizure. I am going to contact the company that makes this in inform them of my findings. Btw the beagle is still healthy afterward, vet says nothing I can do for the seizures, just be there for your dog. No more Revolution for my pup.
I didn't push the matter and just put the revolution but I used up the rest of her next guard and heart guard and finally gave her the revolution application Friday night and made sure to really get it in between her shoulder blades against the skin. Sunday morning we went played in the park and I came home and I heard her Bells on her collar jingling in the other room & thought she was playing.
After about two minutes I want to see what she was playing for so long and she was seizuring on the floor- it was horrible -she was foaming at the mouth- it was heartbreaking. It took a lot of keppra, phenobarbital & Valium for a full 12 hours to get her stop having seizures -& the first vet discounted revolution when I mentioned that as the only different thing in her routine.
The third vet that took over her care -did her blood work & everything was normal - t4, liver ( close to moral), etc...he said it was possible that the revolution caused this & to never use it again. we r going to slowly wean her off the phenobarbital over a few weeks to make sure she doesn't have seizures again. But I can not stress enough how odd it is that so many people complain about their dog & seizures after revolution & yet it doesn't come up as a main side effect... Makes you wonder...
Of course vets won't push the possible side effects. These drug companies are in buisness with them and heart worm prevention is a million dollar buisness
I advise organic flea control and Frontline or Advantage only if absolutely necessary. This stuff only works the first week, so flea hygiene is absolutely necessary whether you use toxic assist or not. Sunlight or UV light kills eggs and larvae in 30 seconds of exposure. Flea traps work! See my blog on organic flea control at http://wholepetmind.wordpress.com/
Karen.
She scratches her ears a lot, but the Vet said "she's OK" -- I see no drainage or "dirt" but she scratches her ears a lot -- how did you determine your dog had mites? I did put my dog on Rev. one month - she still scratches - and I'm considering not putting it on again.
any help appreciated - joy
what do y'all do about the large difference in weights for the RX?
Muscle pain. Shaking uncontrollably.
Lethargy. I just hope he comes to back to his normal self. Very sad. :(
than cortisone treatment. I so think that the compony that produce this product should really go back to the drawingboard as I see a lot of people whos dearest best friend suffer at their neglect. surely somebody has complained to this compony already.
About 4 hrs later , he had watery smelly poo, I bought this from our vets, on their recommendation that it was the best treatment..
Previously had bought the ones from supermarket , and had no problem .
I have " googled " revolution, and this is some side effects it causes ..
My poor Charlie , can't understand why he is locked up in laundry with his kitty litter !!
I have made sure he has clean fresh water, and hope he is better in morning.. Won't be using that product ever again ...
I had tried a cheaper flea treatment before which hadn't done much of anything (to the fleas OR the cat) but I did notice with the cheap one, that my little Smokey is flexible enough to twist right around and lick whatever you put between her shoulderblades. So when I got the Revolution, I put it in a spot I know she couldn't lick directly: between and slightly behind her ears. She's been totally fine with no reactions to the medicine (aside from freaking out when it was applied, but that was because it was a wet liquid and she hates wet!)
If your kitty is normally very good at contorting into odd positions, then I advise placing your flea medicine higher than the shoulderblades. Some of the symptoms people see could be from kitty accidentally ingesting the medicine when you're not looking!
If you need help treating fleas in the home, I recommend diatomaceous earth. It's a kind of soft rock crumbled into powder form (perfect for all you fans of natural remedies) and has properties that basically turn any insect's exoskeleton into a sieve. Your fleas (and other crawling insects) will die of dehydration as their bodies can no longer retain moisture, and it's one of the few things that works on the robust pupa stage of the flea life cycle.
My 3 year old collie cross started having episodes when we played ball last summer. I believed it to be heat exhaustion. Then she started having seizures. All the bloodwork was normal. I don't give her the Revolution over the winter and she had no episodes.
I gave her the first dose 2 weeks ago and she has already had 3 episodes of staggering, panting and on 1 occasion fainted.
I will not be using Revolution again and will see if these episodes stop.
O-o ???
I wasn't sure if this has been done before, but something about that doesn't feel right to me, my regular Vet is on vacation will wait for his opinion. In my personal opinion we as pet owner are emotional about our pets, which are source of income for vets. They may seem like they care for animals and are animal lovers, maybe that once drove them to become a vet but its not why they are still vets, I mean they don't ask if we could do tests, no no no they tell you we are going to do all these useless tests and charge you for every tiny little thing... I don't mind spending money if it is worth it, but most of the time, they are just after making extra buck at the cost of your pets life. The way they handle them, the way they are giving them medicines without any second thought. As human body goes through up and downs, we sometimes require medicine and sometimes don't, our bodies can recover from few things, same with animals they have been living for long time as well, they know their bodies and have natural instincts. The way these vet describe one small decease is like it will be end of entire cat nation. My kittens never scratch themselves, but started to after visit to Vet, its like you car need a bulb change after it came from mechanic it needs 5 more things fixed.
Will keep you posted if there is any change in their behaviour or health, but I won't be applying it twice, its not like antibiotics that you take double dose first time.
p.s. I don't think pet owners should pay out of their pocket for their pets allergic reaction to the meds especially when it leaves them with pain or worse.
Good Luck
I never called my other Vet, something about giving 2 doses in a month, just didn't set right with me. They were ok after one dose, although the area where I applied the medicine had very pungent smell after day or two. I checked their skin and it was okay there was no rash or anything but only on one(male) of them it smelled weird.
They can't blame Revolution just like our doctors they do also get incentives to sell their drugs more then others, now a day its all about money not about health.
Keep us posted about your kitten.
Good luck
Has had all sorts of tests and come up with nothing. The Vet does not believe it is from the Revolution. I am hand feeding small meals to my cat, forcing water and yes he has had fluids twice at the Vets. He does not want to stand, especially on his back legs . I am just praying that he gets through this. I will not be using Revolution again .
I woke up last night to her sleeping on a pillow.. face down...I couldn't hear or feel her breathing. I freaked out and had to shake her awake, she then tried to purr after a while and started coughing like she was trying to get a hairball out. The following morning she refuses to eat or drink and just lies on the floor. I am very nervous after reading this forum!
I called the vet and they told me that lethargy is not a side affect of this drug...which is clearly NOT true. She also has fur and skin discoloration. This treatment is NOT WORTH WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PET!!
He lost weight lost his appetite became unsteady and one morning he woke me up crying and non responsive. Rushed him to the hospital where they told me they believed it to be a blood clot in his brain. I think it was the flea meds that killed him. My heart aches for him everyday.
The STRAY CAT who had jaw surgery was in a week, so he didn't get a dose of Revolution.
HE IS THE ONLY ONE ACTING NORMAL.
USE AT YOUR OWN KITTIES RISK.
One is up walking around now, about an hour later and wanted treats. Other is still sleeping. Will keep this updated.
How To Treat Cat Fleas At Home in simple ways
https://goo.gl/tcWF4g
The largest cat, Rocky, the Maine Coon had a massive Seizure and vomited white foam after 4 days. He was very healthy and died horribly.
Just don't use poison like Revolution of you love your pets. My heart is so broken!
I will never give him any chemicals again. I'm using only natural alternatives going forward, and now I'm detoxing him with a all natural liver cleanse and probiotic and fish oil.
You are right ,I had the same experiences with my cat , hyperness , running , itching , biting, and licking with flakes on his back.
Please everyone dont use these poisons! These damn drug companies dont care about our pets or us
CHANGED VETS, CHANGED MEDICATION - all mite free and healthy now.
Nothing good can be named Revolution.
Have been splitting dose of bigger vials of Revolution for dogs between my three chihuahua's for several years. Have seen no ill effects, but I agree, something has changed with the formula. Tucker just came from the groomer and was loaded with fleas. I had noted a lot of scratching going on even though they are not due for another dose for another week. Now, I wonder if they have not been protected from heartworms as well.
Did any of you ever have an issue with facial swelling in the days after administering Revolution or any other flea and tick treatment to your pets?
If Revolution was not responsible for seizures in my border collie, (see above post) please explain why the dog has not had repetitive seizures since we have changed treatment. It is indeed Revolution that caused seizures in this particular animal. No further seizures have been noted since the product has been discontinued, no other changes were made in diet or other meds given prior or after Revolution. Revolution is to some animals as Penicillin is to some people. This is not anecdotal, it is fact. There is no other variable that could have created this issue that is known to us. While our other Collie appears to tolerate Revolution we have reduced the dosage to about 1/2 application. Who knows what other unseen damage may be occurring at the organ level. As I previously posted as soon as this product is gone we are changing our product to the aforementioned products.
Chances are probably 1 in 10 maybe a bit more your cat or dog will experience issues with this product, when you consider the amount of cats and dogs using this product that's a hell of a lot of sick animals. By the way how much were you paid to post that? Or are you Zoetis? And no I'm not here plugging Seresto or Iverheart but I'll be damned if I'm going to knowingly apply a product that causes harm to one of our dogs.
She will never get Revolution again. Two vets didn’t think it was revolution and said it had be something else. I know it was revolution. Apparently they r in denial.
One cat is on antibiotics now after a ton of tests that diagnosed him with a UTI. We say him yowling in the litter box. I pray he will be ok because my other cat died a week ago.
My cat sadly had to be put down and it broke my heart. He was diagnosed with diabetes a few weeks ago and we already had him on RP before we knew. He then stopped eating or drinking, was vomiting. We took him to the pet hospital and they diagnosed uti (2 weeks after second dose of revolution plus). I dont know it it related but TWO cats with UTIs? Vet said UTIs are not contagious. My cat got worse and on the 3rd day of hospitalization he had a stroke and we put him down. I'm scared about the revolution plus. The vet didnt think it was the medicine because it sisnt happen right after the dose but I dont know.
I'm scared because I have other cats on the medication right now also.
In addition to the loss of my cat, fear and worry the vet bills were thousands.
We have three cats that have been given this, seasonally, for years.
This year, January 2020, I began my routine of applying to all three but only had two doses in my pack, so I split between them. We have one cat, Teeny, that is like a dog in that she wants to go out and hang all day. She's the reason everyone gets dosed, and is now the reason they will never be again!
We're on the coast, in South Georgia, so I wasn't sure when I began to see Teenys hair in little tufts, what was going on. She gets into scrapes w all types of wildlife and goes to vet, gets treated w antibiotics or stitches, stays inside, subjects us to her teenage temperament, heals and goes at it again. This year, however, everything was different. She started to walk a little wobbly and that spot on her back just kept looking worse. She started staying really close to the house when outside, I feel now it was lethargy, and began vomiting frequently yet not with any regularity. That spot was turning really dark pink under and the tufts were looking more like clumps. Her coat is white, so we really could monitor the progression of the situation easily. I told my husband that I suspected this was possibly an irritation from the poison aka Revolution.
One day she came running in and had an inch long gash on her back very close to the spot. I immediately thought, "she was rubbing up against something, scratching her back and the whatever was sharp enough that it cut her". This was January. My vet stitched her up and she donned her dredded soft surgical collar. *please note, I put this on her the opposite direction of a hard collar, like a cape, not a halo.
It was healing well, when she, through her soft collar, scratched the stitches out of her back! I was distraught and she was a mess. Back to vet to now get staples! This poor cat was so irritated (the spot was underneath the soft collar, mind you) that she couldn't readily scratch for relief, yet she somehow managed to dig (or chew) out 2 of the staples! The vet replaced them and she was now in a hard (halo) collar, PLUS the soft one to protect the wound, and receiving Prednisone for the itching and antibiotic shots for infection! FINALLY after 5 weeks, she was healed....until she comes in for treats one day and I'll be damned if she finally, now, scratched a huge HOLE into her back precisely where the 'spot' was located!
It has been now, 6 MONTHS that my poor girl has been STRICTLY INDOORS and WEARING A FKNG COLLAR because every time this heals, she completely rips it open scratching herself. I am SICK that I actually caused this, I did this to our baby!
I called my vet in tears last week because she was nearly healed completely, AGAIN...and has opened the small scab back up. It's continually a raw, bleeding wound that exposes her muscle between her shoulder blades. I asked our vet how long would she force an animal of hers to endure this? She said, "okay lets do another round of Prednisone and oral antibiotics and see how it looks, in a couple of weeks and If she's still going at it, I will excise the entire spot and stitch it all up and hopefully that will be the fix". Like, seriously???
I am so beyond frustrated and upset and literally would like to know IF ANYONE has endured any of this behavior from their babies? Also, WHAT WOULD YOU PERSONALLY DO at this point? Excise and stitch?? I mean, I'm certain Teenys hair will never grow back there, the skin is so thin and when it does heal there are visible small veins just under the surface of thin, stressed, skin just begging to heal. It's so pitiful.
FK you, Zoetis & Pfizer!!!
I am wondering if there is any link to this odd behavior and the Revolution. I haven't notice anything weird until these past few months. I am going to take my cat to the vet soon and see if there is anything wrong with him. If he comes back as healthy, then I think I will stop giving my cats the Revolution for a while and see if any symptoms come up again.
Does anyone know of any other flea/worm preventatives that are much safer? Or is it fine to forgo any preventative treatments altogether? My father never gave his cats anything or took them to the vet growing up, and they all lived to be old, so I am wondering if cats are better off without the risk of modern medicine? I hate to think like this because I'd like to think that innovation is for the better, but I hate to see my cats be put in possible danger from rare side-effects.
$1000 of tests have thrown no light. Although he comes from a reputable breeder that tests for genetic issues we are still waiting for a genetic lab’s results on more tests. He seems a bit better and has started jumping on bed but still he does not move normally. I have used Revolution before with no problems but this time I have to blame it. Will follow up with end results.
This has made my cat severely ill with tremors, seizure, frothing at the mouth and severe pain. She is going downhill fast.
Will also cost me a fortune at the Vet now.
This product should be banned ! ! !
Revolution plus is the only flea and tick medicine that can help you fight the Lone Star tick that carries Bobcat fever. My 1st two that got it were totally indoor cats and I feel I must have had a tick on me that dropped off but this disease has killed cats for every single person I know. so whether or not you think that using these drugs on your cat is horrible and you're going to do it naturally, if you live in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, or Missouri, You may come up against Bobcat fever and it kills in 3 to 5 days after symptoms start. Hemolytic anemia causes organ failure & your cats cook from inside with fever over 106°
And the treatment & drugs are extremely expensive ranging $1200-2000 with a long hospital stay. I've used Revolution on my cats for over a year with no side effects other than the cats being really peeved at my for applying it.
Shoul I be concerned?
this has happened before, in the past antibiotics & steroids cleared it up
the vet pushed revolution hard, I did not want to do it - another cat I used to own HATED it, it made his skin burn
well, my cat went into convulsions and is now having kidney failure
DO NOT USE REVOLUTION
brought to you by pfizer - that's all you need to know
She gets labs checked once a year to check for diabetes, kidney function, thyroid. She had been coughing alot but then would go right back to playing. Shes dropped some weight. Coughing became less and less
We've always used revolution plus with her but lately I've noticed every time we put it on her, she coughs and coughs like crazy again. Is this a sign of heart disease? It sounds like a wet cough. I've had our vet check her out, had a cxr, didn't see anything concerning. I wonder if she had congestive heart failure. Her breathing even sounds wet after the coughing episodes...then she just runs off and plays...its crazy. Her worm test was negative as well.
Thanks,
Darlene
I hope he picks up with his eating. The Vet gave me Mirtazapine tablet to give him if his appetite wanes.
Plus I put a Shunjite crystal stone in his water bowl to purify his water.
I hope he pulls through. He is my world. The next few weeks will be critical I think to his long term survival. No more flea meds for him ever again.
Do not use Revolution Plus for your cat.
I’m feeding and trying to take care of some abandoned and feral cats in my neighborhood and although he’ll let me pet him(the cat with the abscess), he definitely won’t let me try to catch him to take them to the vet. This cat has an abscess on his ear. I give him Revolution monthly,, and he’s due for his next dose in a couple of days, so Is that true that it may help with the infection?
I don’t think vets are going to say that a product they prescribe causes cancer. However, it does.