On February 5th both dogs were having problems with heart rhythm (arrhythmia), they both made a strange air "gasping" sound.  Now we realized that they had already had these symptoms before on our holiday to France in april 2015, when we also gave Bravecto to our dogs.
Upon arrival in Spain Rico's health suddenly deteriorated rapidly. He could hardly walk ten meters, he had severe palpitations, his head hanging down, standing with sagging back and drooling a lot, panting, saliva dripping from his mouth. Rico also collapsed a number of times. The next days we let him rest as much as possible, and only made the necessary short walks. It seemed he was ok that way. Fortunately, he still ate some food.

On February 16 his health situation got worse, and so we decided to travel back home to the Netherlands as quickly as possible. Upon arrival, we immediately visited the vet. He was quite sure that Rico was suffering from heart failure, and that was one of the two possibilities we were considering as well. Our vet suggested to make an X-ray. That would definitely show that heart failure was the cause for his health problems.

But to his big surprise there were no abnormalities in his heart and his lungs were fine too. We got hope that nothing serious was going on.

Because of this unexpected outcome of the investigation we expressed our suspicion that there could possibly be a connection with the "Bravecto" pill (also because of the side effects that we had already seen in 2015 with both our dogs). The vet thought it unlikely, and expressed later by saying: "Bravecto is at the bottom of my list." I'm still wondering on which he based that conclusion really.

We did our “homework”, and decided to ask him if he knew that this drug is a so-called  “GABA-antagonist” (ingredient affecting the neurotransmitting system). The vet immediately denied that this was the case. We checked again, and we found out he was wrong. So apparently our vet was not aware of the way the active ingredient (fluralaner) in Bravecto works. So how can he say that Bravecto is “at the bottom of his list”? 

 I urged the vet to make notification to the manufacturer (MSD / Merck) of (possible) side effects of the drug. Meanwhile, the health of Rico was quick to deteriorate, and he got high fever of over 40 degrees Celsius. He had a very fast, but remarkably shallow breathing (abdominal muscles strangely did not participate in breathing).

The manufacturer offered to have Rico examined at their own expense at an “independent” specialized clinic (not really independent, I discovered later). His condition was already so deteriorated that travelling there (a one and a half hour drive one direction) Rico probably would not have survived. For that reason we didn’t agree.

In the period from 18 / 24th February, he still has the same very fast breathing and fever. (Especially at night above the 40, during the day about 39.5 degrees). He now eats only very small amounts, and loses a lot of weight. 25 t / m 28 February, the breathing was calmer again and the abdominal muscles were participating again. The fever is gone.

We get a small glimmer of hope, but on the other hand, walking (waddling conspicuous because of coordination problems) is very difficult, it takes a lot of effort to walk on. After a few meters he stops, as if the batteries are exhausted.

Especially at night walking is very difficult (he actually no longer wants to go outside), the view seems worse. Food he does not want any more, keeps losing a lot of weight, and weakened.

February 29, 1 and March 2, 2016 - "Rico" has no strength to stand tall, doesn’t want to go out. He dies on March 2, 2016, a month after Bravecto ......

Such a lively dog, full of energy, that so rapidly transforms into a very ill dog and dies in such a short time, there is something very wrong......

***  TWO WEEKS AFTER THE DEATH OF RICO.... Two weeks after the death of Rico two vets of the manufacturer MSD/MERCK visited us to talk about the case. I had the false hope that they were seriously diving into this, but the only response they gave was that “there is no proof that Bravecto caused the symptoms”. I was wondering why they came to me in the first place. I was furious!!  

From that time I knew this wouldn’t end here. And in the next weeks we built the IS BRAVECTO SAFE websites in Dutch, English and German, and started 3 facebook groups. Many more people now know the truth about this so called “safe drug”. And we keep spreading the word, and the true stories (told by the dog owners themselves).............  

About this controversial tick and flea drug Bravecto already many side effects have been reported including quite a number of dogs that have died after administration.
READ THE MOST RECENT NUMBERS OF REPORTED SIDE EFFECTS AND DEATHS HERE: www.bravectotruefacts.com 
Please note: The FDA (USA) has announced that they estimate that only 1 % (!!!) of the side effects of drugs actually is reported. So I don’t want to think about how many dogs actually got ill and / or died after treatment with Bravecto........And many dog owners not realizing that the drug caused this nightmare, instead of a disease......

Bravecto contains the active agent "fluralaner". As I heard later, this is a toxic insecticide that acts on the central nervous system in ticks and fleas (but also with mammals). This is something the vets hardly ever tell their customers when they sell it. Only thing they say: “It is a very safe product, even with pregnant and lactating bitches”.

NOTHING TRUE ABOUT THAT!!!.............

An insecticide does not belong in the body of your dog!

Read the scientific report written by biologist Frauke Garbers about Bravecto and Fluralaner.