flea and heartworm preventatives

ok.. I've thought about this until my head is spinning and need some help.

Milo , Remi and Dra have always been on Interceptor for HW and Advantage for fleas. Has always worked with no ill effects what so ever. Dr Mark who treated Mickeys hw put him on Heartguard and he uses the same Advantage without any problems.

All is well in med land , until , today I go to the vets office to pick up stock and supply for the summer of both the Int and Adv only to be told they no longer carry either one. Something about Interceptor isn't being produced right now or is back ordered until Sept. I couldn't understand everything she said as today was the office rabies clinic and there was a million people in the waiting room. Has anyone heard anything about a discontinuation of Interceptor?? I'm comfortable switching the boys over to Heartguard for that so it's not a big deal. Just curious to figure out what happened to Int.

She said they are trying to get away from the Advantage and are now pushing a new product that I can't for the life of me remember (Trifectis [sp] , maybe?). From what I understood , it covers 2-3 things instead of just fleas. I'm not real keen on this idea since it's relativly new for one and I don't like the idea of combination meds like that in case there is a problem (I have to think of Remi who has had issues with different things in the past).

I have a good supply of Heartguard so I'm not worried about that part so much but as summer comes on , with the annoying stray cat issue in the neighborhood I know we'll be needing a flea preventative soon and have to figure something out. I'm going to keep reading up on things but prefer suggestions from "those in the know" instead of printed material.

What do you use?

Julian uses Advantix II

There are problems with Interceptor and Sentinel. They are planning to continue making the product, but they can not seem to be able to tell when production will start again. I have been using Comfortis for fleas since we do not have tick problems. My vet is cring that Trifectis. I think it covers heartworm and fleas in one dose

I spoke to my Moms vet today while he was out visiting on another matter. Trifexis was mentioned and he said that given Remis history of IE seizures, it was advisable that we avoid that if possible. He said he's going to continue carrying seperate preventatives as well as the new stuff , saying it was more benificial to his clients and his business as well to offer options. Wish their regular vet would have thought of that .

He's not their primary vet but he's there for them if our regular is unavailable or if it's an emergency , thank goodness he's always willing to help me if he can so I ordered the summer supply and at least now the boys can continue to sing "there ain't no bugs on me".

Our Novartis rep told us the plant stopped production because of issues with the human meds. I think errors were made like the wrong medication was put in the wrong packaging so they were shut down until everything was corrected. They keep saying they'll be up and running soon but in the meantime we've been switching people to Revolution.

Here's the skinny of Trifexis from a Pit Bull board:

Interceptor's patent has expired, and milbemycin oxime (the active
ingredient of Interceptor) is now available as a generic! So Elanco has
created a combination of Spinosad (Comfortis) and milbemycin oxime
(Interceptor) to create a new chewable tablet called Trifexis! A combo pill that works for heartworms, roundworms,
hookworms, and whipworms, and also has a reliable flea preventive (not
just a "birth control" like Sentinel has). If you want more information,
here is a link to the website.

Trifexis trifexis.com

I use Revolution as I've had way too many problems with the edible stuff. I have too many dogs with allergies for the edible stuff. I've never had an issue with Revolution.