Surry Animal Hospital

Hello everyone, took a little summer break from the blog but we are back at it now towards the end of summer heading into fall.  I hope you and your pets are doing well and had a great summer.  This month I’m going to talk a little about a new product we are carrying and how it’s different and similar to the products we have been carrying.  This “new” product is called Sentinel.  I put new in quotations because Sentinel has been around for years, but was recently removed from the market and just reintroduced.  The medication, to our knowledge, did not have any problems at all, but the place it was manufactured had some work done which halted production of Sentinel and Interceptor.  When reintroduced, the company decided to discontinue Interceptor and only offer Sentinel.  The three main heartworm preventatives we carry are Trifexis, Heartgard Plus and now Sentinel.  So what is Sentinel and how is it different.  I’ll get into that now.

Sentinel is a combination of two drugs, milbemycin oxime and lufeneron.  Milbemycin oxime is a name that might ring a bell with some readers.  It was the main ingredient in Interceptor and is a component of a closely related competitor’s product called Trifexis (milbemycin oxime and spinosad).  With the combination of these two drugs in Sentinel, a dog is protected against heartworms, roundworms, hookworms, whipworms and “fleas”.  Why is fleas in quotes you ask?  The reason is lufeneron prevents flea larva (or flea babies if you will) from forming to an adult.  This medicine is different from Trifexis in that Trifexis will actually kill the adult flea.  Sentinel only prevents the fleas from reproducing basically.  Therefore, if you are looking for a product to use to prevent fleas, Trifexis would be your better option.  Heartgard Plus has no action against fleas.

Another interesting note about Sentinel is it treats whipworms.  Whipworms are acquired from ingesting infective fecal material from the environment.  Heartgard Plus prevents roundworms and hookworms, as well as preventing heartworms, but has no action against whipworms or fleas.  Trifexis also prevents whipworms.  Therefore, if you have an animal that has a tendency to acquire whipworms from its environment, Sentinel and Trifexis are two preventatives that will help you prevent that.

So, we’ve discussed what Sentinel does and you may be asking why one would choose Sentinel over Trifexis.  The reason is simple, it’s cost.  In the previous version, Sentinel was quite costly.  With the reintroduction, the product has been priced very economically.  The cost of Sentinel is approximately half the cost of Trifexis.  Therefore Sentinel provides an economic alternative to those looking for a cheaper option against whipworms.  We recommend owners that choose to give Sentinel to also give a product with it that will kill adult fleas, such as Vectra 3d.  Vectra 3d is also effective against ticks, which neither Sentinel nor Trifexis are effective against.  Vectra 3d helps repel mosquitoes but doesn’t prevent heartworms and doesn’t prevent or treat intestinal parasites.

In review, Sentinel is an economic alternative to those seeking to prevent heartworms, roundworms, hookworms and whipworms with some effect on fleas.  I personally use Trifexis on my dog, but I don’t live in an area where ticks are a big issue, nor have I had any issues with whipworms.  I do, however, see many fleas on animals around my house and I’ve not had any issues with fleas while on Trifexis.  I also would not hesitate to use Sentinel as I feel it’s a good product to use.  Hopefully you will understand this new product and see its usefulness if needed.  It’s available now in our office and if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact us by phone and ask.  Thanks again for reading and let us know if we can help you in any way.

Mark Hauser, DVM