I got this agitated email from a longtime thoughtful listener to DOG TALK®, Bob in Atlanta, about my recent show with Elizabeth Hodgkins about the need for at-risk dogs to be using topical tick repellents. She and I both sang the praises of Vectra 3D and this was disturbing to Bob, whose dog Smokey (who was Dog of the Month for April) uses Advantix, a similar product — he said he “totally disagreed” with the interview. Here’s part of what Bob had to say:
I listened to your guest Elizabeth Hodgkins rave about the product that the company that she seems to be affiliated with — Vectra 3D — and how it is better than any other anti-tick topical and possibly better than sliced bread 
. As you know, I am not a Vet (Smokey would attest to that), but I am very interested in science and medicine, and researching claims made by companies, and many of the comments she made about Vectra 3D made no sense at all, as far as I was concerned.
Dr. Hodgkins stated that the active ingredient in Vectra is permethrin and that is why it repels and kills ticks before they bite. Well, that is the same active ingredient that is in Advantix and Bio-spot (about which there are a lot of consumer complaints online and anecdotes about problems), which means it is basically old school, nothing new. I have used Advantix for years, and Smokey and I walk in tall grass everyday in the park next to my home where there are deer and I have yet to see a tick since using Advantix on Smokey. Being in Georgia, there are also tons of fleas and in the summer mosquitoes, and the mosquitoes avoid Smokey like the plague, again due to the Permethrin. Even though I think that there are some downsides to Permethrin, I still use it because I think the ticks and mosquitoes are a bigger threat to the health of the dog. What I do strongly disagree with is your guest acting like using Permethrin is perfectly safe, and one shouldn’t worry about it at all. Not true, in my opinion. Maybe the new formula in Vectra 3D that your guest is telling us about is better for flea control (although Advantix is superb in my opinion), but the focus of her discussions on Vectra 3D on your show seems to be tick control and permethrin.
Dear Bob – You seem all wound up in this email and I’m sorry that a DOG TALK® show distressed or confused you. I’ll try to sort things out for you, but the irony is that while you think we are in “total disagreement,” we actually agree! I’ll just hit the points in the order in which you raise them. First let me make clear my relationship with Elizabeth Hodgkins, who isn’t just a vet but has a law degree. She has been the Official vet on CAT CHAT®, my other radio show on SiriusXM, from the beginning — when she heard I was preaching against feeding cats Kitty Crack, which was a message that was her life’s work (after many years working for the Hills pet food company — and then for Purina — she realized the harm to cats from dry food and opened her own cats-only vet clinic, bred and showed Ocicats, and dedicated her life to teaching people that cats need to eat meat. She is one of the most morally pure people I have met in any field, but in the vet field she stands up against anything that is not good for animals or exposes the greed of people. Senator Richard Durbin invited Dr. Hodgkins as a special guest to the pet food recall hearings that he conducted on Capitol Hill. She is a person of enormous intelligence, and impeccable morals. She sold her vet practice and was in early retirement — when she took a job with Summit Vet Pharm to educate other vets about Vectra and Vectra 3D I was surprised but intrigued, because I know she only travels “the high road” and would associate herself only with “proper people.” Knowing her as well as I do — after many hours on the air together and behind the scenes about pet food and other issues — I was really intrigued what sort of company or product could have enticed her to go back to work in a corporate environment. The more I learned from her about Vectra 3D and about the ever-increasing dangers from ticks and fleas, the more I wanted to get it for my own dogs and to tell my listeners about it. Please recognize that the excitement and energy in that interview was due at least equally to my own enthusiasm about Vectra 3D.
You say that she spoke about Vectra 3D as though it is “better than sliced bread” — and you are so right! It really is! I share her enthusiasm for a more effective anti-tick product that inhibits the entire life cycles of fleas as the only product with the new technology of an IGR (insect growth regulator) to wipe out all life stages of the flea. Yes — this is entirely superior science and technology to anything on the market — and mosquito-borne diseases are no picnic, either. What is different and superior about this product is that the patented applicator tip allows you to get more of the product down onto the skin, not the hair. This makes it a better product — my opinion being based on practical application and logic. The dilution of permethrin in Vectra 3D, as I understand it, is such that it spreads better and dries within 2 hours on the dog, after which time there is no danger to people or cats who touch those treated areas. In using it on my three dogs — 2 with very short hair, one with very long thick hair — I found this to be true.
You must have misheard the comments about the “total safety” of using such a product since that is not at all what Dr. Elizabeth was saying. She was explaining that safety is relative — this permethrin is a substance that has been used on human products (soldiers uniforms, mosquito netting, Nix head lice shampoo) for a very long time without causing problems. Her point was that we have to make choices in life and using Vectra 3D is much safer than the alternative of running the risk of getting a tick-borne disease. You seem not to have understood Dr. Hodgkins’ point about the safety of using permethrin on a dog at risk for coming into contact with ticks — her point was that everything in life is potentially dangerous, that everything carries some risk, so it is a matter of weighing the risks versus the benefits and where tick-borne disease is concerned, the scales definitely tip in favor of using Vectra 3D. Your own comments show that you are in full agreement with her about that. The bottom line is that using a product with tick repellent/killer is essential given the severity of the disease that can result otherwise. This is a message which is a whole lot harder to get across to veterinarians and pet parents than you can imagine — and after a couple of weeks on steeping myself in this topic, I am determined to get the message out and protect as many dogs as I can. In fact, I was so impressed by Vectra 3D and not having seen one tick on any of my free ranging dogs (on Advantix the ticks did attach and eventually died) that I asked Vectra 3D to become one of my website sponsors and they agreed. You know me well enough by now that I choose those companies affiliated with me very, very carefully — and Vectra 3D is worthy of that connection. I hope some day you’ll give it a try and personally see how it performs.
Tracie
The Dog Bible