# Rebate Program from Zoetis (Simparica, Revolution, Proheart, Rimadyl & more)



## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

For anyone looking to save money on Zoetis pet meds, they launched an interesting rewards/rebate program for some of their pet meds -- with money back on particular products: https://www.zoetispetcare.com/rewards/offers


-Simparica (up to $35)

-Revolution (up to $35)

-Proheart6 ($15)

-Rimadyl & Rovera (up to $60)

-Covenia (up to $30)

-Paradyne (for cats) (up to $35)

The offers may change -- I'm not sure if they rotate in different products from time to time, as I just discovered this.

You have to upload your product receipts (even from accredited online pharmacies, as long as they require a proper prescription), and they award points that you redeem for rebates loaded to a Visa card that can only be spent at vet clinics. 

For example, I bought 12 doses of Simparica (flea/tick) online and got back 350 points, which I redeemed for $35 (bringing my net cost under $10/dose since I hit a good sale at an accredited/reliable online pharmacy). 

The program requires you to keep the reloadable Visa they send, and each time you upload a receipt and then redeem points they'll reload the same card electronically. The rewards Visa card programmed so that only merchants with a credit-card processing code matching vet clinics can swipe the card, but that just means hold it for the next vet visit for anything.

Basically, it's free vet-visit money for people who are already using any of those products.


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## Saco (Oct 23, 2018)

Is Simparica good/as good as Nexguard and Bravecto? I tried all other types of tick killers (natural stuff, advantix, frontguard, seresto, preventic) and these two are the only that work in my area now... it would be well worth it if I can get it for $10 a dose for my pack!


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Yes, Simparica is supposed to be at least as good as Nexgard/Bravecto for ticks -- that's actually why I'm buying it, as we have had a bad spring for ticks and tick-borne diseases (better protection and cheaper). I'm kind of freaked out over babesia outbreaks here. I'm switching to it from Nexgard -- I really like Nexgard (and have used a lot of it), but Simparica is supposed to have less "drop off" in effectiveness at the end of the month (Bravecto's tick protection apparently significantly drops off in the 3rd month). I don't have a history of using Simparica, but I'll share what I found that encouraged me to switch:

Here's the study showing better tick-killing power from active ingredient in Simparica vs. Nexgard: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26896456


Key language from the abstract: Significantly more live ticks were recovered from afoxolaner-treated *(NEXGARD) *dogs than from sarolaner-treated *(SIMPARICA)* dogs at 8 and 12 h after treatment (P ≤ 0.0286), at 12 h after re-infestation on Days 7 and 28 (P ≤ 0.04630), and at 24 h after re-infestations from Day 7 to Day 35 (P ≤ 0.0119). At 24 h, efficacy (based on geometric mean counts) of afoxolaner *(NEXGARD) *was less than 90 % from Day 7 onwards, and declined to less than 45 % by Day 35, while efficacy for sarolaner *(SIMPARICA) *was >90 % for 35 days.


I found this review is esp. helpful:
https://pawster.com/nexgard-vs-simparica/


And the manufacturer's presentation of the data:

https://www.simparica.com/why-switch.aspx (toggle to compare ticks instead of fleas)



Nexgard is supposed to taste better according to Merial, so dogs that are picky might find it a better option. 



FYI, I ordered with my vet's RX this time from PetcareRX.com with 30% off. 1800petmeds.com, Chewy.com, Allivet.com, and Valleyvet.com were all within a few dollars of each other -- definitely price compare as sales tend to rotate and no site seems to be consistently the lowest priced right now, and it's easily a $20-30 difference for 12 doses. If your state doesn't tax pet meds, you might do even better than I did (state sales tax added about 10% to my order cost).


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## Kazel (Nov 29, 2016)

I've heard that Simparica has a decent rate of siezures/neuro side effects due to one of the ingredients in their product. Haven't looked much more into it besides that. Have you used it with no issues before? I know medications have side effects but potentially permanent things like that have me a bit concerned. Although I'm aware there is a lot of back and forth on deal products there's a difference between some people have side effects and they know exactly what ingredient can cause some serious harm. So effectiveness vs. risk I suppose.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

All of the oral flea/tick meds have a very small seizure risk in dogs prone to them. My vet has seen no differences in risk between products and has most moved of the clinic's population to Simparica without an uptick in side effects. This entire class of medicine has a non-zero seizure risk -- but far and away the more likely side effect is simply vomiting it up.

Dogs with epilepsy or other seizure disorders should not be on oral flea/tick meds (regardless of brand!) -- only topicals. The topicals tend to be less effective for ticks, but you may not have a choice in a dog with this medical history.

As for oral tick meds and healthy dogs, what's your tick disease incidence and what happens to dogs that get those tick diseases? I've had several thousand dollars in vet bills trying to save lives of babesia-infected dogs for the rescue this year, and we're seeing ehrlichia and even Rocky Mountain Spotted fever -- these diseases can kill dogs untreated, and treatment is hard (and expensive). Worse, babesia requires malaria meds that are special-order, and tough on their bodies. The cherry on top of the unlucky crap-sundae is that the babesia organism stays in them forever, even after treatment, so it can always come back if they go through a period of stress or immune suppression. It's a wicked little parasite.

So roll the dice with natural stuff that's only partially effective, or roll the dice with life-threatening tick disease. Having seen what babesia does to dogs in the rescue, I'm not risking it.


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## Saco (Oct 23, 2018)

Thanks for the information, I'll look it over- the cost savings are significant, and if it is more effective, well all the better! There are many tick diseases on the move north, and I want to make sure my dogs are protected.


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## Saco (Oct 23, 2018)

And, I agree it's a risk reward thing. 

Had three dogs now have tick illness. One was just very lame on her front leg, lethargic and off, she had Lyme and doxy fixed her up pretty quick. She was young and was on Advantix, but it didn't work well enough anymore so I switched to Bravecto at the time.

One was just lethargic overall, he had heart arrythmia at the vet, rushed to the vet teaching hospital, was on doxy and pred together and then doxy. He could have died. He did die a year later of seizures... and kidney failure. He was 11 but I still kick myself for going with the "all natural" tick stuff because the Lyme may have been what killed him. 

And still another had RMSF, she had neurological issues- nystagmus, loss of balance. Vet was a good one and recommended doxy first rather than advanced diagnostics, even though the titer was inconclusive. After a few weeks, she was almost back to normal, but had a head tilt for about a year.

So, yeah, I will take the small risk of tick preventatives over all that...

And based on what I've read so far, I'm switching to Simpartica.


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## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

http://healthydogworkshop.com/a-pil...FDF66eb_XdLLnZWI5b-H9asZvkqqXM9C-SIPzOGQVghMI


This is a good read and contains links to FDA (usual downplayed bull because they approved it) about these brands
Makes you think. 
Why is it only test on a couple hundred dogs and only for 90 days. The writer of this notes that there is no indication of toxic build-up in the body.
You have people using an oral drug for a period of time and then boom, seizures...can't be the flea and tick meds as they didn't have a problem before...


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## Orphan Heidi (Sep 21, 2018)

Zoetis (formerly Fort Dodge) has been doing strong promotions (kickbacks, rewards) with vets so the fact that your vet

is promoting it for your animal should be taken with a bit of skepticism.

I know this because I've heard it from my equine vet. I won't use Zoetis at all for my horses's vaccinations as they've

long been known to cause extreme re-actions after administering. Zoetis knows this and yet they haven't changed

the carriers for the vacc's. Take whatever your vet says w/ a grain of salt and skepticism and do your own research.

The mfgrs. of these drugs are going directly to vets to increase their bottom line and the vet's also. Buyer Beware.


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## crittersitter (Mar 31, 2011)

I'm with you GatorBytes. Frankly I don't think any of it is safe long term. Fortunately I now live in a place where I only have to treat once a year against fleas and I use Frontline Plus. Years ago when I researched things Frontline Plus seemed to have the least number of problems. But, again, long term it can't be good. It's basically poison.


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## anchorgirl (Dec 18, 2019)

Thank you for this!!! It turns out on my vet bill from yesterday that we were eligible for a few rebates--thanks for the pro tip


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