Attention-seeking behaviour

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VeDDRA Code: 2609

243 adverse event reports referencing this reaction

243
Total Reports
13
Deaths
530.0%
Death Rate

Species Most Affected

Dog 192
Cat 50
Cattle 1

Breeds Most Affected

Retriever - Labrador 25
Domestic Shorthair 25
Crossbred Canine/dog 19
Retriever - Golden 12
Shepherd Dog - German 11
Terrier (unspecified) 9
Terrier - Yorkshire 8
Cat (unknown) 7
Terrier - Jack Russell 6
Chihuahua 6

Associated Drugs

Afoxolaner 21
Trilostane 18
Fluralaner 13.64% 12-Week Chew 18
Sarolaner 17
Ivermectin + Pyrantel As Pamoate Salt 17
Pyrantel Pamoate;Sarolaner 16
Bedinvetmab 11
Fluralaner Chew Tablets 10
Buprenorphine 10
Imidacloprid + Moxidectin 9
Milbemycin Oxime + Spinosad 8
Oclacitinib Maleate 8
Carprofen 7
Cefovecin 7
Mirtazapine 7
Fluralaner Spot-On Solution 6
Selamectin;Sarolaner 6
Pimobendan 6
Maropitant Citrate 5
Fluralaner/Moxidectin Spot-On 5

Data Summary

Metric Value
Total reports referencing reaction 243
Reports with fatal outcome 13
Case-fatality rate (reported events) 530.0%
Species observed 3
Breeds observed 20
Drugs associated with reaction 20

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reporting (CVM AER); reaction term coded under VeDDRA 2609.

Attention-seeking behaviour Reaction Insights

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine database currently lists 243 adverse event reports that reference Attention-seeking behaviour as a reaction term, including 13 reports with a death outcome — a 530.0% case-fatality figure calculated across only those events where this reaction was coded. The reaction is indexed in the openFDA system under VeDDRA code 2609, the standardized veterinary dictionary used to normalize clinical signs across submitters. Because reports are voluntary and often describe multiple concurrent signs per animal, the volume here reflects reporting intensity rather than true incidence in the broader pet population.

Attention-seeking behaviour appears most frequently in reports for Dog (192 reports), Cat (50 reports), Cattle (1 reports) — with Dog dominating at 192 entries. Within those species, the breeds most often named alongside this reaction are Retriever - Labrador (25), Domestic Shorthair (25), Crossbred Canine/dog (19). These distributions are influenced both by underlying breed popularity and by how veterinarians and owners code a given clinical sign, so they should be interpreted as a reporting fingerprint rather than a pure susceptibility ranking.

The drugs most commonly co-reported with Attention-seeking behaviour are Afoxolaner (21 reports), Trilostane (18 reports), Fluralaner 13.64% 12-Week Chew (18 reports), Sarolaner (17 reports), with Afoxolaner appearing alongside this reaction in 21 submissions. Co-reporting does not establish that any specific product caused the reaction — FDA CVM data captures temporal association only. The value of these aggregates is in flagging which therapeutic classes appear repeatedly alongside a given clinical sign, so owners and veterinarians can ask targeted questions about medications currently in use.

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports Data reflects voluntary submissions and may not represent actual incidence rates

Related

Data sourced from official AKC, AVMA, ACVO, and breed-club veterinary references. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBreed Editorial