Month: June 2005

Hello,

The EPA has released a statement with regards to Hartz flea products. Myself and the members of FOAH, (Feline Owner Against Hartz) are taking issue with the measures the EPA is requiring of Hartz. There is a 30-day public comment period, in which the EPA will take into consideration comments from the public regarding this. We are asking that you send a letter to the EPA telling them you find these requirements this to be unsatisfactory and insufficient in scope and time frame.

Your letters, emails and or phone calls should go to
Susan B. Hazen, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA
7101M US EPA Headquarters Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. Washington, DC 20460
202-564-2910
[email protected]

Eryn W. Witcher 1701A,
US EPA Headquarters Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Washington, DC 20460
202-564-9828
[email protected]

EPA: Michele Knorr, 2333A,
US EPA Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20460,
[email protected]
202-564-563

The EPA’s New Release- Located at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/flea-tick-drops.htm

At EPA?s insistence, Hartz Mountain Corp. has agreed to cancel uses of several flea and tick products that may be associated with a range of adverse reactions, including hair loss, salivation, tremors, and numerous deaths in cats and kittens. In the short term, the agreement calls for new labeling of the products. The new labeling will state that the products of concern are not to be used on the most vulnerable animals, including cats and kittens that weigh less than 6 pounds, cats older than 13 years, or kittens less than 5 months old.
Through this agreement, Hartz will voluntarily stop all new production of these products by September 30, 2005 and will not sell or distribute any affected product after December 31, 2005. The company has agreed to a prohibition on sales down to the retail level by March 31, 2006.

Thank you for your help!

Regards,
Dani, founder of FOAH
[email protected]
Gardena, CA

I have a male Maine Coon who is only 1 1/2 years old and very healthy. I applied the Hartz Advanced Care Once-A-Month flea product on Saturday evening, June 4, 2005. Within 24 hours, the cat began having severe seizures. I was not home at the time, but my husband was. The cat tried to attack my husband at first, but the seizures continued and made the cat completely incoherent. After thrashing about for a few minutes, the cat finally stopped breathing. My husband began performing CPR and was able to revive the cat. We rushed him to the emergency veterinary clinic, where he remained overnight on an IV so he could receive fluid therapy and muscle relaxers to ease the seizures. He was then transferred to our family vet during business hours and kept for observation for the day.

Thanks to my husband and the doctors at the emergency vet, the cat is alive. We were among the lucky ones, but it was a close call. As soon as I mentioned the name “Hartz,” both doctors nodded thier heads, rolled their eyes and said, “Hartz flea products are known to cause seizures, often fatal, in cats.”

And Hartz denies this? They tried to deny it when we phoned them yesterday. I am outraged that they are permitted to continue the manufacture and sale of these products, especially since I now know that they contain pesticides. No responsible pet owner would ever deliberately apply a pesticide directly to their beloved pet(s), so why isn’t Hartz required to clearly divulge this information? Why are they allowed to sell such a dangerous and toxic product? They need to be stopped!

After reading the stories on this website I realize how lucky my cat was to only have a slight reaction. Last spring I used Hartz on Timmy then I switched to Frontline (although now I’m told Revolution is the only product that is good for cats). A few weeks ago I realized I ran out of Frontline so I used the last tube of Hartz I had. Timmy started walking a little funny, was extremely lathargic, unusually affectionate, uninterested in going outside, and tried incessantly to lick his neck. His fur was soaked since the medicine was not absorbed completely into his skin. When I felt under it there was a large scab. I used a washcloth to wash the medicine. After about 3 days he was back to his normal behavior. I thought maybe I had given him an expired treatment but after hearing about others’ problems I know it was Hartz that caused the problem. My condolences to those of you who lost your pets or had major problems because of this.

I don’t really have much to say except for that my cat just got home from the vet today after suffering many of the same symptoms listed in the other stories. I used the Hartz flea and tick drops on her on Saturday 6/4/2005 and within a few hours she started acting strange. By Sunday she was vomitting, losing her balance, falling over after taking only a few steps, and making funny motions with her head. She also would growl as she would try her hardest to reach around and chew on her neck (my cat never growls! she is a little sweet heart!!) Of course, I was scared so I gave her a bath right away and took her to the vet the next day. She is now almost back to her normal happy self except for that she is still trying to reach around to lick her neck. The vet says she should be fine. I think giving her a bath right away and really scrubbing at her neck with kitty shampoo is probably what helped her get better so quickly as it hadn’t completey soaked into her skin yet. However, even though her sypmtoms were somewhat mild compared to some of the other stories, it was still a very scary situation. I just wish I would have discovered this site sooner. I have been telling everyone that I know with pets about this situation and I hope that all of you will do the same. This product was purchased at a Walmart store in the Milwaukee Wisconsin area.

On Saturday 06/04/05 I purcheased Hartz Advanced flea and tick medicine for my Allie ( a tabby cat). I had not heard anything about them to think this was a bad idea. On saturday I noticed that she was slightly upset but thought this was normal for cats that get any water product on them. Sunday she was crying alot and rubbing her neck on anything or anyone, she also was having some skin rippling. I decided to bathe her there to help the irritation. Today I wake to find her with full body tremors, labored breathing and not acting at all like her. I rushed her to the vet, calling them on the way there. They examed her and told me she had a rapid heart rate and shallow breathing. Bloodwork shows that she has a toxicity of some sort because of the medicine I purchased at the grocery store. How awful I feel that I almost killed her. She is still at the vets. They put in a IV and fluids along with a medicine to help. I call up Hartz and they say they are sorry but this sometimes happens. They say they will pay me for my vet bill. What about the next cat or dog that gets this?

A tiny stray girl about 7 mos. old adopted me. So I took her in to foster her until I found a home. I started out by deciding to get the fleas off of her, so bought the Hartz flea drops. Pumpkin is sensitive and tiny with white fur and immediately had a reaction. She acted like she was on LSD, chased her tail, bit it, crouched when she walked, tail down, ate grass, was disoriented. I thought it was because she was upset over the medicine. The next day her skin was pink and the fur was gone, she slept all day and staggered when she walked, so I brought her to the vet and he adminstered fluids and amino acids over night. He said he can’t be sure if she’ll be ok, maybe liver damage, maybe permanent neurological damage..Today (day 3), she is lethargic still, constipated, and acts confused and paranoid at times. She seems a bit better after the $400 overnight stay with fluids, but is this something that goes away? Does it take a few days or is this permanent?

We have two male cats names Sneakers and Jinx. One day we noticed that they were scratching quite a bit. Since I only had one dose of Frontline, I applied that one to Sneaks and purchased a 3-in-1 Hartz flea and tick treatment which I applied to Jinx. Within 5 minutes Jinx was bouncing off the walls, crying, and gently rubbing his neck on the carpet. At first we dismissed it as him being upset that we have given him medication but we kept an eye on him. After another 5 minutes of him crying we saw that he was no longer gently rubbing his neck on the floor, instead he was completely on his backside trying to scrap it off. We gave him a bath and noticed that his skin was terribly pink. I felt horrible, especially since I was the one that applied it. Fortunately he didn’t seem to care. He was just happy/relieved to get that junk off his neck. Almost immediately Jinxy was back to his adorable self.

We purchased the flea collar and the 3 in 1 flea drops, not knowing how dangerous that they were.

Yesterday, June 2nd, my cat started having seziures and was twitching….took him and the package of items with us to the vet and found out that he had been poisoned by these products.

I’m not sure of the time frame of how fast this poison works, it was less than 24 hours when our cat was not acting like himself. How many of you have tried to give your cat a bath? When was the last time your cat allowed it? Meaning, did he/she just lay there or did they fight with you over the water? Well, ours just layed there….that was when we knew something was wrong.

We need to get this product off the market before more animals die……

I had heard the stories about this along time ago. I have cats myself as does my in-laws. I never thought to tell my in-laws about this, as luckily none of our cats had ever had fleas (we both keep them indoors)
My mother-in-law had to get put 2 of her cats to sleep for different reasons and was left with one cat, Mushy. Mushy had all of a sudden gotten a bad case of fleas, so she diecided to buy the Hartz drops. After the first application she noticed (like I read in a few other stories) Mushy ducking like something was on his head. The next day she noticed he was walking a little strange, but they had moved and she thought he was just a little nervous. A few days later she noticed his head shaking and new something was wrong.
By the time it had come time to put the second drop on, he had lost so much weight that he just looked like a hair ball (he is a very big long haired cat.) She then called me and told me the entire story. I told that I had heard some where not to use Hartz. She imidiatly called the vet, and after a long nurigilogical recovery the cat is now doing fine.
I just can’t believe I heard that story so long ago and they are still selling this. I know you should call your vet and get their recomendations, but she asked in a very well and good pet store and they recomended the Hartz. They said it was very popular. After the problems I went to the store and told them. They were not aware there was any problems with the product. I noticed they do not have the cat Hartz drops any more.

West Babylon, New York