Hartz One Spot for Cats and Kittens

5-14-2008: Today, as my daughter was brushing our long-haired Siamese cat (named Romeow), she found fleas with bite sores on his head and neck.   She came to me pleading I do something for him to stop his agony.

Every year, I purchase flea collars for our family pets (consisting of 2 dogs and 1 cat).  This year, I had purchased all natural and organic collars from Mountainroseherbs.com, but was still in the process of waiting for the shipments arrival when I made a HUGE mistake.

I had my daughter run to Target and buy some Neosporin and some kind of flea treatment for our cat.  She came home with Hartz OneSpot Flea Egg and Larvae Treatment for Cats and Kittens.

Romeow had bloody sore spots above his eyes and in and behind his ears, so the first thing we did was put a dab of Neosporin on each of those sores. We then applied the contents of one full tube of the Hartz treatment between Romeow ’s shoulder blades.

He seemed content at first, but within an hour, he began howling a horrific cry (if you ‘ve ever owned a Siamese, you know what I mean).  As I went to check on him, I found him hunched over in a corner of my daughters bedroom.  There were piles of vomit surrounding him.

Romeow is a very large cat.  He weighs 22 lbs., has asthma (treated by our vet with Prednisone), and has never been fed anything but Iams dry cat food (the most recent being Iams Healthy Naturals).  Knowing Siamese can have allergic reactions or sensitivities to certain foods, we ‘ve always been consistant about his diet.

So, all this vomiting he was doing surprised us.  It was obvious to me he was very stressed.  His ears were back, he had a glare in his eyes, his howls were deep growls, and he did not want to be approached.  Totally out of character for him!

I did a quick Google search to see if vomiting was a symptom of this Hartz treatment, when I came across this website.  I could not believe the horror stories I read about this particular product!

I bathed Romeow with an unscented castile liquid soap, then picked up the phone and immediately dialed my veternarians office.  I was told by my vet that they would never recommend this product to anyone for use on their pets.

When I was asked if he was eating or drinking since all this vomiting occured, I replied, "no, he hasn ‘t, but that I was kind of force feeding him water by cupping my hands and placing the water to his mouth, making him swallow some."

Their major concern for him right now is dehydration.

I told my vet that since I bathed him, the vomiting had subsided for the past 20 minutes, and that he was wrapped in a warm blanket sleeping right now.

Their advice was for me to offer him some tuna, tuna water, chicken, chicken broth, or even baby food (such as liver meat).  If he did not eat or drink, would vomit further, or show anymore signs of distress, I was to call back so he could be seen by the vet immediately.

Right now, as I write in this blog, I ‘m praying these poison toxins were all washed off in time, and our beloved Romeow will come out of this okay!

I am angry!  Not only at myself for having applied this to our family friend, but at Hartz, for manufacturing a product that can be lethally toxic!

Please, Please, don ‘t EVER use this product!  For the safety of your pets, use an all natural organic remedy instead!  If only I had waited for the arrival of my shipment, which consisted of a 100% Herbal Rechargeable Flea Collar that is safe for cats and dogs, and manufactured by:  Natural Animal Health Products, Inc.