I found a few fleas on my dog yesterday so I went to the store and shopped for a flea treatment. The only choices at this store was Hartz or Sergents Gold. I chose Sergents Gold and came home and put the flea treatment on my one year old female Lhasa Apso, Zoey. It was around 3pm when I did this. Around 6pm I noticed that she was rolling on the floor whining. I thought that she just needed to go out side so I took her out. She was really figity and would lay down on the concrete. When she would get up I noticed the concrete was soaking wet where here mouth was. I looked at her and her mouth was filled with saliva and foam. I took her inside and she threw up. She tried to eat a little after this but she immediately threw up again. It was such a mess that I grabbed my phone and took her back outside so she could vomit in the grass. I tried to call my vet office but they were closed so I called the emergency vet hospital. They told me that if I could not get her to stop vomitting to bring her in. So I did. The drive took about 25 mins and the entire way there I heard my dog whine and bark like I have never heard before. I could tell that she was in pain and I felt horrible. As soon as we arrived and got out of the car she threw up again. Her vomitting was not normal like how a dog usually heaves and you can see thier body move as they are about to throw up. Her’s was just straight out of the mouth in a split second and thin she would be dripping saliva for the next few mins. I took her into the vet where again she threw up in the waiting room. They did a few tests on her and bathed her twice. The vet came and talked to me. She said that this is not uncommon for people who use Sergent Gold -AND- Hartz. She said that some of the symptoms are vomitting (as in my case), diarrhea, or seizures. They had to give her a fluid injection because she was so dehydrated, and they gave her meds to make the vomitting stop. This product is dangerous! It cost me $185 for the emergency vet vist and even more it put my poor dog in un-necessary pain. My boyfriend and I are trying to everything we can to get this off the market. Or at least warn people about it so they don’t have to go through what I went through with Zoey.
7 Comments Received
October 16th, 2008 @6:41 am
Hi Lorena,
My name is Julie and I am an online community relations liaison representing Sergeant’s. First, I want you to know how very sorry we are to hear about your recent experience. I want to extend my sincerest apologies and let you know there are a few steps you should take so that Sergeant’s may look into this case further for you and Zoey.
If you have not already, I strongly recommend you call Sergeant’s 24-hour hotline at 800-224-7387. The reason I recommend this action is first and foremost, I know Sergeant’s wants to make sure Zoey is feeling better today and that she is healthy. They will also want to speak with you in order to gain more knowledge about your specific situation in order to open up a case investigation as to why Zoey had this type of reaction. When you noticed Zoey’s reaction, you did the right thing by calling your vet and taking her into their hospital for further observation and care.
Lastly, I want to let you know that Sergeant’s has an online resource available called “Look at the Label” http://www.lookatthelable.com . This resource is not only helpful for those with questions on the application of flea and tick medication, but also provides tips and information on flea and ticks that are very helpful.
Again, I am extremely sorry to read your story and hope that you follow-up with Sergeant’s directly so that they may assist you. If I personally can be of further assistance at this time, please do not hesitate to let me know.
All the best,
Julie and The Sergeant’s Team
April 7th, 2009 @8:15 am
Same thing exactly on my Papillion yesterday. It has been almost 24 hours since we removed the Sergeants Gold.bathing, bathing, bathing! and she still is crying and stays by herself in the hallway.She is totally miserable. This is not like her at all.. I don’t know if she has been poised by the Sergeant’s or if the possibly dead fleas are biting her as she jumps in pain at times. Thought she would snap out of it but it just keeps on hanging on…maybe it has gotten into her bloodstream somehow…anyway i think she will die if I don’t take her to vet ….so off I go…just wanted to let others know BEFORE they lose their dogs to this killer chemical.
April 7th, 2009 @9:51 am
Just got back from Vet and he gave her prednisone. He said that and several real good baths with liquid dishwashing detergent should to the trick in 3-5 days. Very small vet practice but he has seen 3 dogs with this same Sergeant’s problem in 2 days! I bought Sergeant’s because I thought it was a name to be trusted. Hope this helps others.
April 16th, 2009 @7:31 pm
Same thing happened to my dog. A 20 pound terrier mix, I had it on him for about 20 minutes and he started crying and shaking like he was wet. No vomiting, but he is miserable. I bathed him immediately three times over, but it has been a full 24 hours and he’s rubbing himself on the carpet and still crying.
April 23rd, 2009 @4:46 pm
ok, well I guess we will join the rest. We applied the sergents gold to our chihuahua’s at around 8 pm after they had dried from their baths. that night I noticed the 5 year old female was repeatedly scratching at the bedroom door to come in( she usually sleeps all night in her basket in the living room) after I scolded her for the 4-5th time i placed her in her basket and told her to stay, ( which she did) the next morning she was shaking( shivering) under the blanket and whimpering. the 3 yr old male, was caughing, foaming at the mouth and very ” clingy” ( wanting constant attention) and sounded very conjested. we immediately concluded that they were reacting to the treatment and washed all of them with dish soap. within one hour the 3yr old was much less congested, not foaming, and sleeping. the 5yr old is still hiding under the bed and growls and snaps when we try to get her out ( it is now 4pm I hope she’s not perminantly insane) Interestingly enough the 9yr old that has a heart condition didn’t seem to react adversly at all. It seems that this product is very strong and should be more seriously labled, if not removed from the market. I will attempt to up-date this blog after a few days.
April 28th, 2009 @2:49 pm
If you live in the Philadelphia, NJ, DE area can you please contact me…thank you.
[email protected]
215-977-5381
August 26th, 2012 @7:45 pm
We hVe put the same sargents flea stuff on our 10 month old yorkie pom and she is very sick!! She is foaming out the mouth and throwing up her water and bleeding out her butt!!!! ThIs stuff is deadlyand it Needs to be taken off the market i pray she makes it
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