Around two years ago while I was out of town, my wife was concerned that our lab Jade had fleas. Thus, she purchased flea and tick medicine at a common retail store and applied it to Jade. Shortly after applying this, Jade became very ill (vomiting, drooling, shaking, etc.) and my wife made a middle of the night emergency visit to the vet, which was a large monetary expense. Fortunately Jade recovered fine – she is so important to us 
My wife was convinced that Jade’s sickness was brought about by applying the flea and tick medicine, and she has refused to allow Jade to be treated with flea and tick medicine since this episode. During the last couple years, others in our family have wanted to treat Jade with flea and tick medicine, but we have resisted and not allowed it. At times this decision has been a heated source of debate, so we felt validated when I recently heard on the news that animals were getting sick from flea and tick medicines.
Today Jade went to a new vet to get shots and this vet recommended that we treat her with flea and tick medicine. After we explained our experience of Jade getting sick from applying flea and tick medicine, the vet responded that there are safe flea and tick medicines sold by vets (e.g. Frontline), but there are ones sold at common retailers at a bargain price (i.e. Hartz) , and it is these cheaper lower grade products that are responsible for making animals sick. The vet was adamant that we could trust the Frontline product while also insisting that we stay away from the Hartz product.
The vets advice did sound reasonable to me for two reasons
- Long ago we had often purchased flea and tick medicine from the vet and applied it to Jade without any subsequent problems
- I remembered seeing unused viles of flea and tick medicine from the product purchase that made Jade sick, and they looked different than the ones I had used in the past
Tonight I found the remaining unused viles of the flea and tick medicine that made Jade sick, and they are labeled Sergeant’s Flea & Tick Medicine. We nearly lost our dog from this product, so please consider this if you are considering applying flea and tick medicine to your pet.
7 Comments Received
June 8th, 2009 @1:59 pm
Just about a week ago, my husband and I purchased Flea and Tick gel for the back of our dogs necks. Within in 4 hours one of our dogs threw up massive amounts of liquids in our bed and three times on the floor. Who knew at that point what we were in for. Four hours after that he threw up two more times and was crying. I left to take our daughter to school. My husband reported he threw up again twice and was still crying so he rushed him to the vet.
He ended up with toxic poisining. To the tune of $1000.00 so far and a case number with Hartz. They told me I should have called them at 2:30 in the morning (like we knew) and they would have told us to wash in a dish soap bath and it is just and G.I problem not to worry. My dogs life is in jeopardy. We are awaiting one more test.
July 27th, 2009 @12:51 pm
I really wish I would have read these comments before putting Sergeant’s flea and tick medication on my 2 yr old poodle mix yesterday. As of right now he is on his second day in the hospital with a catheter in his paw to flush out the poison, and receiving shots of VALIUM and benedryl to soothe the pain. Not to mention the $784 vet bill that added to the stress of having a very sick dog. I am writing a letter, attaching a copy of the bill and statements from the vet and sending it to this company. I am outraged that their product has not been pulled off the shelves.
August 27th, 2009 @5:33 am
I had to research Hartz last year for a required part of my Graduation Project. I made sure to mention the dangers of the product in my speech.
That aside, I got to this article because I was searching flea related sicknesses on Google.
Right now, at this very moment, I have a cat laying on my kitchen floor as if it’s her death bed. I’m only 17 and do not have a license, and my dad won’t be home from work until 4:30pm. We barely have the money to get by, let alone pay her vet bills, but I’ve insisted on taking her to the vet as soon as possible. She’s 7 years old, and I won’t even attempt to use any of the flea medicine we have, because it’s all bought from a regular store, and I’d like to avoid making her condition worse.
If she survives the day, I know I won’t (can’t) trust certain products.
December 3rd, 2010 @6:54 am
I put this product on my 65lb. Australian Shepherd 3 days ago and it almost killed him! He started seizing, drooling, urinating all over and eventually was unable to walk. When my daughter called the emergency vet and told him what we used on him he said to ” Bring him in immediately” This is outrageous! A $12.99 3 pak product has now cost us over $700 dollars and my dog is still sick. He had to have intravenous fluids,steroids,valium, and amoxicillin! I went to our regular vet after we picked him up from the ER and got Comfortis ( an oral flea medication) and a muscle relaxant because he’s still behaving so anxiously. It’s like he’s begging for help! We have to treat for flea year round in Florida and since my husband is unemployed I was trying to save some money. NEVER AGAIN! This product should be banned!
September 24th, 2011 @7:18 pm
I’m crying as I googled and found this page of complaints I began freaking out when my Chihuahua Claude began wobbling,gagging,then began throwing up all his food and so much liquid! He was creating bubbles in his mouth and drooling non stop he was acting so strange and jumpy like anxious,I immediately washed him of the Golds Flea medicine. After calming down I then noticed my other dog Rott Mix was missing,Panic set in again!! I found my Suri balled up outside in the back of the yard I ran to her she felt like she was on fire I yelled for help my neighbor helped me carry her to the tub I again began washing her free of this medicine she was doing the same exact thing as my Chihuahua drooling and a thick white foam outlined her mouth,she was whimpering and I was a mess worried about my loves! My 3rd dog German Shepherd did not seem effected by the medicine but she as well got a bath to get the medicine off her! I am outraged,stressed and in panic mode because of this Sergeants Gold Flea Medicine,Please DO NOT take any chance or risk with this medicine…For years Ive used Frontline and I will NEVER stray from a great company like that again HUGE,SCARY wake up call! This product needs REMOVED from ALL shelves!!
October 15th, 2011 @12:04 pm
I used Sergeants gold on my two dogs last night. One a 9 mo old Border collie and the other a 10 year old beagle. My Border Collie began showing the signs first: vomiting, seizing, drooling. With a vet’s suggetion, I bathed her with dawn dish soap to get the oil off of her skin and she began to do better. Then my beagle began showing the same symptoms. I bathed her as well. Lots of water and lots of soap. This morning my beagle is still struggling a little, but my border collie has improved. I can’t believe that a product like this is on the market. I feel so guilty for giving my pets something that would make them so sick. I’m continuing to monitor my dogs, hoping that there will be no permanent affects.
July 27th, 2012 @2:43 pm
I almost lost my sheltie within hours of applying Sergeants Flea Drops. The vet said this is a well known reaction with Sergeants Flea Drops. She washed the dog a couple of times with Dawn, asked me to wash him again when we got home and to never to use Sergeants again. As soon as the dog was bathed, he was back to normal. The vet wrote a letter to Sergeants, as did I, asking for reimbursement for the vet bill. Sergeants denied any wrong doing on their part, and didn’t even offer to pay the vet bill. There are enough people out there that have had this exact same problem. Please let us get together so we can file a class action suit against Sergeants. Email me so I can give our names to interested attorney.
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