I noticed a flea on my dog Huckle yesterday, and thought I was doing the right thing by applying flea and tick drops. I bought the drops at Rite Aid, which only had Hartz Ultraguard on the shelf.
about 7-8 hours after applying the drops, I noticed that Huckle was acting really strange. He was restless, anxious, pacing… very unusual behavior for him, especially since this was 11 PM, when he’s normally sleeping soundly on the couch.
I kept a close eye on him, and within an hour he had gotten a lot worse. He drank an entire bowl of water in one sitting; he was frantically running around the room; biting at us; twitching; shaking; I could see his heart pounding through his chest…
We frantically got on the phone to find an open emergency clinic, and raced him to the vet. Within two minutes of taking him into the exam room, the vet’s assistant came out and asked when we had applied flea drops and which brand we used. Apparently, they’ve seen this happen a lot.
After bathing him in a degreaser, the doctor came out and told us that this is indeed a common occurance. I couldn’t believe it. How can a TOXIC product be LEGAL??? He explained that the chemical used in Hartz (and other non-Frontline products) is a pesticide that essentially has the same effect on mammals as it does on insects. It absorbs into their bloodstream and affects the central nervous system. But NOWHERE on the box does it say anything about this. The only warning is about “minor skin irritation”.
The vet said to consider ourselves lucky since we caught it in time before too much had been absorbed into the bloodstream. He told us that many of the pets he’s treated for this are brought in with 106 degree fevers, grand mal seizures, etc.
We now have to treat our dog with muscle relaxers for the next several weeks (to calm his residual convulsions and twitches). He seems much better, but is still having periodic panic attacks and muscle spasms.
It breaks my heart to think that a company would knowingly harm our pets under the misleading guise of “pet care”. How dare they hurt and kill our loved ones to make a buck. Furthermore, if so many people (including veterinarians!) know about this, how can it continue???
3 Comments Received
July 18th, 2010 @5:44 pm
I just had this conversation with a friend of mine who works for a veterinarian and I asked the same question How can these companies get away with this?????? I just viewed some of the stories and pictures and sure enough this is exactly what is going on with my dog Roscoe. I’m very angry and I would like to know how to stop this from happening to any other pet.
July 23rd, 2010 @7:23 pm
My dog has been using Hartz flea drops and she’s been fine. She’s taken them 2 times before and we just some on her the other day. But if I knew about this, I wouldn’t have gotten her them. But she is fine.
May 26th, 2013 @5:15 pm
Angry and Stunned!!! Used Sargeants Silver Flea and Tick drops on my two daschunds and BOTH had immediate reactions!!! Couldn’t sit still for hours and hours, running, crying, scratching! I put the flea medication on at 9am. By 10am they were both washed with dawn dish soap…. rushed to the vet and both throwing up foamy matter, crying, obviously in pain. Vet said it feels like pins and pricks, like when your leg falls asleep and starts to wake up. They feel that and don’t understand why and it hurts them. Worst part is that it is absorbed into their bodies!! It is poison and caused them to run fevers, 103.5, shake, no rest, no sleep for 30 hours, crying, confused. One dog’s lymph nodes in his neck became very large and swollen, trying to rid his body of this poison. Vet had me rub liquid vitamin e on their backs, try to make them comfortable and give them pain pills… One dog was licking the air over and over and over and would not stop. It has been 3 days now and he still has episodes of this strange behavior. I am furious!!! Called emergency number on back of box. Hey if they have a special number to call, they KNOW their product makes dogs sick!!! I was given a case number. They target lower income families and their bean counters have decided that they have more paying customers where dogs don’t get sick compared to those that do and suffer terribly. So they don’t pull their product. Bastards!!!!!
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