Atticus is my 3 year old (sweet and spoiled) indoor cat. This summer I decided to let him explore our screened in patio for the first time. Unbeknownst to me, he picked up fleas which seem to have given him worms. He has never been sick or had any parasites before so I was unaware of the dangers of over-the-counter (OTC) medication. I went to the local pet store today and bought Hartz UltraGuard Rid Worm Paste for Cats and Kittens. As directed by the product, I put the cream in his food. He ate it up without a problem. About an hour later I heard him gagging. He violently puked up four big piles within the following 20 minutes. I began to panic as he doesn’t even cough up hairballs or puke ever. Atticus then walked lethargically towards his litter box where he suffered from big and seemingly painful diarrhea. With tears in my eyes I force-fed him water and pet him softly as he laid in a towel twitching and zoning out. I tried finding an emergency vet or care center but none were open since its very late at night. He puked up one more time and hid under my desk. I sat down at my desk to Google the product and was shocked to find a plethora of negative reviews and fatal horror stories. At this point I began to sob uncontrollably. My poor, sweet Atticus was in pain and danger because of this disgusting poisonous excuse of a product. A few hours have passed since and luckily Atticus seems to have regained his strength. He seems perfectly fine now and even jumped up in bed for a cuddle. I will definitely keep a close eye on him all night until I can take him to the vet in the morning for proper care. I was very happy to find this website and learn about the dangers of Hartz products. Based on the amount of tragic stories I’ve read all over the internet, I feel extremely lucky that Atticus seems to have made it out ok. I cannot stress enough how important it is for word to be spread about how terrible Hartz is.
15 Comments Received
July 27th, 2010 @9:53 am
Fleas cause tapeworms, not roundworms.
You treated your cat with a product made to treat roundowrms, not tapeworms.
Hard to blame a company for making a product you USED INCORRECTLY. This is a simply case of human error.
Idiots.
August 17th, 2010 @7:42 pm
Obviously, you haven’t read the stories, or you don’t care, but how dare you come on here and be disrespectful. Maybe you should ingest some of that stuff, and see how you feel.
You are the idiot.
August 21st, 2010 @8:53 pm
It’s okay, sasafrass83. That troll has probably never owned a pet before and therefor doesn’t know the pain that one feels when their animal is suffering. Either that, or he/she works for Hartz.
As for Atticus, I sincerely hope he is on the mend and doing much better! I am truly sorry that you and poor Atticus had to go through that. There is nothing scarier than when your pet or loved one is suffering and I totally agree with you about how terrible Hartz is.
August 21st, 2010 @9:19 pm
Thank you for your support! That person might be right but I was going by what the employee at the pet store told me and gave me. Regardless, it is still a horrible product made by a horrible company.
I’m happy to announce that Atticus is doing fantastic and is more spoiled than ever.
September 3rd, 2010 @6:02 am
I want to say thank you because of your story and reading what you did saved my daughter’s kitten. I gave her the rid worm paste and within 30mins she was vomiting and seizing, I had no idea what was going on. I starting looking on this web site and your story so thank you.
October 14th, 2010 @6:08 am
do you people ever stop to realize just like humans some animals may be allergic to these types of things. You can not very well blame the product if you don’t know the real cause. I do not work for the company but have been a cat owner for 30 yrs and have used these products many times and my cats have always been fine. They tell you to consult your vet before giving meds to your animals just like they tell a human to consult their Doctor before taking meds.
October 19th, 2010 @8:42 pm
@ Sab – I agree. Animals have allergies just like humans. It’s naive to believe otherwise. I have given my cat this product before and haven’t had a problem. Always follow the directions and use it for what it is prescribed for. Watch your pet closely for any side effects. If you’re not sure about OTC treatment, by all means, seek professional help from your Vet. As with any OTC (human or animal), buyer beware!
September 16th, 2011 @12:33 am
I am so worried. I gave this product to my three kittens. One of them are fine but since about 8 o’clock pm the other to are having terrible tremors and are not responding to us. We can’t get them to drink anything. One of them can sit up but the other one is just laying on his side and having uncontrolable tremors. I live in to woods and there is no animal hospital anywhere near us. I am so worried that I killed my babies by giving them this product. They should put a warning on the label that this product will probablly kill your cats.
November 21st, 2011 @6:42 pm
My 16 year old cat, Max, had roundworms. I purchased Hartz Ultra Guard Rid Worm paste for him. I mixed it in his food, and after a day, he started twitching. I don’t know if he was in pain, but all I could think was that I might have to put him down, since I can not afford any kind of vet bills. Thankfully, the twitching went away over the next day and a half. I can’t believe Hartz puts this poison out.
December 10th, 2011 @3:24 am
I gave this to my 3 month old kitten and he got diarria and is all wobbly and disoriented and hopefully i didnt kill my baby kitten.someones ass didnt read the box saying if the cat is sick dont give it to them and now im dealing with what feels like a child being sick i care so much and i shouldve administered it myself cuz i wouldve READ that part!! sooo upset and dissappointed in myself to use this off the shelf CRAP!!!! VETS IN THE MORNING I DONT CARE ABOUT THE DAMN BILL!!!
May 3rd, 2012 @10:54 am
We used this same worm paste on our cat because we couldn’t afford the expensive stuff from the vet. Now we’re paying a lot more and our poor baby’s kidneys are failing and they’ve got her on a catheter to flush her kidneys out and get them working again, and she’s going to have to be on special food and medicine for the rest of her life. We had no idea about all these horror stories until last night. I told the vet and he’s saying it’s usually safe and that her kidneys were probably weak to begin with, and the moron is gonna probably keep going around telling people that the medicine’s safe, but she was perfectly fine before we gave her this poison! So mad at the vet and Hartz and ourselves for not reading up on this crap before we gave it to our beloved cat. I just hope she’s ok.
May 30th, 2012 @1:03 pm
Some of these comments are ridiculous. THIS ISNT MEDICINE THIS IS POISON. My cat had no problems before giving this to her on monday night. I cannot afford to take my cat to the vet regularly but i can care for an animal. I gave her less then her recommended dosage. They said 100 ml per 5 pounds, my cat barely got 100ml and is sick just like the rest of the animals on here. Hartz should be ashamed of themselves for not looking into what there product is doing to poor defenseless animals. Its not just this worm medicine either, it varies from the flea powders to almost all of there medications. How much longer and how many more cats are going to have to deal with this before someone stands up and says something. My whole thought on dont give a sick animal this….. AH HELLO YOUR TREATING THE ANIMAL BECAUSE ITS SICK NOT BECAUSE YOU WANT TO DO IT FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES. SO SO SO pissed at this. wish i had seen this before giving this product to her, my poor baby.
June 5th, 2012 @8:35 am
this is terrible and i feel for all of you AND your poor kitties. however, i have to say that if you can’t afford vet bills/emergency care, you have no business having a pet.
July 29th, 2012 @7:40 pm
OMG is all I can say! Im so sorry to all of the pet owners who used this product on their babies. I was looking up the directions for this product and accidentally clicked on this website. Thank god I did! Thanks to this website it could have possibly saved my baby kitties life’s.
October 7th, 2012 @8:14 am
You people do realize that some animals are sensitive to things just like humans, and that not all medicines work on every cat and dog. I have used Hartz for years to combat fleas and worms, and if you’re that concerned about using products off the shelves, I suggest you suck it up and go to the vet in the first place. Like it was stated above, if you don’t have the money or the time for vet bills then you have no business caring for another creature. Get off the internet, stop your senseless bitching, and go to the company if you have a problem, and READ THE LABEL IDIOTS. READ!.
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