My friend said I could get feline advantage at Walmart and that it’s safe and effective and stuff. So I went to Walmart. No Advantage. Found Hartz. Thought the lesser price looked fishy until I realized I was buying 3 months worth instead of longer. Decided that getting the fleas gone ASAP was top priority, so I got the stuff. Got home, excited to use it. Applied one dose of Hartz Ultra Guard Pro to between shoulders of cat. Then for reasons I cannot explain I went online to check to see just what I’d gotten myself into. Found this site (obviously).
Bathed cat immediately (within half hour of first application), but as it’s usually my parents who bathe the cat and only if it’s really necessary so I’ve never given a cat a bath before and the cat’s not used to baths. Wished I could have someone help me but decided getting the poison off Nacho quickly was top priority. Had no cat bath so used a little dish soap. What I did was gently scrub his shoulders and back and top of his head with a washcloth wet with the soapy water, then because I couldn’t get him to stay in the bathtub to rinse him I just let him stand on the bathroom tile and dumped several small buckets of lukewarm water over the soapy/poisoned area. (Then used like 10 dirty towels to soak up all the water all over the floor). Used a clean towel to dry off the cat as much as possible, he has short fur and goes out in the rain so I know he’ll dry off quickly and be fine in that respect.
What I want to know is, do you think I got the poison off, or just spread it around to areas he can lick? I just want my cat to be OK!!! I’m not interesting in a critique of my bathing technique, and I have no money for a vet visit unless it’s absolutely necessary. What I want to know is should I leave it and just keep an eye on him or have someone help me bathe him more thoroughly? And how long should I wait now before getting a safer/more effective flea drop treatment?
5 Comments Received
October 20th, 2010 @8:42 pm
Hi there. I am not a vet, nor a vet tech, nor anything that works with animals, just so you know. I am, however, a chemical technologist; and I work with some of the nastiest stuff you will ever smell.
Rinse, Rinse, and repeat!!! Is always the answer when dealing with a chemical like this. Okay, there are some lab items that will explode when mixed with water, but Hartz is a ‘safe take home’ product for the public. The best thing to do, you did: Rinse it and dilute it. In fact, rinse the poor cat until you can no longer smell the Hartz (if it has a smell), and even try to rinse away most of the shampoo smell. Typical rule of thumb in the chemistry lab: minimum 3 rinses, 5 or more if you think it needs it.
Pat the kitty dry the best you can, keep him warm while he does dry, and make sure you mop up all the water on the floor. (My cat hates the smell of pine cleaner, personally, so I would mop with that- it would keep my cat from licking the wet floor).
Wash the towels normally. The amount of water a washer uses will dilute and rinse away 99% of the rest of the Hartz.
Hope your kitty is fine.
October 20th, 2010 @10:34 pm
“Nacho” could very well turn out to be just fine, it depends animal to animal. Overall, anyhting with hartz on the label is to be avoided, period.
As for the bathing spreading it, yes it will have been dilluted, but spread. Keep an eye on him for panting, shallow breathing,etc. If you see symtoms, I would go directly to the vet. If you are having money problems, you can apply for a Care Credit card, manty vets have the applications on hand. Its not a bad company overall, and better than watchng your pets suffer.
DO NOT attempt to apply any other Flea med until the 30 days is up, as you are far more likely to trigger a toxic overload.
P.S.- have been told by several people lately the Hartz dilluted the daylights out of the more recent batches to separate you from you money without the lawsuits. In other words, it flat out doesn’t even work anymore, so hopefully Nacho will have no injury at all.
Don’t hate yourself, you were tricked like so many others. Just keep an eye on the lil guy
October 21st, 2010 @6:45 pm
THANKS SO MUCH! It sounds like I rinsed him well enough and no, he’s not acting weird, thank goodness. He’s his usual self, only hungrier: I was gone for a couple of days and come home to hungry cats, we’re out of food, no one called me to tell me to pick up more
. Anyway… thanks also for the tip about the Care Credit Card. It’s good to know that if my kitty does get sick, I’ll have some sort of option even if I’m totally broke 
October 26th, 2010 @12:03 am
You can wash your cat in Dawn Dish Detergent 2 times & use a conditioner & that will kill the fleas & get rid of the poison. I have to use Dawn on my animals because I REFUSE to put a pesticide on them since my dog started having seizures from it. Some of those drops are OIL BASED which means that WATER will not rinse it away but Dawn will. I learned about the Dawn thing during an oil spill on the news & they were using Dawn to get the oil off of the birds.
November 4th, 2010 @8:38 pm
Everyone, I want to thank you for your posts! I am so glad that we saved another pet.. and that Hartz did not win. I appreciate your post, Brian, as I did not know about the Care Credit Card. It definitely will be helpful to those who don’t have the ability to pay huge sums of money for vet care.
Please check out our site, “Hartz Products are killing our Pets” as We (Stephanie and Heather) are trying to promote the awareness of what Hartz products can do to our pets.. and also provide documentation to help get reimbursed from Hartz for the vet bills incurred to save our pets. Also, links have been provided to file a complaint with the EPA so we can get this stuff off the shelves permanently and save our pets from further harm. I appreciate your posts as I know we are joined together with the same goal.. saving our pets. Best Regards!
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