On october 22nd 2010 @ 12:30 am, I had put hartz cat flea medication on my two cats. I woke up @ 530 am on october 23rd to one of my cats having a severe seizure, something it’s never had before. I called the emergency vet to see what had caused something so terrible to happen…I explained to the vet that I put the medication around his neck, he then told me that the toxins could have entered his body, and is now causing him to have seizures. I waited for about 45 minutes before I took him to the er vet. He was twitching, and having tremors. His body was very stiff… he was unable to walk without falling on his face. He was salivating tremendously, then eventually threw up. I brought him to the er vet because my vet was not open that early. When I got there he started to have ANOTHER severe seizure. They took him to the back right away, I had to pay 539.00 upfront for my cat to be treated which I then did. I went home around 9 am, when I received a phone call from my mother explaining that my OTHER cat was now having the same twitching happening with him. I rushed home to find my cat twitching ridiculously, I called the er vet once again. The vet told me to bring him in right away. I brought him there, they took him right to the back. I had to pay 319.00 to have this poor cat taken care of, in total 858.00. Today ( October 24th) I was able to bring both of my cats home. The one with the less severe symptoms is now walking around the house fine. The other one is lifeless, It was explained to me that he could be like this for a few days or could possibly be like this the rest of his life… He won’t open his eyes, and he’s constantly jumping up as if someone is startling him. This product is definitely legal poison, I’m not sure how something so terrible could be even ALLOWED to be sold. I tried to contact the company, but cannot find a number to contact them at. I will NEVER use this product ever again. I was told by the vet to use Frontline, but now i’m so scared to even give them flea medications again.
4 Comments Received
October 25th, 2010 @2:36 pm
Contact Hartz at 1-800-275-1414 and let them know what happened to your cats. Seek reimbursement of your vet expenses from Hartz. If they refuse to reimburse your vet expenses, consider joining a lawsuit against Hartz.
To participate in a lawsuit against Hartz, please contact:
Jacqueline Mottek
Positive Legal Group
[email protected]
415.302.5371 (cell)
October 26th, 2010 @7:57 am
Wow I was googling how to apply the flea drops when I came across this site, I have a shih tzu puppy w fleas and got this off the counter because I felt so bad that he kept scratching but I’ve never had such a small dog so I’m trying to be carefull, I’ve been using home remedies like bathing him with dawn dishwashing soap and it works but they take him out to much (near a pond) so I wanted something more permanent. I think I will just go to a vet.
October 26th, 2010 @12:28 pm
Sorry to hear about the trauma to your orange kitties! My dark orange part maine-coone “baby” named Cuddles suffered the same demise. However, her seisures were so severe and she suffered such “startle” syndrome that it made me sick to watch her. Even the Phenobarbital didn’t really help all that much. Because her personality was “gone” after a few of the seizures, I decided it best to put her down, it wasn’t her anymore, and she was suffering needlessly…at the expense of a company that turns loose its lethal products on unsuspecting pets and their loved ones. Before I could get her in to be put down, there was a problem: As I came through the kitchen one morning, Cuddles was standing on the kitchen counter, her pupils like huge plates, and a strange look on her face…I knew she was going to have another seizure and grabbed her broad-side to my chest as I went through to another room and started to stroke her head/neck… Boy was that the wrong thing to do! It was at that moment that her seizure started and her head jerked to the side (toward me) and she clamped down on my left thumb, her upper and lower teeth sinking in full depth. At the end of her seizure, it took both my sons hands and my free one to pry her mouth open and get my thumb out… I was about to make an appointment a couple days later to have her put down…but ALL the vets I contacted were more concerned about the cat bite on my thumb…and wouldn’t put her down and send her body home with me for burial…and would have submitted her head and/or body for testing. This was not a case of rabies, for God’s sake!!! A nine year old cat, indoors ALL her life, outdoors only in a carrier or in our arms or in a harness w/leash. She was never exposed to other neighborhood or stray animals outdoors and never in a fight or bitten by another animal. There WAS NO WAY they were going to send my cat or her head into the state! I ended up resorting to overdosing her/euthanizing her myself with her phenobarb as I couldn’t stand to watch her suffer any longer…I wasn’t sleeping and keeping an eye on her constantly and was literally exhausted.
It pains humankind to watch their loved ones suffer, and she would have eventually died…from severe anemia, etc. from the fleas and the effects of all the seizures. I, too, made the grave mistake of trusting Hartz-Plus for both my cats. The second cat is near-one yr old silver tabby that is named Rascals. She, being younger etc. did not have seizures. But she is suffering from the horrible fleas. I used Adams-Plus on Shawna, our dog, who suffers terribly from bites, itching and scratching, and had seizures during the same time that Cuddles did. We were able to bathe the dog multiple times in Dawn dish soap and it KILLED many of the fleas. Shawna is maniacal during the evenings and worsens to the height of insane w/itching, scratching, etc. We therefore believe that she has “nocturnal” fleas, and she is calmer, even sleeping during the 6am-2pm hours most days, then the insanity starts back up and builds to our human bedtime hours till I still am listening, constantly checking on her and wide awake tossing and turning…
I heartily recommend that EVERYONE out there, scrape together their pennies, whatever, and go to a vet and buy REVOLUTION for their CATS and alternate between REVOLUTION and K-9 ADVANTIX for their DOGS…and don’t even buy Frontline as they are on the “BAD” or AVOID list also!!! My heart goes out to you and everyone else who has had a pet affected any/or died due to treatment with these lethal flea treatments…
IF EVERY PET OWNER were to BAND TOGETHER and JOIN FORCES, we could seriously put these companies out of business…and get their products off the market. Not everyone can afford a lawyer, and not everyone has the financial means to join a class act suit and contribute equal amounts even. But there are those who can afford to pay full amount, even others who can pay more than their share…and if it means that PETS EVERYWHERE would never be subjected to such products ever again, wouldn’t it be worth it? ANY PET ADVOCATE ATTORNEYS OUT THERE WILLING TO HELP US OUT AND GET A SUIT IN PROGRESS???
I may still have to put my dog down…I have to have her tested for heart worms this week, and she already has a heart murmur. Some vets won’t sell Revolution or K-9 Advantix if there’s a murmur and definitely won’t if there’s heart worms. She had respiratory issues prior to getting the fleas this year. She very well may have heart worms, I’ll find out Thursday (10/28). So if I lose two pets due to lethal effects of products, I want some action… How about you? I still have to find a way to treat and rid the other cat of her fleas.
Lisa
Illinois
November 1st, 2010 @4:54 pm
Hi Lisa! Sorry for your loss.. My canadian facebook friend and I have set up a page to join together and bring awareness to what Hartz products did to our pets.. please see our Facebook page.. “Hartz Products are Killing our Pets” Please click on “like” and you can post information there as well. We have provided information available to file the appropriate reports so we can get this stuff off the shelves as soon as possible!.. sorry for your loss… together we will stand…
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