I have a 3 and a half year old male cat, Selmo. He’s been itching his ears a lot lately, so I cleaned them out and realized he had ear mites. I went to Wal Mart that day to get him “Hartz Ear Mite Drops”. Directions said put 4-5 drops in each ear then wipe out the excess. I did that.
The next day I got up to go to work at 10:00am, Selmo was laying at the foot of my bed as usual and I left for work. I came home around 3:30pm and he was still in the same spot and didn’t seem like he had moved. 7:30pm rolled around, he was still in the same spot, acting strange and very lethargic. I told myself that if he wasn’t better by the morning, he was going to see the vet.
That night I filled up his food bowl (this makes him extremely excited) and he didn’t move. He just looked at me with the sadest expression a cat can possibly make. I knew then, my baby was really sick…
I took him to the vet the next morning, he had a fever of 106 degrees (Normal feline temperature is approx 100 degrees – 102 degrees) I gave my vet the ear drops and she said “This is the problem…Hartz.” They pumped my baby with IV fluid to flush his system and cool him down, then sent him home with me and told me to call if any other behavioral changes happen. I took him home, got him some chicken nuggets (his favorite) which he did eat, and took his temp throughout the night. It stayed at about 102-103 but he was still being lethargic, not drinking fluids, and not eating (besides the chicken nuggets I got him) and he had only peed twice after having an IV. (This was all last night.)
This morning I woke up to take his temp…104.7degrees so I called our vet and she said to bring him in. They gave me an anitbiotic and a fever reducer/ pain reliever. I gave him that today at 4:00pm, then checked his temp at 7:00pm and it was at 103 degrees. He is currently laid up in my bed right now, lethargic, not eating or taking in fluids or using the bathroom. If this continues tomorrow, I am taking him to the vet for the third day in a row.
…What I want to know is HOW IS THIS CRAP STILL ON THE SHELVES WHEN IT’S OBVIOUSLY TOXIC?!!?! I think Hartz should pay my 300$ vet bill. I buy 4$ ear drops, and end up with a very sick little kitty and 300$ in the hole. Now how is that fair to Selmo, me, and the countless others who have expierenced this with Hartz products? Something needs to be done to get that s*** off the shelves. I am going to Wal Mart tomorrow to voice my concern about this. If this ends up killing my best friend, I might have to find the people making this crap they call ‘medicine’ and feed it to them!!!












2 Comments Received
December 20th, 2010 @7:56 pm
so sorry for what you are going through. I so hope your pet survives and not forever damaged by Hartz.. my 3 yr old cat died in 3 minutes when I gave her a bath with Hartz Groomers Best Hairball formula shampoo.. “non medicated = safe” I thought. nope. So foolish and naive I was.
Hartz WILL pay your vet bills but you will need to be persistent and document everything well.. They will reimburse you but you may need to bug them ALOT!
A facebook friend and I started a page called “Hartz Products Are Killing Our Pets” to promote awareness of hartz products and offer solutions to file claims against Hartz and also obtain information to help our pets, through hearing their stories. Maybe together we can get the products off the shelves one product at a time.
Thank you for your time.. and will pray for your pets. Wishing for a prompt, speedy recovery for all.
September 27th, 2012 @9:06 am
Hartz earmite med for cats. My baby had what the vet called a serious reaction from it. 104 temp red ears and hair falling out. This started happening the second day of treatment. Lucky caught it early enough. It’s been a week and she’s getting better after antibiotic and cream for ears. All her skin dried up also
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