Cooper On the Mend

This story will be a drop in the bucket it seems, but it also demonstrates the ongoing problem.

I have 5-year-old, mix breed, large dog.  He has had fleas once in the past.  I usually give him Advantix treatments for fleas and ticks and had good results.  I got into a financial pinch and he still needed his preventative medication so I thought I would be able to get by using Hartz for a few months because it was cheaper.  I gave him one treatment and the only issue I took with it was that his fur appeared to be oily for several days after the treatment.

I gave him a bath two weeks after treatment and he had been swimming and I was concerned that his medication had been washed away, so I gave him another treatment.  A little over a week later, I noticed he was more itchy than usual and smelled terrible.  I tracked the smell to his chest under his collar.  I assumed this was just a result of having a wet collar for too long after swimming so we changed our habits and I trimmed back the fur at the spot and began antimicrobial shampoo and lotion treatments.  Within a few days he seemed to be getting worse and developed another itchy spot on his shoulder.  I did the same as above.

The next day he was itching far more than normal all over and he began shedding excessively.  He seemed to have lost all natural oil in his skin and his fur felt dry and almost dead to the touch all over.  He was far more enthusiastic than before about being brushed.  His skin began to twitch and have tremors when he was scratched in certain place or has a brush run down his back.  I was reaching my wits end and began everything I could think of to help make him better.  I put him on allergy medication, antibiotics, continued antimicrobial baths and lotion, and cream rinses with olive oil added.  I thought he was having an allergic to the summer season, but during the first cream rinse it hit me.  His symptoms started shortly after I applied Hartz flea and tick drops.  This just happened to coincide with the beginning of summer.  I have discontinued use of that product and I hope he will get better fast.  I’m really sorry for those that have suffered even more as a result of this poison and I’m so grateful our situation hasn’t been as bad as some of the stories on here.  I wish all the best to other victims and I hope someone can bring this company down.