I have a 5 month old kitten, Pooh Bear. He had fleas so I bought the Hartz Ultra Guard Flea and Tick spray! Well, I was spraying some on his fur, and not even 5 minutes later he was shaking, and salivating everywhere. My boyfriend came in and asked if Pooh Bear drank a whole lot of water and just forgot to swallow and spit it out everywhere, I said no he is salivating from this spray. Minutes later, the kitten was jumping around and leaping and gagging every where and moaning and just having terrible screeches. We got a dropper and dropped a lot of water down his throat to get some water in him. I gave him a water bath to get everything off of him. This didn’t help and he continued to jump around and salivate and seemed to have a minor seizure. A while later he layed down and slept, but his breathes were short and distant. I stayed up the whole night with him while he slept and woke him up every so often to make sure he was okay .His eyes were white and dazed. I thought he was dying. I ended up falling asleep and the next morning he was fine. I returned the bottle of the spray. I called hartz and explained and they said “YOUR CAT WAS HAVING A REACTION TO THE PESTICIDE” I yelled at her and said I’m 19 years old and i have more common sense than you guys, your putting pesticide in animal products!?” I’m happy Pooh Bear lived, but I told myself, if he didn’t make it, than I was going to quit my studies of a vet technician. He’s doing all better now. Walmart wasn’t to thrilled I returned it, though.
-Angela
4 Comments Received
September 28th, 2011 @4:33 am
Wait… So you are surprised there are pesticides in a product designed to KILL fleas and ticks? What did you think was killing those little “pests” if not pesticides? You probably should reconsider being a vet tech after all…
September 28th, 2011 @7:18 pm
Angela,
2 things. 1st of all, I’m so sorry this happened to you & your kitty. Hartz should be pulled from the market. Which leads to the 2nd thing…Call the EPA & report this. Yes, the EPA. They, NOT the FDA, regulate these products. If ALL reactions & deaths, & believe me, there are many deaths from this stuff, were reported to them, I’m pretty confident it would be pulled. I worked as a Vet Tech for 7 years & cannot tell you how many cats I’ve seen this stuff kill. I’ll send you an email I send out a few times a year warning people of the danger of this & products like it.
Basically, if your Vet doesn’t sell it, don’t buy it. It may be a few dollars more initially, but it’s a LOT less than an emergency vet bill. Or, God Forbid, having to live with knowing you put something on your cat that killed them.
As for Allan, who commented on your post, have some compassion. Not everyone knows how dangerous this stuff is. The majority of consumers feel that if it’s sold in places like Pet Stores & WalMart, it must be safe. I mean, you’d like to think a company that makes animal products would actually give a $#@^ about animals. Unfortunately, with Hartz, this isn’t the case.
September 28th, 2011 @10:33 pm
Angela
I am sorry that you are going through this, I am feeling the same guilt here right now, I used the same product only in the tube that you rub in, not the spray. I have never used this Hartz Ultra Guard product before, and never heard of any remarks to it. I purchased it at Walmart also, and right now my little yorkie is just laying trembling and sometimes lets out a squeal, he won’t drink anything and I am trying to inject fluids into him through a dropper, hoping to get enough so he can urinate.I also bathed him trying to wash it off. This product must be removed from the markets. I have always used Fronline products, I don’t know why I even tried it.
Lillian
September 30th, 2011 @8:29 am
Lillian, try to give him a water bath. If you use shampoo in it, it’ll just burn it since the pesticides are on the skin. Also, I have been informed that DAWN soap kills fleas a lot better than pet shampoo, and it is true, i have tried it.
Allan, I knew there were pesticides in there, but figured they didn’t use THAT MUCH of it. There are other chemicals on the market that kill fleas. That comment was very rude. A vet tech is hard work and studies and takes years to master it down.
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