I have a 5 year old yellow lab who started having seizures 4 years ago. I took him to the vet, had every test done and left with them telling me some dogs, especially labs just have seizures. He was occasionally having them, once every month or less. They aren’t full seizures because he knows when Im there and where I am and tried to come to me, but can’t control his body. His body stiffens, he foams, shakes and sometimes pees.Its heartbreaking to watch, but after 4 years I had gotten used to the fact that I just had a dog with epilepsy.

Now last night my 4 year old white german shepherd awoke me at 4 am having a seizure. I thought what are the odds I have two dogs that have seizures so I started to look at what I have been doing. I have moved all over many states so I ruled out chemicals or something they were getting into from home and such. There were three consistent things: Purina Dog Chow, Milkbone treats, and Hartz flea meds and shampoo. I wash them once every two months or more. The flea meds, when in Florida because they are a huge problem year round, I gave them some every 3-5 weeks. Now in Michigan I didn’t all winter and did about 6 weeks ago. Unlike other peoples stories, mine dont have seizures right after usage. This time it was 6 weeks after using.

Have you heard anything about delayed sickness or seizures? And after reading all the negative stories, I obviously scrubbed them to the best of my ability and am immediately stopping the use of ANY Hartz products. My next question is what do I do now? Ive been poisoning my dogs for years. Have you heard of long time health problems or do you think I’ll be ok by stopping the usage?

Other than the seizures both my dogs eat and drink healthy, get more than enough exercise and are healthy weight. The only negative thing is the occasional seizures that now are apparently affecting bot my dogs. I know you aren’t a vet, but I need guidance. I feel terrible, my dogs are my kids.

Google allows me to filter competitive ads. For years I made sure no ads would direct a reader to Hartz.com. Hartz also has sites such as hartzcrunchnclean.com and hartzultraguard.com. I have since blocked those top-level domains as well. Below are the competitive ad filters that are currently applied:

byebyefleas.com
drugstore.com
entirelypets.com
hartz.com
hartzcrunchnclean.com
hartzflea.com
hartzmountain.com
hartzultraguard.com
healthypets.com
shopping.com
smarter.com
strictlypetsupplies.com
theconsumerlink.com

If you know of any other online retailer that carries Hartz products, please let me know so I can effectively boycott them.

Again, my apologies, and thank you for understanding.

My best,

Josh

“I didn’t know where to write, but I would like to share a story of my own. I have two cats at home and needed a flea protection for them. So I went to the store and bought over the counter flea medication “Sergeant’s Gold” for my cats. I applied it on both cats following the instructions. The same day they were acting strange: shaking heads, salivating and foaming out of the mouth and became very lethargic. I kept a close eye on them. The next morning my one cat could not even get up on his paws, so I went online to see information on adverse reactions. Sergeant’s web site recommended washing pet with dish detergent to wash off the medication which I did right away. My one cat got significantly better after a bath. The other one got very sick and started seizuring and throwing up everywhere, so I took one cat to emergency clinic, where he received fluids and was monitored for the next couple hours. Doctor said to give him rest and keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours, which I did. After that we had a follow up visit to the vet on Thursday and they did the same thing. My cat never got better. That bath didn’t help him at all. Other than the bath the company couldn’t offer better help. On Sunday morning we ended up taking him to the emergency clinic again. They put him on IV fluids and did a blood work that showed up that his kidneys were shutting down. We kept him in the hospital throughout the day where he passed away in my arms on Sunday night from renal failure. He was just over one year old, perfectly healthy cat. I am writing this to warn all other pet owners that “Flea medication can harm or kill your pet” (the box does not state that). I did some research about this product online and found out that this was not an isolated incident. Consumers Report website stated hundreds of cases like that. I am very surprised that this product is still on the shelves of our markets and it is EPA approved!!! If this is not an animal cruelty, then what is it? The most upsetting part of it is we as consumers by buying this product keeping it on the shelves and poisoning our pets at the same time.

I hope you would review this letter and post some sort of warning on your web site or make a news line, something. It is very hard to tragically lose your loved ones either it is a family member or a pet. If necessary I will testify against this product and company if needed. We need to take this stuff off the shelves before any other innocent animal dies. “

“I don’t want my name or info published but I am very much in favor of what you are doing here and I thought you should know that Hartz has launched a new permethrin based product that is extremely toxic to cats. It is called Vectra 3D and it is sold through DVM’s. The umbrella company that they are marketing it under is called Summit Vet Pharm, but if you “google patent search” the main ingredients, you will see that it is a Hartz product. As a pet parent, I was very upset that they would try to do an underhanded approach to get their bad reputation skirted.

Here is a link to their website:

http://www.summitvetpharm.com/Pet-Owners/Products/Dogs-Puppies/

Here is a link to the patent:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=qxgUAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

A little background:  I have always been a dog lover. Unfortunately my boyfriend is severely allergic to dogs, and after 6 years of searching for the perfect hypoallergenic addition to our family we found Napoleon.

Last week, after finding a tick on Napoleon (age 8 months) I purchased Hartz Ultra Guard. I was sure to purchase the correct product (with regard to pet weight) and determined that Napoleon is old enough for product use. My sister has used this product in the past and I assumed it was safe. After applying the product on Saturday, and being careful to follow the directions, Napoleon began to refuse food. Sunday he began vomiting, which is not unusual due to his sensitive stomach. Monday the vomiting continued and I made an appointment with our vet (Doctor #1 at our clinic). At out Tuesday appointment, our vet decided to take x-rays to rule out that he had swallowed a foreign body. At this time I mentioned that I had applied this product, but no one seemed to think this was the cause of his illness. The x-rays appeared to show a “material like” foreign body that would have to be removed surgically. After several hours of IV fluids, Napoleon was sent home and scheduled for a return visit the next day. On Wednesday, a second round of x-rays (same clinic, different doctor) showed that there was a suspicious area of the stomach, that may or may not be a foreign body. I was given the option to go ahead with the surgery, or wait for a mobile ultrasound company to confirm the presence of a foreign body. I certainly wasn’t about to allow them to cut into Napoleon without being positive it was necessary. 7 hours later, the ultrasound team found no evidence of a foreign body. What they found was substantially worse. Napoleon’s stomach lining, intestines and colon were severely inflamed. This inflammation was so severe, it mimicked a foreign body on the x-ray.  At this point the vet (doctor #3) suggested that this could be due to chemical exposure or a viral illness. I reiterated that the only chemical exposure that he had had was the Hartz product. The clinic suggested I treat the symptoms with previously prescribed antibiotics, and anti-naseua medication. He was sent home with the IV catheter in his arm for a second night, incase he required further IV fluids the following day. Upon arriving home, Napoleon was lethargic and seemed to be wilting before my eyes. My previously rambunctious yorkie-poo puppy had turned into a sad shadow of himself. He began drooling, and repeatedly shaking his head. Having no experience with severely ill dogs, I did not recognize this as seizure activity. Early Thursday morning I attempted to administer an anti-naseua pill. Napoleon became stressed and began violently shaking his head, drooling, and smacking his lips. Thankfully this time I realized what was happening and did my best to calm him while gathering our things to rush to the vet. Upon arrival at the clinic we met with Doctor #2 who asked if he had been exposed to any chemicals. I reiterated that the only chemicals he had come in contact with were in the Hartz product. She suggested we run blood tests for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (“tick fever”) and Valley Fever (a common illness in Arizona). Both of these illnesses can cause seizure activity in dogs. She also agreed to do some research on the Veterinary Internet Network regarding this product. Napoleon remained at the clinic on IV for 12 hours on Thursday. Again he returned home that evening with the IV catheter still attached. Today (Friday) I took him back for a check up. He was lifting his head more, and showed more interest in the car ride, but was nowhere near his bouncy, energetic self. Doctor #2 met with us again and stated that she is confident that this is the result of exposure to the Hartz medication. She also stated that she was shocked at the number of incidences reported regarding this and similar medications. Further, she stated that she was unaware of the dangers of this product, or the EPA review.  Bloodwork for Tick Fever and Valley Fever came back negative, solidifying her diagnosis. Since Napoleon appeared a bit better, the IV catheter was removed and he was allowed to spend the day at home. Unfortunately as the day progresses, he has become more lethargic and is still refusing to eat, bringing the total to 6 days without oral nutrition. He has had another seizure (milder than yesterday’s) and continues to drool excessively.  Tomorrow will be day 5 at the vet, for another round of IVs and monitoring. If he continues refusing food, he will have gone an entire week without eating.

The current total of our vet bills is $865.32 and we expect that to increase tomorrow with the replacement of the IV line and the several hours he will be required to “rest” at the vet. This, in addition to the gasoline expense, recommended prescription diet, and time spent at the vet has added up to a very expensive tick treatment. However, the worst expense is the physical pain this ordeal has caused our little guy. I am horrified at the idea that we could have agreed to an unnecessary surgery only to find this terrible inflammation. I am shocked that this product is still on the market. Until consumers are successful in getting this product pulled from store shelves, it is imperative that Veterinarians are made aware of the signs/symptoms of phenothrin toxicity and learn to treat it quickly and appropriately.

Hopefully our story has a happy ending. We are praying that Napoleon makes a full recovery and is able to live a long and happy life. Regardless of the result of his fight with this illness, I will certainly beginning a fight of my own to have these products banned.

Thank you for allowing me to share my story. My prayers are with other families struggling with the illness or loss of a pet due to this horrible product.

Dear Sir:I am contacting you as the Owner and Operator of HartzVictims.org from a law office based in Germantown (Memphis), Tennessee. Our attorneys and associates are very interested in constructing a Class Action lawsuit against these companies for their dangerous and lethal products. I would ask that as at this time we are currently seeking clients to represent in this legal matter, if you would be gracious enough to include a link and some brief information on your website to allow readers and those hurt by these products to contact us regarding the pending lawsuit?I look forward to your response.
Shane KillettOffice Administrator forChristopher L. Brown and J. Mitchell Clark7518 Enterprise Ave.Germantown, TN 38138Phone: (901) 759-3900Fax: (901) 751-1135

“Last night we were just hanging out at the house when I noticed what I thought was a small scab on one of our dog’s ears.  When I was able to get a closer look I saw that it was actually a very small tick.  We proceeded to remove it and inspect the rest of our animals.  After all of that we decided that we should go to the store to get some kind of repellant for them, we are new to Arkansas and never had to do this in Colorado.

We found the Hartz products at our local store and proceeded to buy them because we didn’t know any better.  After we got home we used the Harz UltraGuard plus on all of our dogs and our cat.  Within one hour our cat started to breathe really heavy and it sounded like it was taking a lot of effort for him to do so.  Ten minutes latter he started to foam at the mouth and started to act strangely, running around spastically, twitching a lot, shaking and started to vomit up foamy liquids.  We immediately went to the internet and found your site.  After reading a few of the stories we grabbed the cat and proceed to give him a good scrubbing in the kitchen sink.  After we got done with his bath and got him mostly dry he seemed to be doing better immediately, no more foaming at the mouth, no twitching, just some heavy breathing.  Upon awaking this morning there were a few spots where he had gotten sick throughout the night, but he does seem to be doing quite better this morning.

We are glad that we found this website and that we are not the only ones out there that experienced this problem.  The dogs seemed to be ok and tolerated the medication better, but regardless they also received baths.  I can’t believe that so many people experience issues with this product and its still on the shelves, WITHOUT ANY KIND OF WARNING!  I wasn’t even able to find out common side effects for their products on the website, what a F~**ing joke. I will let everyone I know not to use these products, so that their animals don’t have to go though the pain like my cat did.  Thank you for this website.”

The video above was sent to HartzVictims.org yesterday by Candi.  You can learn more by visiting Tiny Timmy’s Healing Journey Facebook group.

From our friends at GreenPaws.org:
Green Paws and the Natural Resources Defense Council are prompting consumers to appeal directly to the Presidents and CEOs of big box retailers like PETCO and PetSmart to remove flea and tick collars containing the harmful chemicals tetrachlorvinphos and propoxur. This attempt to directly contact retailers is designed to add greater support for our formal petition with the EPA to ban tetrachlorvinphos and propoxur from pet products as well as our lawsuit filed in California against 16 major retailers who carry flea and tick products which are in violation of California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, which prohibits businesses from knowingly exposing consumers without proper warning to any chemical “known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive harm”.

Those interested in sending a message directly to these retailers can do so at the following link: http://bit.ly/grnpaws

NRDC blog posts relating to Green Paws
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/greenpaws.php

Our updated product guide:
www.greenpaws.org/products.php

So what are you waiting for… visit our store now to find some great deals and discounts on items for your pets!