Category: Urgent

Why? Because not enough people do anything about it

First off I want to offer my sympathies to all who have lost animals  due  to flea and tick  products. It’s a very hard thing to deal with  emotionally. You do something to try  to help your pet and it causes injury and all  to often  death. How do you  cope  with it? We all  find different  ways to deal with the loss and  time will help what you are  feeling. There are no magic  words to make you feel better or bring your pets back. What you can do is to turn  your grief and anger into action.

I see  so many of you asking why is this stuff still being  sold. Why isn’t there a lawsuit. I’d be  alot more encouraged if I saw a few how can  I help or what can I do about this instead of why’s.

By action I mean go to the, “Need Help” page. You will find all the info required to make your voice heard. Contact  all the places  listed there. File  complaints with them. Write  lettes if they  don’t take  complaints. Trust me you have to do this .  If everyone who had ever had a pet hurt of  killed did this maybe we would be  a lot closer to getting this stuff off the  shelves.

I have been involved  in this  fight since 2001. Myself and another person who’s animals were also hurt penned the  first petition and sent it in. Didn’t  do much good. I was also in the  first lawsuit. That  ended when Hartz bullied the person who started it  Settled out of  court ,you  could get the  cost of the product and any vet costs. You had to sign their multi paged agreement saying  that you would never say anything bad about Hartz. No I didn’t sign it. 

Instead I got a news station to do a piece on Hartz. I got lucky and the news station  told Hartz they were not pulling the piece  when Hartz  threatened  legal action, something Hartz is famous  for.

 I saw the EPA ask Hartz  to  relable their  products with a stronger warning and more specific direction. Apparently Hartz had  told the EPA that Americans were using  the dog  product on cats in most of the complaints. I don’t know about you but cat and dog were some of the  first words I learned to read in  school.

 That of course didn’t  do much good  so the EPA got Hartz to actually pull 2 products. They gave them a year to pull the products. That year  cost a lot of animals their  lives. Then the EPA  allowed Hartz  to replace  those products  LOL  now   the packages say 99% inert ingriedants. They also let Hartz get away with doing their own testing of the products.

The last big event was an online conference with the EPA, Hartz,  other makers of similar  products and  a few others . No they didn’t pull anymore Hartz products. They put out a warning  that I can no longer find on the EPA’s web site.

 The best thing I have seen was an individual at  long last actually took hartz to court and won. The was a big  first. despite many many  people trying to do it before and Hartz  counter  suing  all of them for more money  than  most of us make in 2 years a man in Texas did win. Doesn’t sound  like much but you wouldn’t believe me if I told  you  how low I have seen Hartz go

I don’t know if we can ever get Hartz and such off the shelves, I’m thinking probably not because they make so much money of cheap  flea products. You can do something that will help. You can tell every person  you know and meet not to use these  products. Warn them they  could very  easily cause serious injuury  or kill their animals. If you see someone in a store looking at tthese  products  start up a conversation. Say, ” Excuse me but I used that product and it killed my cat or  dog or it hurt them It caused burns to their  necks. It cost me X amount of  dollars  in Vet  bills to save them  or to try to save them. I just wanted you to know because  so many animals  have died I wouldn’t want  yours to be hurt”.  “I just wish  someone had  told me about them before I used them.” Tell them  about this web site  if they look  like they don’t believe you. All they need to do is read a few of the thousands of pages here .  If you  do this you may very well save an animals life and it doesn’t  cost you a cent to do.

If you want posters  or  flyer’s we can send you one  to make  copy’s of  to hand  out. I’ll even  go as far as to work up special  flyers if you want something on it they don’t have If  you have a web site or a friend with one  put a  link to this site on it. Tell your stories on Facebook. Tweet out warnings and keep doing it. Don’t just do it once make a habit of it. If your writing the  EPA, make a  dozen  copy’s and  send them 1 a week

Just do something  don’t let what has happened to you and your animals  slide. It will make you feel better and it will help the  cause.

 Getting off my soap box!

Dani  [email protected]

My sweet Chili needs prayers: Sergeants Silver Toxicity

DO NOT USE SERGEANTS SILVER OR GOLD FLEA DROPS FOR CATS OR DOGS! That is, not unless you want to leave it to chance whether your furbaby will survive or not…I put Sergeants Silver on all of my cats and NONE of them showed any signs of trouble, except my sweet and quite petite (tho she does weigh at least the recommended weight of 5 lbs.) precious kitty girl Chili. I put the top spot drops on her and approximately 3 hours later, she began violently vomiting. I realized it was the flea treatment, as I am a vet tech and was very aware of the trouble people had with the Sergeants Silver and Gold. Like I said, I had no problems with any of my other cats and had used it once before on all of them, except Chili. She was nursing at the time, and I definitely knew I wasn’t putting it on her then. Anyway, not having any reason from experience to not use it on her now that the nursing was done, I did put it on her today and not only did she begin the projectile vomiting, but even after I washed it off of her with Dawn, she began having violent tremors and horrible muscle spasms. Since then, I have administered Robaxin which the vet I work for gave me to calm her tremors and help her rest. I also noticed that her symptoms, before dosing of Robaxin, also included being “off balance” easily frightened and she is not that way normally. As well, she was unable to get comfortable no matter what I did for her. Her heart was racing and her breathing was very fast and irregular. Now, after the dosing, she is able to stop trembling as violently, and she has been eating and drinking and not vomiting anymore. However, she IS still shaking. Her heart rate and breathing are slowly returning to normal. I have her isolated and quiet, have provided her with a heating blanket, and fresh food and water. I think she may pull through, and so does the vet at this point. I am very lucky if she does and I need prayers for her please. Obviously, this is very disturbing to me and I know that many folks have lost pets from this product. Not to mention a very traumatic experience for my sweet Chili.. I will no longer continue to use this product and think that it should be recalled and or banned! If folks would be willing to sign, I would love to start a new petition on change.org to call for Hartz to pull this product and any others that may possibly have the same effects on animals. Seemingly, there is no possible way to tell what cat or dog will have an adverse reaction to this, so WHY is it still available???

 

How to Help Stop this from Happening to Others

There is one  simple thing you can  do. It won’t  cost you any  money either. Speak up. Simply tell everyone you know about what happened  to your pet. Tell them  to check out this web site for proof. If you see someone in a store  looking at  flea products  talk to them. I know it’s hard to talk to strangers, but trust me you saying something to them may very well save their pets life and thats a big thing to animal lovers. It will also make you feel a little  better over  what’s happened  wit your pet. At least  you are doing  something to help stop this and thats a big  plus. Face  it  no one’s  going to be taking out  full page  ads in the  New York Times saying ” Warning, Hartz can kill  your pets!”. Just not going to happen.

The pets of the world need your help. Please tell people whats  going on. If you have a web site or friends  with web sites ask them to add a warning and or  link to this web  site. I personally think anyone  who knows about  this ,  has an  animal and a web  site and  doesn’t use that site  to help spread the  word isn’t an animal  lover.  It’s on my site and every site I create for anyone. I bet  you all have facebook pages or you tweet on Twitter. Have you used that to help spread the  word? If not  you sure should be.

If anyone wants  a flyer  you can  copy and  post at  work or anywhere I have a  couple made up.Oe if  you want something  special created as a flyer contact me at [email protected] I’ll be happy to send  you the  flyers  or work to create what  you want

 

Dani

Sargeant’s Green pet death

Sargeant’s Green potential pet poisoning which eventually led to death of 25 lb Cocker Spaniel and presents allergic symptoms in human (myself); rash, itching, shortness of breath, swelling of vessels.Other pet displays symptoms of heat stroke.I applied on June 1st when she first showed slownes or laziness which I thought was the new harness. Later in month, I reapplied mid month because fleas were so bad(box says 15lb pet even puppies) She eventually became ill and after about 3 days of decreased activity and minimal vomiting the night before(small amt. of dark green mucus?), vet diagnosed without blood test iron deficient (even though I told him about the Sargeant’s Green reaction since maybe June 1st) and was finally able to bring home with meds.She died ThursdayAM after breathing difficulty night before even though she had showed signs of improvement.Vets refused to take body to make sure not in coma without cash, refusing to bill.Had previously reported to poison control after vet iron deficient diagnosis.SPCA hotline was nice, but local SPCA insulted me for buying an over the counter med.I’d sort of like to complain about the vet also because he ignored my repeated information about potential poisoning/allergic reaction. I have a rash, swelling and itching in addition to shortness of breath from the fleas that took some of the flea med. Although the taste of it isn’t bad, I have a very dry mouth and swelling in my throat at times, but not constant.She was a very active 7yo dog, even though she had problems with her eyesite.She was a strong walker until June 1st which I associated with the harness. I am upset with the vet that he ignored the information about Sargeant’s Green and gave me more flea meds that were even stronger after a potential poisoning(Ovitrol).; (veterinarian) Sunapee NH. I am wondering if he knew the people who developed the product. I had to bring her to a crematory because I had no place to keep her and am hoping she was not in a coma. Other dog sometimes displays signs of heat stroke, but is slightly larger. I reported to Sargeant’s Green online and poison control after the vet kept her overnite, stating she might not make it because of iron deficiency. She ate fish. This was very abnormal activity for her.I feel as though the vet ignored my valuable information, but doesn’t mind billing me even though she’s dead. Especially since some reaction have been passed off to myself, the human. I gave CPR.

FLEA SEASON WE NEED YOUR HELP

 It’s flea season again. That means thousands of  people  who  don’t know  how dangerous Hartz and  other  over the  counter  flea  products will start buying them  to get  rid of flea’s. That means the  possibility of animals being injured and killed by these products. Education is a way to help insure this  doesn’t happen.

How do we education  people on the  dangers of Hartz and the  other  over   counter  cheaper brands of  flea and tick killers. We tell everyone we know  to make sure they  know .  Makes  sure to ask  them to tell all their  family and  friends too.

If you see  someone in a store looking at  flea  products say , ” Hello,   have you heard about all the animal that are  killed or injured by Hartz   and  other over the  conter  flea snd  tick killers every yesr”? Good ice breaker. Then  you can  just tell them and tell them  to check out HartzVictims.org if they don’t believe  you. Tell them you just don’t want to see these products  kill any more animals . Thank  them  for their  time and  thats it.  Pretty simple  and  you may very  well just have saved an animals  life. Not bad  for 3-4 minutes of your busy time.

 If you want to be more pro active. You can  make up a  flyer   to hand  to people in  stores or  even  leave on on the  flea products display. It is not  against the law to do that. Don’t toch the  packages because that is. The worst that can happen and I have just heard of  a few people  who have been asked to leave the store. You could always  leave a  flyer  for the store manager and ask them  to remove the  products too. Or  take a stack  to work and put them in the break room. Lots of ways  to warn  people.

After  fighting Hartz since `1999, I can  say it is highly unlikely that these  products will be removed  from sale. Far to much greed in the  world to let animal  lives stand in the  way of the all might buck. It’s not  right it’s just the way it is. The only thing  you can do is report  problems of  course  but on a one  to one  level  spreading the truth,  tell everyone.

If you want a  flyer but to busy  to make one or not sure what to put on it. Email me at [email protected]

 Thanks,

Dani

 I just read a bunch of your posts. Many of them are asking HartzVictims to get this stuff off the market. There have many been attempts to do this . I even  did a petition that had  well over 10,000 signatures on it. Some actions myself and others have taken  such  as this web site ,mys site  , others and blogs have resulted in the EPA taking some actions. We actually  got them to emove  a version of Hartz  flea drops  for cats, however Hartz  just came up with a new products  which is   just as bad as the last. The Epa approved the  product for sale and here we are still trying.  Don’t ask us to do all the work. If your animal has suffered or  died from these  products  you should be really angry. You  should  take a look at the Need Help  page. Contact the resources listed, file the  reports  suggested and tell people about what happened warm them.. A few years ago the  first civil case against Hartz was won. So now you can  sue them and have a chance of winning danages. Prior to that case being  won, every attempt  to take Hartz  to court resluted in the case being  dropped due  to Hartz  counter suing.

This is terrible

So, I decided to get some flea medication(sergeant’s gold) while I was at the grocery store for my cat. No big deal, it has been a while. He is a big boy, I adopted him about a year ago, he was then 2. Now he is 3. So I get back home and cut the top off of this little packet and squeeze it on TC’s neck. He hated it, and responded by scurrying and hiding under the bed. Fast forward 4 hours, I’m layin in bed and he is in his normalish spot and he starts making these vile guttural noises, his ears fold back and it’s like he is being confronted by something that is threatening. He start meowing like a kitten with intervals of growling, groaning, and howls.

I start to panic. What’s goin on with my cat? I immediately think about what could have changed in his diet, etc etc. The only thing I could think of is the flea medication. I google the phrase “I put sergeants flea spray on my cat and now he is growling” and this site popped up. I read the instruction on washing the location which was still greasy looking, I scoop him up and do my best to bath him while he battled me with all that he had. I was pretty thorough. His condition appears to be improving, at least he isnt making crazy noises.

they messed with theeee wrong person!

I am beyond livid! I put on the flea drops on my poor little Capone and right away his ear became raw and irritated. I’m a college student and only have a part time job and I don’t have the money to take him to the vet. They lowered my cost to about what I could afford. He is now missing a good size patch of hair on his ear and it’s bleeding and pussing bad. The antibiotics haven’t kicked in yet, but I hope he feels better. I can’t take the screaming. Every time he wants to itch it, he starts screaming. I have never heard such a horrible sound in my life. Hartz it’s going to pay for his proper treatments. I will do what I have to do to make that happen. This is not okay. I will go to the news station and take further steps if I have to. I’ll do anything just to save another animal from their products. My poor baby. He’s been a part of the family for two years now and I’ve been crying since this happened! I will fix this and someone will be paying for this.

RIP Luna, another victim

This morning, 04/19/2014, Hartz Kitten Formula claimed the life of another. 5 week old Luna passed away this morning  from being poisoned. She was found last night not doing well, the vet called back in the morning and asked what her diet was. Vet said to get her off of Hartz immedietely as there were high losses this spring from Hartz formula, which is made in china but packaged in the US.  Expect to hear more soon from other victims. 🙁

Class Action LawSuit

Hi all, many of you heard my story of my little Chiweenie dog that had a seizure and passed away after a bath with Hartz Flea& Tick Shampoo. Im currently trying to get a Class Action Lawsuit going. I have infact contacted atleast 5 lawyers about this and just waiting to hear back from them. I have also contacted the EPA. I want this product removed. If you are interested on joining me please let me know. I also want you to know that my husband recorded  everything that happened so i have proof.

 

Christina