Cary (in his infinite web searching, blog reading wisdom) forwarded another blog to me this morning. And this one is serious. The orginal article by Dr. Eric Barchas, DVM is posted on Dogster.com. You can click here to read it.
The point of his article is DO NOT buy Seargant's or Hartz flea & tick preventatives. These products are commonly available in the pet aisle of your local grocery or big box store and they are far cheaper than Frontline or Advantix. I know, because I am among the people who have used these products and suffered the consequences. A few years ago, when Cary was out of work and we were pinching pennies, I thought that I would save a substantial amount of money by purchasing Sergeant's Gold. After all, it ran about $8.00 for 4 doses while Frontline Plus for our dogs is over $40 for three doses. It also claimed to work for 9 weeks rather than for the month that Frontline Plus does. What bargain hunting girl wouldn't think she had scored a major victory?
Now, let me point out that I bought the box for 40lb-60lb dogs. Both Hannah and Sam fall in that range, but Sam is right at the bottom (about 45lbs, on a good day) while Hannah is closer to the upper edge (she's probably pushing the limit of the box, but a lady never reveals her weight...) I carefully read all of the instructions. It did mention that there could be sensitivities to any pesticide. I figured that any drug has warnings and possible side effects. My biggest fear was actually the cat, because there were warnings about the cat even being near the dogs after this stuff was applied. That seemed a little scary, but I decided that my cat doesn't usually hang out with and groom my dogs anyway. So, we applied the products as instructed. Hooray! We'd protected our dogs from fleas and ticks and saved money!
EXCEPT - within ten minutes, we noticed Sam's skin was twitching at the shoulder area. At first, we thought it was just because of the feeling that the topical created. Then, his entire body started twitching. Everywhere, not just near the topical. And he started drooling and foaming uncontrollably! We scooped him up, ran to the bathroom and washed him off, repeatedly. We rinsed, we soaped, we rinsed, we rinsed and rinsed some more. He stopped foaming, but he was still twitching, but it had slowed down. So we decided to keep an eye on him for the next 24 hours and if things didn't improve, we'd take him to the vet. He was pretty lethargic for the next 24 hours, but the twitching subsided. When I discussed the situation with our vet later, he told me this reaction is pretty common, because the chemicals in the products like Sergeant's and Hartz are harsh! They are pesticides - poisons. And they are too much for many animals to handle.
And we were among the lucky ones, Sam's reaction was pretty mild. Dr. Barchas relays this story of a woman and her pets:
"Consider a pair of cats that I treated two nights ago at the emergency hospital. The owner had purchased Sergeant’s topical flea control for them and her dog. She had applied the properly sized feline product on each cat. She had applied the appropriate canine product to the dog. None of the animals consumed the products orally. She thought she would save some money by using a cheaper product.
All three animals rapidly developed tremors (progressing to seizures in the cats), disorientation, and irregular behavior. The dog improved and was able to go home after the family veterinarian bathed him in dish soap. The cats were not so lucky. Despite bathing and clipping hair that was coated with the poison, both cats continued to suffer from symptoms. One cat had a nasty blister at the application site. Both cats required hospitalization, IV fluids, intensive care monitoring, and regular injections of muscle relaxants, sedatives, and anti-seizure medicines.
I expect all three animals to survive. When my shift ended the owner’s total veterinary bills were $2,600 and counting. So much for saving money.
Like every owner in this situation, she felt extremely guilty and very angry. She had no idea that Sergeant’s was so dangerous. I have seen dozens of similar cases. In every one of these cases the affected animals experienced adverse reactions far worse than I have ever seen from Advantage or Frontline."Dr. Barchas explains that while Frontline and Advantix and other veterinary products are designed act on nerve cells that only fleas or other arthropods possess. On the other hand, products available in grocery stores and other chains contain pyrethrins or pyrethroids, which are toxic to all creatures, they're just more toxic to smaller animals, which means it'll kill your fleas and ticks before it kills your cat. But you're still poisoning your animals. I wish someone had told me this before I used that stuff on my babies!
According to Dr. Barchas' article on Dogster.com, the EPA (which handles all these types of products because they not taken internally) is now looking into these products. Their statement is:
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pursuing a series of actions to increase the safety of spot-on pesticide products for flea and tick control for cats and dogs. Immediately, EPA will begin reviewing labels and determining which ones need stronger and clearer labeling statements. EPA will also develop more stringent testing and evaluation requirements for both existing and new products. EPA expects these steps will help prevent adverse reactions from pet spot-on products.
EPA is coordinating with Health Canada and with the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine on these actions."Dr. Barchas notes that they don't name names, but he is confident that the problem lies with Hartz and Seargant's products and given my experience, I am as well. He also notes this action doesn't seem strong enough. So, if the EPA won't ban these products, at least we can educate ourselves about them. And tell other people about the dangers of these products. Because no one who loves their pets would ever intentionally poison them!
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