“Years ago, an EPA study stated that: ALL flea-tick products are known to cause illness and fatalities,” Jean Hofve, DVM. (LittleBigCat.com)
One Tips ‘n’ Tales reader reports her experience: “My two cats, Fred and Shaq, were engaging in frantic scratching,” said Joan, “and the white duvet
cover they sleep on was covered in black sand and pin-sized blood drops.
I went on line and discovered these are classic flea signs. None of my animals have had fleas for 25 years and the ones that did arrived with them as tiny rescues. We used the fine tooth-flea comb method because they were too young to treat with products.
We eliminated the fleas by combing them out, several times a day, with the comb, then dropped the parasites
into soapy water, drowning them because they don’t have traction to jump out. It took a week to get rid of the fleas.
So, now I’m dealing with delicate senior cats.
A friend recommended a product. Rather than calling my vet, I went to a pet store looking for this product to treat my cats.
The clerk recommended a different product and briefly described how to apply it. I bought it, took it home,
and opened the package. Much to my surprise, there was no information on the product or its application – just 2 tubes.
The ‘warnings’ on the outside of the package were enough that I went to the internet to further investigate.
Nothing on the product’s website included its application, but the next website was ‘filled’ with complaints about the product! Over 500 people had posted horror stories about how their dog or cat
had had adverse or life-threatening reactions to this product! Pets needed immediate veterinary assistance, including IVs, and many died.
Thank goodness for the internet! It is like having a private eye in our homes! I was glad that I researched it ‘first’ and decided that it was never going on my cats!
I went to another pet store and bought the product my friend had recommended - one of the big name flea chemical products - seven times the
price of the other product. The product comes in two strengths - one for cats under 4 kilograms (approximately 8.8 pounds), and another for those over 4 kilograms. So as a precaution, I weighed each cat before applying the product.
As soon as it dropped on Fred, he instinctively backed up 5 feet, and shook himself managing to fling the product all over the floor.
The package warnings clearly stated that pets should not ingest the
product. Panic! So, according to the package I washed the floor with soap and water so that neither cat, (or I), would walk in the stuff and then lick their paws.
This made me wonder, what happens when a pet’s child or parent forgets and kisses or touches their chemically treated fur?
Or what does it ‘really’ do when it penetrates a pet’s skin?
I spent a day vacuuming everything, including their fur-niture with a
disposable-bag vacuum! This way the fleas were trapped in the bag. I also put in a new filter. (Fleas can remain in a bagless vacuum or escape during emptying.) Then I spent another day steaming everything – floors, carpets, furniture, cat beds, etc. I also laundered our bedding and the towels the cats sleep on. (Their towels are now washed weekly.)
The next day I returned the cheaper product. The clerk/cashier listened to my story of no instructions and the
product’s disastrous reviews. He thanked me for returning the product and was glad I had not used it on my cats! I was shocked – I’ve never been thanked for returning anything!
He said his company receives complaints all the time on this product, but no one pays attention. He was a veterinarian in Europe, unable to practice here, so he works as a vet assistant and as a store clerk.
He said he had “... asked many times to
remove the product from the shelves and had tried to teach others not to recommend the product”.
He was upset to hear that a clerk had recommended the product. He thought that it would take a major disaster (my interpretation – like a pet dying and the owner suing the store) for the pet chain to pay attention.
Mary Ellen, I know you have a pet network. Please share this warning to whom ever it may benefit. We love our
pets! I want to alert other pet parents to the fact that there are some poisonous products out there. Imagine how awful I would have felt if a cat had died, and I am retired and can't afford expensive pet medical bills.
Thanks for any help you can give to innocents like me, Fred and Shaq. Thank you for teaching others to research their pets’ products before applying them.”
