Putting chemicals on your pets seems a it crazy in the first place. There are way to many natural ways to keep fleas and ticks down.

The OTC stuff doesn't work anyways.

Dichotomous earth, God's pet repellent. As long as you're careful not to breath too much (It's a physical lung irritant) this stuff works wonders. Dust your house for a day or so, vacuum, rub a bit into your pet (making sure not to ruffle up too much dust). My vet always looks at me like I'm a terrible pet owner when I don't want to slather my cat in chemicals. Don't bathe it and just rub it with frontline. I can buy 10 pounds of DE for the price of a dose of frontline.

I'd like to reiterate the point that it's better to get these medicines from your veterinarian, who is licensed to prescribe them. I hope Brutus will be okay.

The Hartz brand is a brand that thousands of people use to treat their animals. I am Brutis mom and I would never have used anyting that I thought would hurt him. So many people have lost or injured their pets without knowing how dangerous this stuff is! DO NOT EVER use Hatz brand anything on your animals. EVER.

On a good note, Brute is back to his old self. My big teddy bear :)

I have never been so scared in my life. That company needs to be shut down!

Our dogs and cats had fleas on them, recently, so we decided to use Hartz on our two dogs and our cat. The dogs fared fine but the cat became jittery and had muscle spasms. After 3 baths she still couldn't control her muscle spasms and we went to the vet who had to flush her out with fluids (which took about 5 hours and $200). She is fine ow, thanks to the vet, and we will never use Hartz again. Stay away from OTC flea medicines, always consult your vet before giving your pet any medicine.

We use frontline. Works much better and a lot safer than any OTC stuff.

I don't know if Hartz does but a lot of the OTC stuff has permethrin in it which can easily poison a dog or cat...

This is a very unfortunate story and I hope the dog gets better. Unfortunately, animals are like human, and each will have allergies like we do; some will have reactions, while others are not. Find something that will work, and stick with it, when trying anything new, make sure you watch the pet and get ready to wash them and get them to a vet if they have an extreme reaction too it.

Not surprised. Remember how long it took for pet food companies to remove dead cats from cat food? Profit over life in the pet industry.

Dawn dish soap...

We rescued an emaciated kitten a few weeks ago and she was covered in fleas. She weighed less than a pound despite being about 4-5 weeks old. She probably wouldn't have lasted another day and we at least knew that you shouldn't apply any of these chemical insecticides to young animals.

Some Googling showed this remedy:

Soak cat in lukewarm water - massage in Dawn over the body - try to keep out of the eyes. The fleas that didn't get caught in the soap will migrate up to the 'high ground' around the face where you can put them in a soapy bucket where they will DIE instantly. Rinse the cat thoroughly with warm water.

We ended up getting 49 large fleas off her and now she is well on her way to recovery. As an aside, my wife decided that a weak solution of Dawn in a spray bottle might be effective against aphids and other plant-destroying bugs. It worked as well as the high-priced insecticidal soap sprays at a tiny fraction of the cost.

I am Brute's mom and I just want to let everyone know he is okay. He is finally back to his old self-my big teddy bear :)
I would have never used any kind of chemicals if I thought they would hurt him. Thousands of people have used this stuff and lost their pets. Please tell everyone you know to never ever use this.

I'm glad Brutus is okay, but other animals have died. I don't use OTC flea or other medicines on my pets. Either they stay in the house (but can use the balcony) or they get flea treatments from the vet.

Our rescue always uses Frontline or Advantage, and recommend strongly to adopters that they avoid Hartz/Biospot/other "off brand" topical flea medication, for this very reason.

You can get Frontline or Advantage from other places, either internet pet supply stores or Petco/Petsmart (they keep it locked up, so you have to ask). There have been reports of counterfeit product, though, so if you want to be 100% sure, get it from your vet. That being said, I order it from Australia (MUCH cheaper, even with shipping) and have never had a problem.

MAKE SURE you do not use a dog product on a cat - they are different and the dog product can kill a cat.

This product is AWFUL. Our cat was poisoned by this product, she was having seizures and neurological issues (spasms). We had to have her stomach filled with charcoal and her body flushed. I think the vet bill ended up being 300.00. The sad thing is the staff knew exactly what it was.. "Another Hartz Victim" they shouted when we came in... Its completely ridiculous that this product is on the market, they know it has issues. We followed the directions perfectly. A simple google on the subject will reveal countless other victims. Makes you wonder what kind of minor effects it can have on us humans as well. We no longer buy Hartz products of any kind and let everybody we know how awful there corporation is.

P.S.--I didn't read far enough. Brutus is okay. I'm glad!

I work in a field where we sell replacement parts for (among other things), big-screen TV's. One day while I was taking phone calls on the sales floor, a man called up to order a new bezel for a very expensive big-screen Sony (the bezel is the plastic frame around the screen). Apparently he had applied the drop-style flea control (i.e. Advantix) to his golden retriever, and the animal had shaken immediately afterward as if bothered by the drops. According to the customer, when the drops landed on the bezel, they marred the plastic, like acid. Ever since then, I've stuck to flea collars and regular baths for my pets.

Boric acid powder is a fantastic way to get fleas out of your house. One of my cats had fleas, and we used Frontline plus flea comb to rid him of fleas, and then put the boric acid powder all over the floors and carpets to get rid of the fleas in the house.

40 Mule Team Borax works OK, but if you get the good stuff, straight-up boric acid it works a lot better. Just brush into carpet, let sit for half an hour and vacuum up.

@macdude22: Actually, it's called diatomaceous earth, it's essentially ground up fossils:
[en.wikipedia.org]
You can buy it from veterinary supply catalogs, not sure how easy it is to find in stores.

My fiancee is a vet tech and has seen LOTS of dogs and cats brought in with horrible reactions (siezures, unconscious, erradict heart, etc) to Hartz products. If you want to kill your pet, that is a cheap option.

We use Frontline for our pets.

My vet explained to me that Hartz was basically like putting DDT on your dog. I know get Frontline from PetCo. I'm very glad your dog is all right.

I've had good luck with using Frontline for the dogs and Revolution for the cats. They're expensive, and I'm also wary of putting lots of chemicals onto my pets, but I find that with using the professional stuff during summer months, then keeping up a practice of regular vacuuming and monthly use of borax (which can be toxic in large doses, so you gotta be careful) year-round, I can keep the pests under control quite well. Those scary stories about Hartz have been around for years. I know I wrote about them in either 2004 or 2006 for the paper I worked for.

This problems with Hartz has been going on for years now, and they refuse to remove their toxic products, which means people keep using them and pets keep dying. My sister is a vet, and she warned me away from using anything from them (the flea and tick stuff because it's toxic and everything else they produce because I don't want such an unethical company to have my money).

Most OTC flea medications contain Pyrethrin extracts which can cause lethargy, vomiting, nervous system symptoms and even death. My dog had reactions to both OTC Hartz and prescription K9 Advantix which also has a similar ingredient (burned the hair off his back, lethargic for 2 weeks after washing off the poison). Now we just stick with gentle soap and a flea comb and live with the summer itch.

"My vet explained to me that Hartz was basically like putting DDT on your dog. I know get Frontline from PetCo. I'm very glad your dog is all right."

@badhatharry:

So...your dog will lay thin-shelled eggs :P?

Our ferrets get 1/4th a vial of kitten-sized Revolution each month - does wonders for the ear mites and fleas that they pick up whenever they play with the neighbors' cat...

@el_smurfo:

Wow..didn't realize that OTC meds have Pyrethrin in it. Last time I saw that word was on a can of Raid and a puck of ant bait.

Revolution, and the other vet-dispensed ones, don't directly kill the bugs..they get absorbed into the blood stream, and the metabolites wind up in skin cells, and something happens, and the fleas die. My theory (IANADVM) is that and when pests chow down on the dead skin and stuff..the residual metabolite kills them like a power outage to Terri Schiavo

@RedwoodFlyer:

[www.google.com]

[www.peteducation.com]

The most common signs are tremors, drooling, lack of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, incoordination, hyperactivity, disorientation, vocalization, depression, difficulty breathing, and seizures. Death is possible. Additionally in cats, may see ear flicking, paw shaking, or contractions/twitching of the skin.

I've been told by my vet never to use ANY item by Hartz, regardless of what it is. Shampoo, OTC meds, you name it, don't use it. They told me that they hate the fact that pet stores have to carry it, since most pets will have a severe reaction to it. I also asked at a groomer once what was the best shampoo for dogs with dry skin, they listed some off, and then almost at once 4 groomers all said, "But whatever you do, don't use Hartz, it's the worst thing in the world!" rather emphatically.

When I first got my dog she had fleas so we grabbed some OTC stuff...I can't remember if it was Hartz or not, but it might have been. It was a 3 month supply and we noticed that the day after we applied it, she would be pretty much wiped out the next day. Nothing really alarming, but our dog is normally fairly energetic and the day after the application, she would basically lay around all day only getting excited at all to go on a walk.

I guess we got lucky that was all that happened. Our vet didn't seem strongly against the OTC stuff, but he did indicate that the OTC mechanism essentially only kills a flea when it bites while the Advantix/Frontline treatments kill on contact.

@Womblebug: Oooh how did you get frontline from australia? do you go online or is it a mail order type thing?

This stuff killed my cat! Mother fuckers.

The problem is not Hartz. Hartz just happens to be one of the best sellers, and hence has more bad experiences. The problems described can happen with ANY brand of OTC flea shampoo, powder or spray. All flea medication lists the active ingredients, there's 3 or 4 common ones that are used by almost any anti-flea solution.

I recently had to talk my mother out of using some Hartz OTC meds for tapeworms on her new puppy.

I really don't understand why they're still able to sell things that are obviously dangerous to a large percentage of animals.

[www.hartzvictims.org]

@ekthesy: I second the boric acid. My Mom and her dog lived with me for a while. It was only AFTER they moved out that I noticed a flea problem (without a dog host the fleas moved on to ME!). I sprinkled the carpets with boric acid (40 Mule) and left it on for 24 hours then vacuumed. Worked like a charm.

This kind of stuff killed my cat in a pretty horrendous way. Shortly after applying this stuff to him he got a tumor on his tongue, couldn't eat and was basically starving to death. I had to put him down. I wish I could put them through what they put my little pal through.

@Hitchcock: The problem IS with Hartz for the very same reason. They are one of the largest manufacturers, and they refuse to take any kind of responsibility for the problems they are causing.

If they can get away with it, of course the smaller companies are too.

Money > Lives.

Years ago, my boyfriend went to PetCo to pick some of this up and the employee told him not to because it can poison cats. He didn't get it, but he came home asking how the hell can the product be on the market if it's so bad?

For what it's worth, my Boston Terrier had the exact same reaction as the dog in the example using a generic version of that. Actually, it was not the bath, but the drop on the back of the neck version.

After he started reacting, we washed it off and took him to the vet. But he was throwing up all day, just like the article. And this was just from a couple of drops. I can't even imagine what a whole bath of that stuff would have done to him.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Frontline is FDA approved, and since we switched, he has had no reactions.

hartzvictims.org is an extremely biased site, and I'm not sure I like it very much.

Hartz has a bad reputation, (and for the record I never buy that brand for my pets), but we have no idea of this is really a "wide spread" problem or not - the people "reporting" these incidents are emotional and usually aren't doctors. They have no idea if their pet is actually being effected by the pesticide or not, and where do they disclose if they misused the product? (The fact that there's no other agency out there to give us an idea of the size of the problem is very annoying and a whole 'nother issue).

I work as a toxicologist, and I don't know how many times I've spoken to people (and vets for that matter) who want to blame all their health problems on pesticides when there are plenty of other ways that they (or their pets) can get sick.

I also can't tell you how many times I've run across the sentiment that "natural" chemicals (like diatomaceous earth, boric acid or the dreaded plant extracts) are soooo much better than the sceery "synthetic" chemicals like pyrethroids.

People, please hear me: natural does not mean safer. Coating your house and your pet in diatomaceous dust is probably much higher risk to your health than using flea drops proscribed by your vet. At least the flea products come with instructions!

It's also wise to keep in mind that buying cheaper flea products from another country and using them in the US is illegal, and you're opening yourself up to buying a counterfeit product. When it comes to flea products, don't go cheap and please FOLLOW ALL THE DIRECTIONS.

@Nicholeigh: Check your Private messages.

I always wonder at those topical flea removers. While it says that you shouldn't apply it to eyes, nose, mouth, etc. what's to prevent them from licking themselves?? Dogs do love to do that. Somehow the dog ingested it, possibly by licking itself, and it nearly killed him.

All this stuff is a type of poison. Hartz, Frontline, Advantage. They are all types of poison, that's how you precent fleas. It all has to do with how you administer it. But Hartz is pretty terrible stuff from my experiences.

@synergy: With the drops you're supposed to apply them from the back of the head to the middle of the back, so the dog can't lick it off. My mom uses Frontline on her dog (they spend a lot of time in Wisconsin, so she uses to keep ticks away) and I've seen her apply it. There's no way the dog could lick it off. Cats, on the other hand, probably can get this stuff in their mouths (by way of licking directly or licking contaminated paws) no matter where you put it.

That stuff is POTENT!!! My mother buys it - not to put on animals, but to spray around the foundation of her house every fall to keep spiders and ants away and it works!

People should stay away from K9-Advantix, too.

My brother tried it on his basset hound because she likes being outside and it was in the height of mosquito season. Advantix, supposedly, wards off mosquitos as well as fleas and ticks, so he thought it was a win-win situation. Shortly after (maybe an hour) he applied it in the recommended dose, she started breathing heavily, drooling excessively (she's a dry-mouthed basset) and panting. He, of course, is worried and does a quick Internet search and, come to find out, a lot of dogs have reactions (like renal failure, death, neurological problems, hair loss, etc.) to that stuff.

He washed it off with dishsoap (which cuts through the oil designed to keep it from rubbing off) and within half an hour she was back to her normal self.

It is poison. You put it on a mammal. Guess what, your kids hug and kiss the animal too. It is poison people.

My cat had a similar problem when I used some sort of popular vet prescribed medicine a few years ago. I can't remember the brand...It was the kind where you put drops on the back of his neck. He's OK now. At the time he was vomiting violently and I called the 1-800 number on the medicine package and the support person on the phone told me the vet had gone home for the day and would call me the next day. (?!) The vet did call back the next day, but by that time it was pointless. I will NEVER use chemicals on him again. Screw the fleas.
On a side note, I read an article this past year that says that regular vacuuming is the best flea prevention. I upgraded my vacuum and haven't seen a flea since.

Anything OTC (veterinary) is NOT regulated by FDA. That's why they are STILL selling these awful products...There's no one that can make them stop! And DO NOT LISTEN to these people that are using borax or diatomaceous earth, etc! These products can come in many different variations and concetrations, and WHY(?!) would you use products NOT meant for animals-needless to say toxic- on these poor guys. I know, I know... It's cheaper!! TOO BAD! If you can't afford the proper preventative care, DO NOT GET A PET!!! ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR VETERINARIAN before giving your animal any form of medication, meant for animals or not... If your REALLY care for your babies, pay a little more, it will save you (and them) in the long run.
- Liz, Licensed Veterinary Technician