Sunday, August 2, 2009

Dangerous flea medicines?

I called my vet the other day and asked what flea medicine I should get for my cats and dog (the dog has a few fleas). They said they would only reccommend Advantix and Advantage (conviniently the only two that you can only get from a vet's office.like the beauty salon claiming that only THEIR shampoo will stop your hair from falling out later in life or whatever.). I asked if I could still use the other three brands on the shelf and was told that Hartz has been linked to many many animal deaths and should absolutely not be used. I looked them up online and the only website that seems to say this are websites like, www.hartzvictims.org, www.animalhelp.com, and www.againsthartz.com. Yet they ALL say that this many lawsuits have been filed, this many news reports have been done on them etc.I am asking.where are all these news reports? I want one reliable news story about Hartz being linked to many deaths.
Answers:
DON'T KNOW IF THESE PRODUCTS YOU MENTIONED ARE LINKED TO DEATHS BUT I CAN TELL YOU FOR CERTAIN THAT THEY DO NOT WORK.

I USE A PRODUCT CALLED REVOLUTION ON MY DOG.IT'S FOR FLEAS, EAR MITES AND HEARTWORM.ONCE A MONTH APPLICATION AND WATERPROOF.
I BUY IT ON LINE AT PETSHED.COM IT WORKS GREAT, BEEN USING IT FOR 3 YEARS AND HAS NO BAD EFFECT ON MY DOG.
I have not heard of any of those things you mentioned as being dangerous to animals.. I do know one thing though.. they are worthless as far as MY USAGE has been concerned.

For flea medicine.. I go ONLY to an animal store(not WAlmart's, etc) but I get ONLY GOOD flea medicine that you mix with water to bath the dog and/or cat in(if the cat does not like water, then a powder) but ONLY from a reputable animal store. I shampoo the dog(with the good flea medicine) on day one and one week later, again(a must to kill the newly hatched larvae of fleas) and at the same time(A MUST MUST MUST) get a sprayer and buy some top notch flea spray. put that into the sprayer and spray ANYPLACE where your pets are sleeping and/or going to include the walls of the house, etc.. YOU DO NOT kill fleas(or get rid of the flea problem) by ONLY giving the dog/cat a bath in flea medicine
Hello Erica H

My sister uses ivory soap to remove the fleas from her cat and it seems to work pretty well. So see if that works and let me know the outcome.
Both of my dogs that I got from a shelter had fleas and one day I had gotten an e-mail from a friend saying that Dawn dish soap works for fleas. I tried it and let me tell you it works wonders and is safe. I know from a few vets I know that the Hartz brand has been sued for brain damage/nerve damage and death from their product. I would try and stick away from all these chemicals. Good Luck!
I would like to see the actual reports for Hartz products, also.but not for prrof that the reactions are real. I know they are. The local vet who cares for our humane society animals has had several animal come in with what turned out being a bad reaction to the Hartz product line. I would like to see the actula data collections so there is something solid to stand on when someone asks me."How do you know?" while offering the info who has already used it on an animal "successfully".
alot of these reports are from multiple pet homes, where there are dogs and cats. the dog flea product can be lethal to cats. and if the labels are read and actually followed by pet owners then most of the claims wouldn't exist. the company's aren't going to publish nor are the going to inform consumers that their product is killing pets. this is what warning labels are for and if someone doesn't follow it, then it's not their fault. this is how they look at it. flea products and other products have always had owner compliance issues. I have worked in the vet field for years, and have explained til I am blue in the face how to use a product only to have the owner apply wrong when they get home and wonder why they still have fleas.

advantage and other flea products like that can be bought outside the vet's office. the only ones that can't be is if they require a prescription like heartworm preventatives ie revolution. however, if you buy this product from someone other than your vet and your pet has a reaction, the company will not back their product with a warrenty. the vet will have to charge you for treatment of the reaction. so in the grand scheme of things, why not keep your local vet in business, after all you do own a pet. do you skimp on your doctor care? why would you want to put your pets health at risk. we are responsible for our pets health as we are the ones that chose to own them.
Advantage, frontline, revolution are all topical products that work within 24 hours of application to kill all adult fleas on contact for 30+days. Honestly, the other OTC products SUCK! if you are having a flea problem you will need to treat your enviroment also.

Also, if a vet reccomended to you to use a product that they don't carry and you are possibly not a client, the legal ramifications of your using the product and having problems with it is HUGE. Just like if you call a dr's office and ask is it ok to take aspirin or tylenol or whatever and they say sure and you die, hello lawsuit.

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