Three more Hartz warnings

Here are three more warnings from commenters about Hartz flea treatment and its effect on cats. Again, please do not purchase or use this product, and please do tell your friends the same. (For the beginning of the story, see here and here.)

Jay writes:

I can’t believe what we have been through the past 2 weeks because of hartz flea medicine. 700.00 and our cat is still got neuological problems. ie fall to the right when standing and or walking. We have been through #$@@# and I am sick to know that I am the one that did this to my cat. Just got off the phone with Oklahoma state vet epidemiologist and she said that she sees at least 100 cases a year in her practice alone. How do they (Hartz) get away with this. I just wish I would have been warned or had known about this sooner.

(my emphasis)

Ann writes:

I am reading this just one day after taking my cat, Simon to the emergency vet last night. I thought I was being a good pet parent by putting Hartz flea medicine him two nights ago. Not long after, I noticed the very same twitches and paw shaking. It wasnt severe, just every once in a while, but I thought I better take him in. After talking with 2 vets.. they explained to me just how many problems they have with Hartz cat flea meds and said to NEVER use them. Simon seems to be ok.. they only think his reaction was mild. However, they see cats die from this way too often. They even told me that they called Hartz to let them now the extent of problems they were seeing and Hartz threatened them legally if they continued to give a bad name for their product.

We have to be our own advocate and listen to our VETS and stay AWAY from HARTZ.. they dont care about our pets!

(my emphasis again) So, not satisfied with selling a dangerous product or misleading advertising, Hartz is now threatening to sue medical practitioners for giving advice.

Finally, Leisa writes:

[] I put Hartz flea medicine on my cat, and he started getting sick very quickly. He stopped eating and go so weak he couldn’t stand up. I decided to check the Internet & see if there were any “side effects” to the flea medicine. I was shocked when I saw the warnings about this medicine & people saying their cats had died. I called my vet, and she told me to give the cat a bath immediately & wash the flea medicine off. My poor cat was so weak, he couldn’t hold his head up. I put him in the bathtub, and he had his head on my shoulder crying the entire time I was washing him. I held him in a towel for a long time afterward, and he finally did start to perk up and seemed normal the next morning. I don’t understand why nobody has sued this company. If my cat had died, I would not have given it a second thought—I wouldn’t have cared how much time or money—I would have made sure this company was sued & something was done to take that medicine off the market.

Obviously, I’m no instapundit—traffic-wise, or, I hope, in any other way. Most folks who find my little corner of blogtopia do so via Google. And by far the majority of them are searching for some variant of ‘hartz flea cat’. Very sadly, it’s often the ‘Hartz flea killed my cat’ variant. Please, again, whether you love the MPAA and silly copyright laws or hate them, whether you think Bush is despicable or damn-cute-in-the-flight-suit, and even if you think Dean is no more electable than a wet sack of anchovy heads, don’t use Hartz products.

Filed under: cats