<p>Just passing along a warning about a popular dog flea & tick medication.</p>
<p>My sister just called me in a panic (which is weird because we don’t talk- ever). Her dog, a pug named Kiwi, is in the hospital because my sister unknowingly applied a toxic liquid to her. The popular flea & tick remover called SentryPro xfc is a cheaper flea & tick remover sold at PetSmart and some other places. It also has been linked to NUMEROUS deaths in dogs.</p>
<p>So my sister applied the stuff to Kiwi last night and about a half an hour later she started convulsing and foaming at the mouth. She took her to the vet and they immediately flushed her system to avoid kidney damage. She is now looking at $650 (and growing) in vet bills. So she called me and asked me to look and see if this has happened to other dogs- it has. There is even a class action lawsuit (not sure what’s going on with that- the article was from 2008). The parent company, Segeant’s, is over 100 years old so it’s not a fly-by-night company. There has been an ongoing battle with pet stores to get this stuff pulled off the shelves. </p>
<p>She is going to call the company and try to get them to pay the vet bill. Don’t know how it’s going to go. </p>
<p>I just wanted to pass this along on the chance that anyone on here uses it. Please throw it out and use something like Frontline or something that your vet prescribes. I don’t want to see this happen to any one else.</p>
<p>Thanks for the posting…I actually haven’t applied flea/ tick meds in yrs to my pets , though I have considered it with my new low rider corgi
In the area the frequent on our property , I have considered having an arborist spray ( they have dome it for gypsy moths the last couple of yrs but we don’t have them this year. My friend is a biologist, so I should ask her, since the treatment seemed to eliminate pest like ticks, fleas and chiggers…all of which are a pain</p>
<p>I had never heard of anything like this happening because we’ve always used Frontline. I just don’t want anyone else to have to go through anything like what Kiwi and my sis are going through :/</p>
<p>I’ve posted this before, but I’ll do so again in case anyone missed it. Almost all spot-on flea and tick treatments–including Frontline–have reportedly caused serious adverse reactions in pets. The EPA recently warned consumers to use all spot-on treatments with extra care.</p>
<p>I have had my dogs on Advantage and never had any problems – but I was considering putting my puppy on Advantix (added tick protection) and was surprised to learn that the ingredients were entirely different – and Advantix was clearly a riskier product. I decided to stick with the flea-only product… and simply inspect my dog carefully for ticks whenever I groom her.</p>
<p>Just a general question: do pet products need to be tested by any organization and considered “safe” before they’re allowed out. In other words, is there any kind of safety organization? Humans have the FDA. Do our furry friends have any such thing?</p>
<p>I’d point out the flip side – years ago I had almost an entire litter of kittens die because of flea infestation. Our kitty had hidden her kittens in the basement when she gave birth – when they got too sick she started bringing them upstairs and basically pushing the sick ones out of her nest – it was only then that we discovered the problem. We used to have terrible problems with flea infestations – this was before the spot on products were available, and generally fleas were treated using shampoos, sprays and powders loaded with insecticides, as well as putting stuff to treat the carpets or setting off flea “bombs” in the house… which probably wasn’t all that safe for the humans who lived in the house.</p>
<p>So the flea products really are a godsend – and I think that is something that is weighed against the issues of sensitivity of some animals to the products-- and might not be considered by people who are too young to remember the time before these products existed. </p>
<p>Again – I do think as a consumer you should check the ingredients and read up to figure out which appear to be the safest for your pet – but do keep in mind that fleas & ticks also can carry diseases and make your pet very sick. The best options might depend partly on where you live and your pet’s lifestyle (mostly outdoor dog running in fields? or mostly indoor dog sleeping on the couch? – fleas tend to get everywhere, ticks are more of a problem with dogs that are spending a lot of time outdoors – and the types of common fleas and possible diseases they carry vary in different parts of the country/world).</p>