May 23, 2005
Hartz Hurtz
Fluff had fleas soon after Mr. Melvin moved in. I started to get bit, and Fluff and Melvin started to become annoyed by the pesky little fleas biting them and crawling all over them, so we decided to go buy some flea medicine for them.
We purchased two packages of Hartz Flea and Tick drops one for cats and kittens over ten pounds and one for cats and kitten under ten pounds. I looked up some basic information on the drops before applying them, not finding anything negative. I admit I wasn't looking hard, because I didn't think they could actually sell a product that could be harmful to animals. Boy was I wrong.
First, the stuff is oily and disgusting. It spreads out all over their head and back, even when applied in the proper position. Second, it immediately started to irritate both Melvin and Fluff's skin, so they ended up scratching at their heads and neck, thus spreading the oily mess all over their body, including on their feet where they eventually licked it off.
That night, after applying it to Fluff, I came out of the bedroom. He was panting and salivating. I got really worried, so I immediately washed as much of the stuff off of him as I could. He acted strange for the next couple days, shaking his legs and paws, having decreased coordination, and irritated skin. Even after bathing him thoroughly twice, I could still smell the residue of the Hartz product.
I didn't think much of his reaction. Melvin seemed fine, although the oily mess on his head didn't go away for days, and his skin seemed a little irritated. A few months passed, Fluff went to the vet and the vet applied Advantage Flea Medicine on him. I was worried Fluff would react in the same way, but he didn't, and the Advantage dried up in just a few hours without leaving an oily, stinky mess on him. I was very impressed.
About a week ago, I noticed it was time for another application and I also noted a few fleas on Melvin. I decided that I would just use the rest of the Hartz, thinking maybe Fluff responded negatively to it the first time because he was a little younger. That was very stupid.
After I applied it the second time, he got really sick. At first, he was fine, but his skin was irritating him. I remembered his last reaction to the Hartz drops, so I asked Michael to bathe him. I didn't want to risk him getting sick again. The Hartz had only been on a couple of hours. After the bath, I noticed the Hartz didn't come off very well. I was a little concerned, but figured he wasn't reacting badly to it, so it wouldn't hurt to let him be. Plus, he really hates baths.
Anyway, that night I woke up to find him limp, laying by the bed on his cat post. I grabbed him immediately and washed him off in the sink using dish soap to attempt to remove the greasy mess off of him completely. He didn't even fight me that hard when he was getting the bath, and when he was done, I thought he'd go pout and avoid me like the plague like he did when Michael bathed him earlier that night. Instead, he cried and wanted to be pet and held and babied. It really scared me.
I was scared for a few days after that. It took him about three days to fully recover back to his normal self and in that time I researched a lot of information on Hartz. Fluff's reactions was extremely mild compared to most of the stories I found. One good website I found was Hartz Victims.
I'm glad it didn't turn out that bad, but I'm still angry that Hartz would sell a product that they've had over 88,000 complaints about since 2000. I also read that 20/20 and Dateline have featured stories on their products.
So if you have a cat and are thinking about using Hartz Flea Products, DON'T! It's not worth the risk. Spend the extra money and get Advantage or Frontline. If you don't have the money, live with the fleas. They may be annoying, but they're not going to kill or hurt you furry little friend.