Will his hair grow back???

Hello,

I used Sentry Natural Defense Flea and Tick treatment on my 3 year old tom. It was about 10 days ago. Now he is losing all his hair on the back of his neck and down his back where the treatment was applied.

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF HIS HAIR WILL GROW BACK ONCE HIS BODY PROCESSES THIS IRRITANT?

PLEASE ANSWER if you know.

After this happening I've read all kinds of similar accounts, but nobody mentioned if the hair would come back or not. I will never use this stuff again!

Has he seen a vet???


The hair should grow back but a vet needs to see the kitty..

OTC flea control CAN be dangerous

No, I've not been to the vet on this issue yet. I've had him to the vet 5 times in the last year dealing with Feline Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex on his nose due to mosquitoes. This OTC Sentry Natural Defense claimed to fend off Mosquitoes too, so I tried it. Ironically the nose is getting better, so it must work, but his poor neck is going bald. He acts fine and it seems like the stuff is wearing off. His neck does not appear burned or blistered, or scabbed at all. Just hair loss.

Originally Posted by sharky

Has he seen a vet???


The hair should grow back but a vet needs to see the kitty..

OTC flea control CAN be dangerous

Click to expand...

Ditto. The ONLY stuff I'll use is Revolution, Advantage, or Frontline.

HE NEEDS a VET ( I am not yelling)

Welcome to TCS

Yeah... I agree with the rest on a vet visit. Some of that stuff can be pretty potent. Of course... we usually find that out after the fact.

I will take him to the vet. I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this and if the hair was likely to grow back? I feel so bad about this.

First, if you haven't already. WASH your cat totally and get all the stuff off.

Then talk to your vet. I think you will have to skip any kind of flea treatment till his fur grows back. IMO I would not put on flea preventative on a totally indoor cat unless there is a problem.

Is he inside only, or does he go out. If he goes out, then keep him in for awhile and when everything is cleared, then use something like Frontline for cats if he's going outside.

My Yeller tends to react that way a little bit with Revolution. Yes, the hair will grow back.

I would stick to using either Revolution, Advantage or Frontline at your vets descretion though. Some of those OTC flea and worm treatments can be fatal to our little fur kinds.

I agree - give poor kitty a bath and get that stuff off him. As the others have said, over-the-counter flea medications can be very dangerous and can actually cause death to our beloved kitties.

We treat with Revolution from April until November - only because my hubby allows Bijou outside and he could bring in fleas to little Mika (as we also can on our clothing). Better safe than sorry.

This happened to me with Zodiac spot flea treatment. Though with my cat it was only a small area where the product had been applied -- it sounds like your cat lost more hair. Yes, the hair all grew back within a matter of weeks, once I stopped giving it and it got out of his system. My guess is that your cat's hair will grow back also.

I didn't go to the vet for that. I'd take a wait and see approach unless you see more serious symptoms. Bathing him might help if you think there's still product on him... I didn't bathe mine since the product had already been absorbed.

My cat doesn't have the same reaction to Advantage, fortunately.

Emmylou, Thank you for your response. I think the product has been completely absorbed too. The skin is a bit too dry if anything. This upsets me because this was the "all natural" stuff. The ingredients where peppermint, lemon grass, cinnimon, clove oils. It was supposed to be the answer for those of us who hate to put toxins on our family members. after the fact, I have found consumer reports stating this has happend to lots of kitties from this stuff. I wish I'd have done more research before I put it on him. Thanks again. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

I think it's better to go with a product that has undergone extensive medical testing, rather than a "natural" product that may not have been. Just because an ingredient is natural doesn't mean it isn't going to be toxic to a cat -- there are lots of plants that are toxic, for example.

There's also the allergy/skin sensitivity element. I'm guessing all cats don't have a bad reaction to Zodiac; just some percentage.