Local News Story on Dangers of OTC Flea Meds

Hooray for one of my local news stations attempt to shed light on the dangers of OTC flea treatments!!

http://cbs11tv.com/pets/pets.fleas.ticks.2.1981586.html

Except the story will be ignore by people the same way most of us are. We can talk until we're blue in the face and what to people say? "It hasn't harmed them, yet" "You don't know that" "Why do they sell it, then?" etc.

And to make things more confusing (though I didn't watch the link) is that Revolution &etc. are available OTC now.

Originally Posted by LDG

And to make things more confusing (though I didn't watch the link) is that Revolution &etc. are available OTC now.

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Revolution is not. Because it is also a heartworm preventative it is prescription only at this time (and likely because of patents). Frontline, Advantage, and Vectra are OTC.

Thanks for that - but it still makes things confusing for people!

Originally Posted by LDG

Thanks for that - but it still makes things confusing for people!

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No doubt that it does. However you can't walk into, say, walmart and get Advantage.

It basically comes down to people caring enough about their animals to research and talk to their vets first. Most people do not like the time commitment of either so they choose convenience. The companies selling these dangerous products rely on this..

You can't make people give a darn and actually think, so unless the EPA pulls the products nothing will change.
(and then you have people complaining about government making choices for them )

i use Revolution on my kitties and even if it was OTC, I would buy it at my vet and not Wal-Mart.

I told my co-worker who had a flea problem to go to the vet and ask about Revolution. She just bought collars, powder and a whole host of other meds with no success. The $$ was her driving force for buying all that garbage. In the end, it would have been cheaper and safer just to go to the vet.

I know that it's not the best thing, BUT at least people are hearing it. They interviewed a lady who gave her cat OTC flea treatments and ended up having to put the kitty to sleep a few months later, so hopefully that will at least tug at people's hearts to make them stop and think.

What a sad story. When Marshmallow got sick, the vet kept asking if we'd used OTC flea meds on him. We hadn't...just what we bought at the vet's office. (It is still unknown what caused his death.)

I don't know how many horror stories I have heard about some of these meds. My own brother almost lost his cat Lucifer as his heart literally stopped, but thankfully he came around. I was SO mad, as my brother KNEW better!

My aunt's BIL also had a cat have a bad reaction. I don't get WHY these products are still available!

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Revolution is not. Because it is also a heartworm preventative it is prescription only at this time (and likely because of patents). Frontline, Advantage, and Vectra are OTC.

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Vectra is OTC? Wow that's really scary. That's a drug I would not use on my cats, and you know the dog version of Vectra is toxic to cats, and the labels are not much different from each other. People don't read labels, or if they do, they disregard them.

Queen Eva, before I rescued her was given a bath in Hartz Flea Shampoo. It says right on the bottle "not for use on kittens under three months" and they saw that, but they used it any way. thank heavens she's with me now.

I understand why Bayer (Advantage) and Merial (Frontline products) have gone OTC, I suspect is has something to do with getting rid of the bootleggers and counterfeiters. But even so, it will take time to put those illegals out of business so I will continue to advice people to buy their flea products from their vet, ONLY.

I'm glad the story went out, and hope there are more like it.

Originally Posted by nurseangel

When Marshmallow

got sick, the vet kept asking if we'd used OTC flea meds on him. We hadn't...just what we bought at the vet's office. (It is still unknown what caused his death.)

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You know, it's completely possible that even those flea topicals could have made him ill. One should never forget that when we have to use them we are putting a dose of a insecticide strong enough to last a month onto our pets. The EPA has investigated even Revolution, Advantage, and Frontline because there have been deaths linked to them.

Originally Posted by otto

Vectra is OTC? Wow that's really scary. That's a drug I would not use on my cats, and you know the dog version of Vectra is toxic to cats, and the labels are not much different from each other. People don't read labels, or if they do, they disregard them.

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From what information I've came across, it is. Reviews/complaints point to the dog version being toxic to dogs, even.

My vet replaced his stock of Advantage with Vetra...


I suggest that everyone checks the packaging and calls the topical manufacturer no matter where they buy the product from - vet or online. That's the only way to make sure you do have the legit product.

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Hooray for one of my local news stations attempt to shed light on the dangers of OTC flea treatments!!

http://cbs11tv.com/pets/pets.fleas.ticks.2.1981586.html

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News stories like that can actually save lives.

What I wish is that some party (not a topical manufacturer) could print up some basic posters and pamphlets with easy to read bullets about OTC flea and tick products dangers. While many going to the vet may ignore it thinking that it's a way to sell the higher priced topicals, most people would end up reading it.
We've all sat around in doctor and vet clinic waiting areas... you end up reading anything within sight and any pamphlet near you.

The legality of displaying such at a vet clinic would probably prevent this from happening, though.

(I've read every pamphlet at the vet and I think DH has read every pamphlet at the doc's office... including the ones on pap smears and breast cancer. )

The original link doesn't seem to be working; this one is right now: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2010/10/25/p...ck-treatments/

I've just posted it to Facebook. People really aren't aware of the dangers. Whenever I see people looking at flea and tick treatments at stores, I warn them of the dangers. Most probably think I'm obnoxious for doing so, but hopefully it'll save somebody's pet.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

What I wish is that some party (not a topical manufacturer) could print up some basic posters and pamphlets with easy to read bullets about OTC flea and tick products dangers. While many going to the vet may ignore it thinking that it's a way to sell the higher priced topicals, most people would end up reading it.
We've all sat around in doctor and vet clinic waiting areas... you end up reading anything within sight and any pamphlet near you.

The legality of displaying such at a vet clinic would probably prevent this from happening, though.

(I've read every pamphlet at the vet and I think DH has read every pamphlet at the doc's office... including the ones on pap smears and breast cancer. )

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My vet clinic has posters like that.

They have ones warning of the danger of using anything with permethrin and pyrethrin on or around cats.

They also have posters displaying how one can be fooled by buying frontline and advantage products on line and not getting the real thing. I suppose those will have to come down now, or maybe they already have been taken down, since those two products are now legitimately OTC.

Originally Posted by otto

My vet clinic has posters like that.

They have ones warning of the danger of using anything with permethrin and pyrethrin on or around cats.

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But Hartz, for example, doesn't use either. They use a pesticide that starts with a T, though iirc it might be a synthetic derived from pyrethrin. So even if people can learn to avoid the main two that are bad, they may not know of the others.

Do those posters list bad OTC brands by name to avoid? That's what I'm thinking they can't legally do. (but would be more effective for people to remember)

Originally Posted by strange_wings

But Hartz, for example, doesn't use either. They use a pesticide that starts with a T, though iirc it might be a synthetic derived from pyrethrin. So even if people can learn to avoid the main two that are bad, they may not know of the others.

Do those posters list bad OTC brands by name to avoid? That's what I'm thinking they can't legally do. (but would be more effective for people to remember)

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No, the posters don't mention the OTC stuff at all, sadly. You're right they probably can't, legally, post anything like that about. What they do is keep their prices for flea meds low, lower than on line stores, so to encourage people to buy the real, safe thing.

But that's doesn't help the ones who go for the cheap stuff and end up killing their cats. <big sigh>

I remember a thread in another forum quite a few years ago. The poster had a neighbor who never got their cat fixed and there were all these kittens. The poster felt so bad she offered to take in the kittens and find them homes. One of the reasons she wanted to rescue the kittens was because they were living outside and absolutely flea ridden. She felt sure they would die if something wasn't done.

Not knowing any better she bought hartz and dosed them according to directions. Every kitten died. I felt/feel so bad for that person. She wanted to help them, but she didn't know, and ended up killing them instead, and they were not very nice deaths, either. Awful. Imagine having to live with that the rest of your life.

I've written to Hartz more than once just along the lines of "how can you live with yourselves knowing you are selling a product that kills cats", but of course they never reply. Used to it, I suppose. Hartz is such a huge name in pet products, uninformed people just tend to trust anything that has their name on it.

The news station totally overhauled its website today, including a new addy. Here's the correct address for the story: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2010/10/25/p...ck-treatments/

That's truly awful otto. The only recourse for incidents like that is reporting them to the EPA and joining in those class action suits (as mentioned in the link).

What bothers me is when people on here who have been members 5+ years come on and say "I used ___ for fleas and it didn't work". I don't know how anyone can be a member here and not see threads like this or frequent warnings that are even given in the health section.