Dangers Of Over The Counter Flea Treatments
In April of ‘08 Joy posted a message on the danger of Sergeants Gold Flea Medication, and the story of what happened to Dogster members Lucky and Nala. There have been 150 comments on that post, many sharing horror stories of what happened to their dogs when this, or a similar, product was used.
I came across a very interesting article today, Pesticides In Pet Products, and the debate about the safety of the pyrethroid family of chemicals. These over the counter products are readily available at grocery stores, pet stores, and even hardware stores. The manufacturers and distributors claim their products are safe, as long as used properly and the pet has no acute sensitivity or pre-existing condition. That warning is a bit of a double entendre.
These products are approved for sale by the EPA, yet they have been linked to over 1,500 pet deaths. Those are only the ones that have been reported, I suspect it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Pyrethroid spot ons also account for more than half of “major” pesticide pet reactions reported to EPA over the last five years — that is, those incidents involving serious medical reactions such as brain damage, heart attacks, and violent seizures. In contrast, non-pyrethroid spot on treatments accounted for only about 6 percent of all major incidents.
In the last five years, the EPA received a total of more than 25,000 reports of pet pesticide reactions of every sort — fatal, major, moderate, and minor — to over-the-counter pyrethroid spot on products. This compares to 10,500 reports of all pet incidents related to shampoos, powders, sprays, collars, dips, mousses, lotions, and towels. This analysis does not take into account how much of each product was used over the last five years as the EPA does not have that information.
Since there are other treatments available you have to wonder why the EPA doesn’t pull these products. I think it can be summed up in one word, money. If this was something that was used on children I have a feeling the outcome would be much different.
Of course the manufacturers cast blame on the owners, claiming they misused the product. User error, so to speak. Even if some of the issues are due to the owners, it’s hard to believe with the incredibly high report of incidents that it doesn’t come back to the safety of the product.
The concentrations of pyrethroids in over-the-counter spot on pet treatments range from a 40 percent to an 85 percent solution, eight to 17 times stronger than the strongest pyrethroid product currently approved for use on humans.
Neither the EPA, which generally regulates topically applied products, nor the Food and Drug Administration, which generally regulates orally applied pet products, has a product registered for human application containing a pyrethroid concentration above 5 percent, and that FDA-approved product requires a doctor’s prescription.
In fact, the Sergeant’s Gold Squeeze-On for Dogs warning reads: “Harmful if swallowed or absorbed through skin,” while the application portion of the label directs people to apply the treatment “to the dog’s skin.”
The EPA is working on a better system to track the incidents that are reported to veterinarians. They are starting to analyze the pet incidents to see if a pattern can be identified, which may one day lead to a change in labeling regulations. Or potentially, further regulatory action concerning these products.
There is a lot more information contained in this article, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to finish it.
* Kozmo, who has since been treated for fleas, and was adopted into his forever home on Jan. 3rd, 2008. Congrats on your one year adoption day!
Wow! Thanks for such an informative article. I didn’t realize all those dangers.
Neither Abby nor Shadow get any OTC flea and tick meds. They both take Bug Off Garlic for Dogs from http://www.springtimeinc.com. We live in WI and I have not found a flea or tick on them since they started them on it. I’ve found them on myself, my husband and crawling around in our camper, but neither of the dogs have had even one attach. Feel free to pmail me if you have any questions. Plus, garlic is wonderful for their immune systems:)
About a year and a half ago I found out through a skin allergy test through Binx’s doctor that Binx has an allergy to flea saliva. I had tried Advantage through the doctors office and it didn’t do any good at all. I then got talking to someone that said that they heard that Bio Spot was supposed to be good. When I put it onto Binx it made his skin look like it had blisters on it. It was awful and I felt just terrible about it! I have since found that Frontline works on him very well and he has no reactions from it. I keep Binx very clean and there are no fleas in the house, but when we went to the dog park he came home with a couple. As for garlic, I personally don’t give him that at all since it is a part of the onion family and onions and garlic can be toxic for dogs. I do understand that everyone has their own opinions and that is just mine. After he got seriously ill from tainted food before I am very careful about what he has. Anyway, that is just our experience and opinions!
OMG, never, never, ever use the discount flea and tick preventatives that you can buy at the grocery store just because they’re half the price of Frontline or Advantix.
Oh my gosh! Last year I used Bio Spot on all 3 of my dogs! I guess I should thank GOD they are ok!!!!!!!!
Murphy and family, when that happend to Binx it was within 24 hours that it had started. Scared the whiskers out of me that is for sure! We went to the doctor right away and he had some antibiotics and was ok. Thank goodness! We went through a lot of stuff before finding what worked best for us. Binx just happens to be one with skin allergies to begin with. He is doing great ever since!
I NEVER use flea meds on my dog, except for once.
I have used apple cider vinegar and he has only had about 4 fleas and 2 ticks in his almost 2 years he’s lived here.
Well I have been there !with trying to save money and Bought Sergeants Gold flea .and Yes thank God someone was caring for my 2 dogs and my sisters dog which I was sitting for and (my AC was out )so they were at my moms..and within 2 hours of me leaving for work they started iching ,burning ,crying trying to get it off of them .my mom started bathing them over and over again but still was burning .so I had my Husband go home from his job to help my mom ,because they are not small dogs. He then took ,all 3 dogs ,(remember I am trying to save money)and met me at the VET. where all 3 dogs had shots for iching and pain. and shampoo for iching ..so did I save money buying over the counter .NOPE and allmost lost my dogs trying to save money.never again .I did get my money(vet bill) back from sergants ,but lesson learned!
Do research some time on sources of FDA funding and you will better understand why so many good things don’t get on the market and so many bad things do and don’t get removed. I warn you, though, it may ruin your good mood.
Someone said that if children were the ones affected, perhaps things would be different. Well, I hate to sound like a cynic, but doubt it.
Cigarettes have been behind the illness, losses of body parts (tongues & other mouth parts, lungs or parts of lungs, esophagus parts, vocal chords, etc.) and deaths of adults and youths alike for decades. This has all been proven …and for quite some time.
Further, it has been proven that certain cigarette companies were aiming their advertising campaigns at teenagers.
It has also been proven to be addictive. Not only that, not too awfully long ago several manufacturers of cigarettes were endicted for chemically and purposefully ENHANCING its addictive properties. They were found guilty! And, still, cigarettes are big business.
Now, I’m not one of those “never smoked, never will” crusaders, I smoked for 15 years …until I wisened up. I’m just using smoking as an example to show where FDA stands on what will and won’t harm the US public. With the money that cigarette companies and pharmaceuticals wield this way and that, there are many just as harmful products that I am quite sure will NEVER be taken off the market until challenged by someone more wealthy. That would take a group like half of Hollywood headed up by Bill Gates. Not likely to come about.
i too use Frontline, which was recommended years ago by a vet I trust.
We’ve never used anything but Frontline and have never had and fleas or ticks or any reactions to the treatment.
We are staying with what works!!
We use ADVANTAGE from BAYER Healthcare on our dobe, wonder if it’s okay? Maybe I’ll change to Frontline for the next month onwards.
Thank God, we use frontline too. We used advantage for years but then we moved to Oregon and were put on frontline. It should be illegal for big stores to sell bad stuff!
In the winter Mawmaw splits a treatment on us every 3-4 weeks instead of a whole one, but during warmer months we have a whole one. It is too bad it is so costly, but we’s worth it! Mawmaw used the over the counter types on Sheba (we miss you) and it did not work at all.
Spike has a liver problem. As such, our vet has told us to never use any flea-killer on him at all. Well, our downstairs neighbor (we live in an apartment) got a puppy that was infested with fleas. Because we use the same yard, Spike got infested. And through him, so did the rest of our household.
So, I called the vet, trying to figure out what to give everybody. I asked about a lot of the natural remedies (garlic, etc), and she said that the effective dose for a lot of the natural stuff can be toxic to dogs, especially ones with health problems or those that use it long term.
Ultimately, she told me that the only thing that I can safely use on Spike is Advantage and Revolution.
Wow, that is horrible. I didn’t know that, but after reading this, I am throwing out my Sergants skip flea and tick shampoo. I dont want my dogs to get sick, and I am not going to take that chance. Thanks for the heads up, because I never would have thought about it.