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October 2004
We had a great 11 year old Queensland Heeler who died of kidney failure on August 1st. It was a tragic loss for our family considering she was perfectly healthy days before. I had used advantage on her a couple times before and noticed that she seemed a bit lethargic days following, but nothing of any real concern. I mentioned this to the vet and they did not seemed concerned. We live in the mountains and have lots of ticks so this summer I thought that I would try out the Frontline because one the vet recommended it, and it controlled both ticks and fleas. We put it on her Tuesday night. The next day she seemed to be feeling a bit down , but not to the point of concern. Thursday she got worse and by Thursday night she wasn't eating. First thing in the AM took her to the Vet where they said she was experiencing Kidney failure. I expressed that I gave her frontline a few days before and could that be the problem?! They said surely "No". She was taken to another vet clinic for the weekend where they continued to give her antibiotics and IV. She died on Sunday. There is not a doubt in my mind that it was the Frontline.
Is there something that we could have done once we saw that she had a reaction? Is there an antidote? We are truly sad about our loss, and at this point want to share our story so that no one else has to go through it!
Tina 10/1/04
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OMG my cats have been shaking their back legs and when I called the vet he said that it was caused by the biomed flea spray. I am furious they would sell such a product and would like to find a way to get this product pulled from the shelves.
Anonymous 10/3/04
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I recently read your website article about your experience with your Dalmatian and the seizures it experienced due to the use of bio-spot. My dog is 2 years old, and has fallen victim to the same product. We followed the advise/suggestion you had on your page with regards to bathing him to remove the compound, but alas, our dog is still having seizures. Needless to say, me and my family are very concerned and would like to ask how long it took your dog to completely get over the seizures he was having?
Any information of advise you could give would be greatly appreciated. I love my little bud, and refuse to see him die because some company continues to sell a product that is harmful to dogs.
Chad 10/5/04
Regrettably, we had to put Spookey (My little buddy) down last night as the seizures got worse and worse. They were about 45 minutes a part and we didn't want to see him suffer like that any more. We did wash him thoroughly, but he still continued to have seizures after the fact.
I will be calling those numbers you supplied to me and I thank you for the email. Today is a very sad day for me, cause it feels like I just lost my son.
Chad 10/6/04
This is just an update on how we managed after we had to put our Border Collie, Spookey, down.
Well after many phone calls to BioSpots head office, we did get full reimbursement, right down to the cost of Spookey as a pup from the pet store. I'm glad Biospot took the blame for our baby's death and took the initiative to reimburse us, but it still didn't bring him back. To this day we all still miss him very much and I still weep terribly looking at his photos. The memories of the last 2 days of his life will be etched in my brain forever and I still feel responsible for his death.
We did eventually adopt another dog from a shelter. Her name is Misty, she's a Springer/Spanial/Lab cross and is a very good companion. She's not a replacement, for nothing could replace our little boy, but she sure is a well behaved, lovable, obedient dog. No, we don't use any of the over the counter flea formulas, what I use is Avon Skin So Soft spray. The fleas don't seem to like it much, but that's the idea, right? I comb Misty every day and twice a week I spray some SSS on her and rub it in. We seem to have the problem under control. I also use Dawn dish soap to bath her maybe once a month, just depends on how much mud she rolls in :)! So I guess what I'm trying to say is that in a big way we are much happier with Misty in our lives, but the memories of Spookey-good and bad-will be in our hearts and minds forever. Thank you for your website and for all the help you've given to all those who visit it.
Sincerely,
Denise 11/12/05
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I am so glad to have found your website and to realize that many others have experienced what we are experiencing right now. I was totally unaware of any effects that products, such as BioSpot, could have on our feline and canine family members.
The other evening I applied a tube of the BioSpot for Cats to my 1-1/2 year old cat and her 15-week-old kitten. I was awoken by a bumping noise around 5:00am the next morning. I found the adult cat, Lucie, having severe tremors, foaming at the mouth profusely and soaking wet from rolling around in her own vomit. The kitten, Pretty Face, was not as severe. She was only having light tremors.
I immediately rushed them to the nearest Emergency Vet and the first thing the tech asked was if any flea preventative had been administered. They immediately bathed them and started IV fluids and muscle relaxers. We stayed there until they closed at 8:00am. I transported them to our vet where the cats were assessed. Lucie was still in very critical condition and Pretty Face was doing surprisingly well. The vet continued treatment throughout the day until his clinic closed at 6:00 pm. Pretty Face was ready for discharge but Lucie still required treatment. We had the option of leaving her unattended at the clinic, transporting her back to the emergency vet or bringing her home for the evening. We had not other option but to bring her home. We refused to leave her unattended, afraid she could take a turn for the worse and no one would be there to notice and we could not afford for her to spend any more time at the overpriced Emergency Vet. My husband picked the cats up and brought them home at 6:00pm. We crated the Lucie in our bedroom and continued the IV fluids throughout the night. The vet was kind enough to send home a dose of Valim for us to administer. When we got up the next morning, she seemed to be much better. She was finally aware of her surroundings but still had noticeable tremors and could not walk more than a step or two before collapsing. We transported her back to the clinic where she spent the entire day receiving more IV fluids and Valium injections. Pretty Face is doing fine and has made a full recovery. Lucie, on the other hand, is still not out of the woods. The vet expects her to recover but may have some neurological problems. Depending on the severity will determine what our next step will be.
I am astounded at the number of cases where pet owners have lost a member of their family by just trying to protect them from fleas, ticks and the other pests that our pets have to deal with. When I first heard of BioSpot and the effectiveness is was guaranteed to have, I was thrilled to find such a product at such a low cost. I had been a user of the high end products and was willing to change to save some money. How wrong was I? Switching to this product nearly killed my cat and cost me money that I didn't have to spend on medical treatment for these special members of our family.
I plan to get reimbursed for my expenses, no matter what measures I have to take. But seeing that poor cat helplessly flopping around will always be in my mind.
Rana 10/6/04
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WE HAD A TWO YEAR OLD CAT. WE USED BIO SPOT FOR CATS LIKE IT SAID AND WE FOUND HIM TWO HOURS LATER HAVING CONVULSIONS AND HE DIED THREE HOURS LATER!!
VICKI 10/8/04
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I have extra supplies of K9 Advantix that I wanted to sell on eBay. I went online to find literature information which I could cut and paste the information for my eBay site. This is where I found your site and read the haunting information.
Thank you for submitting the site. I was not aware of the ingredient, Permethrin could be harmful. Years ago I used Bio-Spot on my three large dogs. They all had skin allergy reactions in the area where Bio-Spot was applied. I also remember the dogs being lethargic, drooling at the mouth. We took them to the vet and many dollars later they appeared to have recovered without any more incidents. We dismissed it as to something they ate in the yard, and never used Bio-Spot again.
The past four months, I switched from Frontline Plus to K9 Advantix because of the added protection to mosquitoes. I have used Advantix for the last three months on my Rottweiler. I do recall my dog (I currently only have one dog) having the shakes. He would shake as he was having some kind of neurological problem. I brought this to my vet's attention, but of course we don't know why he shakes.
Last month, I purposely skipped on giving him his monthly Advantix dose due to where we now live, there are no fleas. After reading your site, I noticed that my dog has not had severe shakes for some time now. And if I remember correctly, the shakes where about the same time Advantix was given.
THANK YOU!!!!!! YOUR SITE SAVED MY DOG!!!!!!!!! I am throwing away the remainder of the K9 Advantix I have, and spread the warning about Permethrin.
Betty 10/9/04
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I am so glad I came across your web site. I have a yellow lab mix, 2 years old about 45 pounds and her name is Lucky. She has been perfectly healthy until now, and I think it is from the Bio Spot Shampoo we used on her. She had 2 partial seizures, she would just start shaking and couldn't stand up for about 3 minutes or so but she was still very alert. The vet did blood work and everything was normal. I wanted to research further before I put her on this phenobarbital? med they prescribed and I think it is the Bio Spot. I am going to call my vet today and I just wanted to thank you for putting out this web site because without that I would never of guessed it might be the shampoo.
Kathy 10/11/04
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I used the Sergeant's Pretect Drops on my cat this week and she died. The vet told me he has had at least 5 over the summer. This product should be taken off the market. I would appreciate any feedback you might have.
Kathryn 10/16/04
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We recently adopted a dog from the pound (a kill shelter). This dog was a dog that lived in our neighborhood but was kept outside all the time and kept running off. My daughter would keep catching him and bringing him back to his owners. A couple of months ago he ran away again and his owners mentioned that if we happened to find him we could keep him, since they knew my daughter was attached to him. We did find him, in the shelter, and adopted him after treating him for heartworm disease. We brought him home and he was a great addition to our family of two kids, one other dog, and one cat.
Our other dog had been given Frontline by our vet but he developed an allergy to it so we were in between medicines and had not decided on an alternative preventative for fleas and ticks for him or this new dog. While at the pet store picking up supplies for the new dog, my daughter insisted on picking up some over-the-counter treatment for both of them. We looked them over and settled on BioSpot for both of them.
On a Saturday afternoon my daughter applied BioSpot to both of them as indicated on the instructions. The next day she decided Samson (the new dog) needed a bath so she went ahead and bathed both of the dogs. On Monday night Samson started shaking, foaming at the mouth, seizing, just as you described it for your dog. We called the emergency animal clinic as our vet was closed. They said that if the seizures were back-to-back we should bring him in. He had another one while we were on the phone. He also defecated in the middle of the seizure and became very disoriented as he came out of it and ran into walls. We grabbed him and rushed him to the clinic. This was about 9:30 p.m.
At the clinic they took him right away and gave him Valium. That seemed to settle him down but he did have another seizure while we were still there. We left him for overnight observation and blood work. When we left him at 10:30 he was better and we were to come back early in the morning and take him to our vet for an examination. They said we could call in an hour for the results of the blood work.
When I talked to them at midnight his blood work was back and they could not find anything abnormal, other than his white blood cell count was a little high, which they could attribute to the stress of the seizures. But he was doing better.
We got the call at 1:45 a.m. that he was in the middle of another seizure that started at 1 a.m. and they had not been able to control, despite very high doses of the drug of choice, plus a muscle relaxer. They were afraid that at this point he had already suffered from brain damage and asked if we wanted to have him euphemized. Since we did not want him to suffer any longer, we gave them permission to do this.
The vet could not say for certain that it was the BioSpot that caused his death, but she did not have anything good to say about these OTC treatments. I feel very bad for my daughter, who is blaming herself. Our other dog, Mason, has not shown any adverse effects from BioSpot. Maybe the bath washed most of it away for him, but the bath did not help Samson (who is about 40 lbs smaller).
We spent over $500 treating Samson, only to lose him.
Why are these products still on the market? What can we do to get rid of these products? If there's anything we can do to help prevent more suffering and heartbreak for pets and their families, please let me know.
Marissa 10/22/04
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Do you conclusively know that Bio Spot caused the problems with your dogs? As you know, the two main active ingredients in Bio Spot are Permethin (for killing fleas) and Nylar (an IGR). The Humane Society actually recommends both products on their website.
A search on hsus.org for Permethin found that they recommend it as a mosquito repellant to help prevent pets and other animals from contracting the West Nile Virus. Nylar is recommended as an effective IGR in their section on flea medications.
How can the Humane Society recommend the key ingredients in a product when people say that a product which contains these ingredients is dangerous and unsafe?
I found no evidence of any mention of Bio Spot on the Humane Society website, positive or negative.
James 10/22/04
I do not know conclusively that Bio Spot caused my dog's seizures. However, I do know that pesticides (including permethrin) are capable of causing adverse reactions such as lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, in coordination, excessive salivation, seizures, and in some cases, death. I also know that my dog never had seizures before we applied Bio Spot on him, and he has not had any seizures since we stopped using it two years ago. I believe there is sufficient circumstantial evidence that Bio Spot caused my dog's seizures. Farnam (makers of Bio Spot) apparently reached the same conclusion because they reimbursed my dog's veterinary expenses.
The Humane Society of the United States does NOT recommend using permethrin on dogs. The only mention of permethrin on their website is from the CDC, which recommends using permethrin on your clothing as a means to protect yourself from mosquitoes. According to the CDC's website, permethrin should NOT be applied to exposed skin.
The Humane Society's website has two pages regarding the risks of over-the-counter flea products:
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FLEA AND TICK PRODUCTS
EXPRESS YOUR CONCERNS TO THE EPA
I believe it is important for everyone to know the risks of using flea control products that contain pesticides. Otherwise, it is impossible to make an informed decision on whether to use them or not.
James TerBush 10/24/04
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I bought BioSpot for Cats on Saturday night since I was out of Frontline and my cats seemed to be overrun with fleas. I put it on Maxwell, my 3 year old Siamese, and Domino, my 3 month old kitten. Maxwell had no problems putting it on, but Domino fought and fought when she felt it on her skin. I didn't think anything about it; I figured that she was mad because she hates taking medicine. I didn't notice anything odd and we all went to bed.
Sunday was a different story. Domino seemed exhausted and laid on my bed all day long. Being a kitten, this was very unusual for her. She wouldn't even get up to eat or drink or use the litter box. I also noticed her back legs were shaking. She was still covered in fleas so I decided to bathe her with some mild shampoo. After that, she went back to bed and stayed there.
I knew something was up, so I searched on the Internet for BioSpot and found your site. I couldn't believe what I was reading about this horrible product. Luckily she hadn't had any seizures, just listless and slight shaking at times. I gave the poor girl another bath, this time in Dawn dish soap, as many people had indicated on your site.
After a long, but luckily uneventful night, Domino went to the vet this morning. As suspected, she had a toxic reaction to the BioSpot, essentially she had been poisoned. She also had a temperature of 106. The vet gave her an antidote and something to bring down her temperature. He said the 2 baths are probably what saved her life.
Domino is at home now, isolated and resting. She is already showing signs of improvement, walking around and showing interest in her food. Maxwell, my Siamese, has not shown any signs of poisoning, but he'll be getting a bath also.
I am so grateful that I found your site. It saved my baby and hopefully she will be just fine. BioSpot should be removed from the market, or at least have MUCH stronger warnings on its labels.
Erica 10/25/2004
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I treated my kitten of about 16 weeks with bio spot about 2 weeks ago. and he has now lost all of his fur on his ears, above his eyes, and on his back where I put the crappy product. I talked to Farnam about this issue and they told me to give him a bath and that it should be ok it would take about 6 weeks to grow the hair back though. However after reading the posts on your site I see that this is a bunch of bull. MR. Poindexter looks horrible. He seems to be feeling ok but I have noticed a black spot on his nose now. I thought that it was blood but when I bathed him to get this stuff off that would not come clean. I am really worried about Mr. Poindexter as he is my first and only cat. Are there any suggestions as to something else that I could do to help him recover. We have a vet appointment for him but are living on a tight budget and would rather do something to help him that is not going to cost me a fortune if I don't have to. Any suggestions that you may have, or that anyone may have would be greatly appreciated. Anyone can reach me at ohhlalababy@yahoo.com. Someone please help ease my nerves. Thank you.
Sarina 10/27/04
P.S. I wish I would have known about this chemical before I bought this stuff.
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My cat Judas almost died from BioSpot. He is in love with one of my dogs. I put the BioSpot on her. He must have rubbed up against her or something, we're not sure exactly what. He started having seizures. Small at first, but then got increasingly worse. We took him to the emergency vet. They washed him and put an IV in him. He kept having seizures. They gave him some kitty valium, and it seemed to help. He came home with us. He looked dead b/c of how much valium they had to give him. His eyes were shaking back and forth and he was just laying there, tongue hanging out. That was a rough night. Each day he got better and is perfectly fine now. I wrote BioSpot and all they told me is that the package says "not for cats" and refunded me my purchase price! That was it!
Michele 10/29/04
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I have a 1 1/2 year old French Brittany 19 inches tall, about 35 pounds. She has been given Revolution. Within 2 hours, she was being driven crazy trying to scratch her back, unable to sit still even for one minute. We bathed that off immediately.
The following spring, our vet talked me into trying Advantix. The first treatment seemed okay. There was some back discomfort with the next treatment. I waited an extra month or so before I tried it third time. I used a half dose and spread it out as much as I could. Gradually her back swelled from the neck line, midway to the tail. The skin was soft, puffy, swollen 2 to 3 inches above her normal shoulder line. She looked like a Brahma bull. Upon further examination, everywhere I had placed a drop, there was a hole in her skin. No more revolution or advantix! I'll try natural flea and tick repellants. I wish dogs had a "watchdog" group assuring the safety of medications and food. No wonder our four footed-friends are dying younger. We are loving them to death.
Signed
Disappointed by manufacturers' "greed" 10/30/04
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DISCLAIMER: Below are messages that I have received from others whose dogs and cats experienced adverse reactions after using flea control products. I have no way of knowing if the information in these messages is factual, or if the products they used were the actual cause of the adverse reactions.
