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On April 24, 2009, ABC News posted an excellent article, titled, "Injuries from Flea and Tick Prevention on the Rise : Is your Pet Safe? by Sarah Netter," but hours later they had removed it from their website! I am providing excerpts (below) for nonprofit educational purposes and to archive this article to prevent plagiarism.
Are Your Pets' Flea, Tick Meds Safe?
"A number of animals have suffered adverse reactions to common flea and tick prevention, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is now preparing to take a closer look at the chemicals in several popular brands of flea and tick products after reports of injuries and side effects increasing more than 50 percent last year. Worcester said she applied Bio Spot brand flea and tick prevention to Ellie's back as directed and when bumps started appearing on her back a day later, they didn't initially make the connection. But when the bumps spread down her entire back and began leaking pus and blood, the Worcestors took Ellie to their veterinarian, who deduced that the medication had burned her skin. The wounds, Worcester said, were so severe, Ellie had to be put under general anesthesia to remove the rotting skin, a procedure she had done more than once, the other times fully awake. At home, Ellie stopped eating and drinking as Worcester's husband took time off work to change her bandages every three hours. "That was the least of her problems, actually," she said. "We were dealing with huge wounds." After a month of treatments, Ellie began to heal. She's now a year old, but the Worcester's once-perfect puppy has massive scars on her back where her fur has not regrown. "I try to tell everybody not to use this stuff," Worcester, a mom of three, said. "They don't listen." Worcester said she filed reports that included Ellie's veterinary records with Bio Spot and the EPA. Bio Spot, she said, paid for Ellie's vet bills. Dale Kemery, a spokesman for the EPA's pesticides and toxic substances division, said the new evaluation is a "fact-finding effort" to determine the causes of some of the more severe side effects reported by pet owners. Kemery said the EPA got 44,263 reports from animal owners last year, up from 28,905 in 2007. Of those more than 44,000 reports, he said, only 1,200, or 2.7 percent, were considered to be "major incidents" like severe injuries or death. Among the more common adverse reactions the EPA saw were rashes, tremors and seizures, Kemery said. "
OTC Brands 'Not as Good?' "The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Integrity released a report last year called the "Perils of the New Pesticides"
(http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/pesticides) that detailed adverse reactions to pyrethrins and pyrethroids, chemicals commonly found in many of the flea and tick control products found on store shelves. Looking at numbers provided by the EPA, the center reported that those chemicals were responsible for more moderate to severe injuries than any other class of insecticide from 2003 to 2007. "Good Morning America" resident veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, who has a practice in Idaho, said the adverse reactions to flea and tick control products are typically caused by two things -- owners not using the products properly and [deleted]. Becker noted that certain breeds such as collies and Rottweilers have an innate sensitivity to any tick and flea product. Hartz, Bio Spot and Sergeant's are three of several companies listed by the EPA as products named in 80 percent of their reports in 2008 (http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/flea-tick-control.html). The others were Zodiac, Promeris, TriForce, Sentry and Adams. There were also two Frontline products -- Frontline Plus for Dogs and Frontline Plus for Cats -- that were added to the list. Sergeant's released a statement to ABCNews.com that read, in part, "As the EPA continues to update its list of scrutinized flea and tick control products, it's clear this is an industry-wide issue that affects both over-the-counter products and products sold through veterinarians as well. Sergeant's works with the EPA on a continuous basis and welcomes the EPA's increased evaluation of the use of spot-on pesticides to better protect pets. The health and safety of pets is Sergeant's number one priority." And Central Life Sciences, a division of Farnam Companies, which distributes Bio Spot, said adverse reactions to its products are extremely rare, only in about 1 percent of all applications. "Through our investigations, we have found that in many cases, the reaction is the result of a pre-existing medical condition or misapplication of the product," the statement read, in part. "We urge all pet owners to carefully follow all recommended application guidelines." Central Life Sciences also puts out the Adams and Zodiac brands of flea and tick prevention. Hartz also released a statement saying it supported the EPA's latest evaluation of the chemicals and defended its products as safe and effective when used properly. "Flea and tick products make an important contribution to the health of pets and families, since fleas and ticks can transmit disease," the statement read in part. "
One Owner Staying Away From Flea and Tick Products "Cari Becker, no relation to the doctor, said she no longer uses any flea or tick control on her Italian greyhounds since two of her dogs were sickened after she applied it to their backs in 2001. Becker, who lives in Batavia, Ill., said she had moved into a house in the country and wanted to make sure fleas and ticks didn't find their way into Mia's and Skye's fur. "I was careful to make sure they didn't touch each other," she said. "But in a very short amount of time they were shaking, they were vomiting." As her dogs were seized by tremors, Becker said she immediately scrubbed them with soap and water to get the medication off, and the effects wore off. Though Mia and Skye have since died, Becker said she refuses to use any flea or tick prevention on the two dogs she has now or any of the rescue Italian greyhounds she fosters before placing them into permanent homes. "I don't recommend it to anyone," she said. "I'm not a believer in it at all." Instead, Becker said she's diligent about checking her dogs' short coats to make sure nothing is crawling on them and, so far, there never has been. "When we're sitting with them and stuff, we just check," she said. The Humane Society offers several other remedies to flea and tick prevention on its Web site, including regular vacuuming and grooming with a flea comb as well as frequently lawn mowing and washing of pet beds and blankets. But Kemery and doctor Becker advised against foregoing flea and tick control all together, pointing out that there are insects that can spread to humans as well and cause a hard-to-control infestation. Owners just need to be smart about their use, they said. Becker said it's not uncommon for owners to use products meant for other animals as they try to save a few bucks by buying one product and using it on all animals in the household or buying a product meant for a larger animal and dispersing it among several smaller animals. Because each product is formulated for each species' biology and size, using one product for all animals can cause severe reactions. Cats, for example, often can't process the pyrethrins found in many dog products. "It's not apples and apples," he said. "You can't use a dog product on a cat, you can't use a horse product on a dog." Going to the vet to buy flea and tick medication not only ensures owners are getting the proper dosage and instructions for use, Becker said, the products are usually [deleted]. Vets, he said, are also becoming more sensitive to the economic crunch and will often match prices if pet owners find the same products cheaper online. And the products, even those listed by the EPA, he said, have vastly improved from even just 20 years ago when vets were prescribing baths in pesticides known as "dips" and owners were bombing their house with heavy chemicals to treat infestations. As for Worcester, they now give Ellie a combination medication for heart worm and flea and tick prevention, something that has been decidedly less toxic for her. "The companies do not care," she said. "They're just making their money.""
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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.
