flea poison

Jun 19, 2009 at 1:32 PM
8 comments

i just finally got flea killer onto minnie and dora yesterday and was going to do squeak today (i can't get near enough to ghost and shakes' necks, but i bought spray for them).

then last night my mother saw a report on the local news and made me watch it on the internet today. i'm sure it's all fearmongering, business as usual for these guys, but apparently that flea and tick stuff you put on your pet has killed thousands of animals so far. horrible seizures and violent deaths. the pesticide they use is a potent nerve toxin. that video made me cry.

and minnie was really not herself yesterday after i dosed her.

i am never using that poison again. if anyone out there knows of a good non-lethal option, please let me know.

8 comments

Comments

I would never use over the counter stuff but the stuff from the vet's is usually okay. Of course some animals are more sensitive than others but I've been using flea and tick stuff on Elvis (who is 11 pounds) since he was a baby and he's been fine. It might be different if you've never used it on an adult animal, maybe that affects them more (plus Elvis is a dog and I don't know anything about cats). Elvis has always been given the 10 lbs and under stuff, even though he's usually between 10 & 11 pounds but this time they gave him the stronger stuff. I haven't used it yet but I was concerned it might be too strong for him and after I googled it and read a few horror stories I called the vet and they said it should be fine and I can use a little less if I wanted. But never ever over the counter stuff.

yikes!
what kind do/did you use?

carriegood replied to crankypants’ comment:
Jun 19, 2009
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i think the news said a lot of the problem is the wrong dose. minnie and dora are kind of small, they just turned one year old (happy birthday!) and i'm pretty sure they're 5 pounds - the dose was "5lbs and over". I think dora didn't get it all but minnie got a full dose, which could explain why she reacted worse.

even if there was no reaction, i'd still never use that stuff again - i can't take the chance.

carriegood replied to lauowolf’s comment:
Jun 19, 2009
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sargeant gold or something, but the problem pesticide is in almost every one of these things, in one form or another.

There are different kinds of herbal soaps and stuff you can try....although you don't really wash cats. (I'm in dog mode, sorry) but I would check out some natural preventatives...here's an article I found on quick research (I will leave the rest to you ;-) )

good luck!!

i've long heard horror stories about the old flea collars and powders.

i currently use the expensive drops (advantage). while the cats HATE it, and it has an alarming amount of "don't get it on you; wash it off if you do" warnings, it's supposed to be safe for the cats. only known issue is people using the dog version on cats, which is frequently lethal.

carriegood replied to LeendaDLL’s comment:
Jun 20, 2009
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this report seemed to say that it was all brands, even the expensive ones, and the people whose pets dies used the right doses and medicines. the pesticide they use is highly toxic. basically, they're saying if you use any of these, you're playing russian roulette with your cat's life - there's no saying which cats will take it well and which won't, and just because they're okay one time, or two, or twelve, the twentieth can be the one that puts them over the edge.

these are products that the epa has certified as safe - but even the epa admits there's a growing problem:
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/flea-tick-control.html

LeendaDLL replied to carriegood’s comment:
Jun 20, 2009
Reply

Well crappity-crap!! One more thing for me to worry about!

flea poison

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