Sergeant's Flea & Tick on notice from Oregon's KVAL

By Laura Rillos KVAL News

Read the original article HERE.

JUNCTION CITY, Ore. - Wayne Buckholz thought he was helping his cat, Spits, when he applied a small tube of flea medicine to the back of his pet's neck last week.

But within 90 minutes, the cat started walking strangely and from there, said Buckholz, things went downhill.

"He couldn't stand up, couldn't walk and started convulsing," he said. "His whole body started tweaking, his jaw was going 100 miles an hour."

After several baths to remove the medicine, trips to the vet for muscle relaxers, Spits recovered. But not before the 2-year-old cat suffered several seizures.

"I mean, he's our kid. If something would have happened to him," said Buckholz. "I'm the one that put it on him, so I would have had to live with that."

It's an extreme reaction to a type of over-the-counter flea medicine that happens frequently during flea season, according to Dr. Ingrid Kessler, a vet at the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital in Springfield.

Veterinarians treat 50 to 75 animals each year for similar reactions, said Kessler. Most of those cases are cats given medicine intended for dogs and small dogs given medicine intended for large animals.

Symptoms can include twitching, seizures, hyper salivation and, in rare cases, even death.

"I didn't realize it was for dogs," said Buckholz, pointing to the small print on another tube of the flea medicine. He didn't have the package the tubes came in. "The one for dogs and the one for cats are both white tubes, so I didn't think anything of it."

KVAL News spoke with veterinarians at two other animal hospitals and one veterinary clinic in Eugene. All said they had treated pets with bad reactions to several brands of over-the-counter flea medicines containing various forms of the insecticide pyrethrin, including pyrethroids and permethrins.

"I think it happens a lot because of the packaging," said Kessler. "I don't think they're meant to be intentionally deceiving, but the print is so small, the average person likely won't see it."

Buckholz said he used flea medicine from Sergeant's Pet Care Products, so KVAL News contacted the company.

Jennifer Windrum, company spokesperson, said Sergeant's labels its products five times. She also said the company created a website, lookatthelabel.com, in 2005 to raise awareness about the important of reading labels.

Some veterinarians said cats can even have bad reactions to flea medicine intended for cats.

"I would not recommend using any permethrin or pyrethrin based products on any cats. Some cats will tolerate them OK and there are a lot of cats that are sensitive. Just to be on the safe side, I wouldn't use any over-the-counter products on them," said Dr. Amelie Hatfield, a veterinarian with the Eugene Animal Hospital. "Even if it's intended for a cat."

According to Hatfield, many cats do not produce an enzyme to metabolize and eliminate pyrethrins.

"There is a certain percentage of dogs and cats that will just have an allergic reaction to some products, just like we humans do with lotion or whatever we might try," said Windrum. "I might have a reaction and you might not."

KVAL News contacted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We asked spokesman Dale Kemery if any amount of pyrethroids is safe for pets. In an e-mail, he wrote "all products should be used according to their label directions."

According to lookatthelabel.com, Sergeant’s flea and tick control products meet EPA requirements to ensure that they are as safe as possible for pets.

In 2005, the EPA cancelled a flea and tick product manufactured by Hartz from store shelves. According to Kemery, the Flea and Tick Drops for Cats and Kittens contained a high concentration of phenothrin, a type of pyrethroid, which current products do not contain.

Vets say a safer alternative are types of medicine available at veterinary hospitals and offices. These include Frontline, which uses a synthetic insecticide called arylheterocycles, and Advantage, which uses imidacloprids.

However, those medications can cost 10 times as much as over-the-counter alternatives.

That is a cost Buckholz is willing to pay.

"I'll never use anything else again," he said.