Update 5/25/07: Hamish has not had ANY seizures since we stopped using Bio Spot
5 YEARS AGO, and appears to have made a full recovery. We are thankful for each day
that he is with us.
Farnam reimbursed us for Hamish's medical expenses, provided that we accept it as
"FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT FOR THE ALLEGED ADVERSE REACTION TO BIOSPOT."
Here are some of the e-mail 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.
CAUTION: This information is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended to
replace professional veterinary advice. Please consult with your veterinarian before giving
any treatment to your animals.
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I used the Sergeant's Gold on my two Boston Terriers and while they did not start the panting and drooling
they did start to itch like crazy and then I noticed bumps on their backs right at the shoulders and made an appointment for the vet by the next day they had turned into oozing sores and their hair began to fall out. I contacted Sergeants and they are going to test what is left of the batch I used on my dogs and I am hoping
they will reimburse me for some of my vet bills from this whole fiasco. Thank you for putting sights like this
up so more people can become aware of the dangers of these flea medicines.
Anonymous 9/26/07
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As hard as my heart aches right now, I'd like to first Thank You for continuing to maintain this website, which
is where I first leaned about the adverse effects of biospot. About a year ago, I bought Biospot for my two Peke's from Drs. Foster & Smith online. I Google'd up Biospot, just to be on the safe side, and learned, thru numerous sites that there were apparent issues with the product. Being somewhat concerned, I knew to
watch the dogs after initial application. Both were fine, and never showed any ill effects from the dosage.
Fast forward a year. Two days ago, my wife gave Kia & Bella their somewhat regular dose of Biospot.
As I type this, Bella is under emergency care at the local Vet's office. She was to undergo a blood transfusion tonight with an immediate catheter in place. My wife came home from work today to find her laying in the floor lethargic and very unresponsive to any stimuli. Her breakfast dish had not been touched, her morning treat
was still in its' place on the sofa and the puppy pad was a bright yellow/orange hue. She phoned me in a
panic and I told her to put Bella in the car and take her to the Vet IMMEDIATELY. By the time I got there, the
Vet (Dr. Bruce Crull) had diagnosed her with IMHA. He noted the overwhelming yellow tinge to her belly and
her lethargy and processed blood work immediately. Her PCV is a 9 when it should be more than 30. He
was very clear in the fact that this is a very bad case of IMHA and advised that we should consider a blood transfusion. We instructed him to do whatever it took to treat Bella. She is at the Vet now, alone and in a
cage, without her sister, Kia, and not to mention without my wife and I. My wife is frantic and my trying to
console and reason with her is of little good. I'm not sure what's worse, knowing how dire this diagnoses is,
or not knowing what poor Bella is feeling/going thru right now all be herself...
I have been looking at numerous sites trying to find positive results from dogs diagnosed with IMHA, but the responses thus far are very dismal, so I've stopped looking for the night. While I can't prove that the IMHA is
a direct result of the Biospot, I will always hold in my heart that it IS the reason our poor Bella is where she is
right now. If this post does nothing more, I hope that it will stop ONE person from applying this product, or any like it, to their beloved pet! We did not notice any strange behavior at all until this evening when my wife got home from work. Bella did vomit once yesterday and again this morning very early in the AM, but I attributed
this to the fact that she has vomited every once in a while because she eats so fast and doesn't seem to chew half her food. I wish I would have thought more about what might have been going on this morning. Perhaps
they would have been able to begin treatment quicker which could have slown down the aggressiveness of
the red blood cell destruction....
Thank you again for your site and folks - FOLKS - PLEASE REFRAIN FROM USING BIOSPOT OR ANY PRODUCT OF THE LIKE ON YOUR PET.... It is my sincere hope that this will prevent at least ONE pet from suffering like our poor Bella is.. :(
Jason 9/26/07
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to Jason......Jason, your Bella has had a reaction to the pesticides in biospot. She will need a transfusion, perhaps more than one. But, please do not loose hope. Unfortunately, you will be fighting a lengthy battle.
I know because my Choe also after two days following a treatment of Frontline experienced the same symptoms. He is still battling the condition one year later but fortunately he is improving. It has taken quite
a long time to see improvement. You may want to talk to your vet about bringing Bella to a teaching hospital asap. Many regular vets are not as familiar with the treatment protocol and they are not able to transfuse
in their office. With a pcv of 9 she will need to be monitored by a teaching hospital staff. She may need
more than one transfusion. Here is a website where visitors log on whose pets are suffering from IMHA.
You might find it helpful. They all have gone through what you are experiencing. I wish you the very best.
Please keep us posted.
Jan 9/29/07
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James:
Thank you so much for passing this [above message from Jan] along to me..
Bella is laying beside me on the couch right now, knocked out. Her PCV is up to 26 and her yellow tinge is fading away. We were able to bring her home as opposed to paying a vet tech $750 to stay with her at the
vet's office from Sat 2pm to Sunday 7am. Bella is still very weak, as would be expected after such a severe reaction, but she is alert enough to begin to roll over as if she wants her belly rubbed and she is doing her famous 'paw batting' when you stop rubbing/petting her. It's like she's trying to reach out and 'bat' at you to
get your attn so you'll keep rubbing. She's done this since she was a puppy and I'm glad to see that she's cognizant enough to do so. I'm still a bit worried because she doesn't have much of an appetite, but she
has eaten a few tiny bites of boiled chicken. Her breathing is still heavy, but Dr. Bruce said to expect this
for a few more days. He is pleased with her progress and feels like she is going to continue to feel better
and better with each passing day.
Out of all the cases of IMHA that he has diagnosed and treated, and he says there have been quite a few,
Bella was the worst, so I' grateful that my wife got home when she did and she called me right away.. I'm
also very thankful that Dr Bruce Crull was the Emgy vet who handled her treatment Wed night. He's also
treated our other Peke, Kia. He recently diagnosed her with a resistant strain of e-coli bacterial infection
in her bladder. She's been urinating in the house for several weeks, but she's also had three bouts with
bladder stones since she was 2 years old... in addition to having ruptured a disc from jumping off the sofa...
Bella actually just stood up on the couch beside me, as if she wanted down so we went outside for a little
potty break.. She wanted to go lay in bed with my wife, so I put her in the bed with her and she laid right
down and got comfy.
Things are looking up, but she's still in rough shape. Thanks to all the readers who have put her in your
thoughts and prayers... she surely needed them.
Jason 9/29/07
James (and everyone else):
I wanted to let you all know that Bella had to have another transfusion yesterday morning. On Wed night
she became very unstable, not able to hold herself up and breathing heavily. To make a long story short,
her PCV count dropped from a high of 18% back down to 6%. Her reticulated (sp?) count was also very
low which means she was not, and still is not, reproducing her own red blood cells. She has no appetite
and is being 'force fed' to some degree. Our regular vet has been really good about keeping me up to
speed with what's going on, as I've been out of town for the last 6 days.
I flew back into town today and immediately went to the vet's office to pick her up. (she's been day tripping
at the vet for monitoring all week) I noted right away that she was more alert and she began licking me and giving kisses right away, which she has not done up to the point, at least to this degree.
Her appetite seems to be coming back. She ate a handful of boiled chicken that was pulled into tiny pieces
and some steak that my mother in law made for her last night. Oh, and when we got home today, she saw
one of her treats on the floor.. she went right over to it, picked it up, walked off and hid it, like she always
does. She looks more alert, is drinking PLENTY of water (mixed with pedialyte) and still seems to have an appetite, which I'm happy about.
The true test will come on Monday, when she goes back in for more bloodwork. I'm praying that her PCV is
up beyond 25 and that her reticulated count is up in the teens. If her counts are still low, Dr. Crull wants to do
a bone marrow aspirate. From what I gather, this is a very painful procedure, but it will allow them to identify
any underlying issues that may be present that are preventing Bella from reproducing red blood cells. He mentioned cancer, which I do not believe to be the case, and some other possibilities that I don't recall the names of. Please say a prayer for my Bella in hopes that her counts begin to climb after this last transfusion
of spun blood on 10-5-07.
Jason 10/5/07
James-
Wanted to give a brief update on Bella.
It's been one month now since my wife found her on the floor, unresponsive, extremely jaundiced and closer to death than we ever possibly could have imagined. An emergency trip to the Vet yeilded that Bella had AIHA, also known as IMHA.. and the prognosis was not good.
She's had TWO transfusions, a daily dose of 20mg of Prednisone, Iron Pills (for the first week), 12.5mg of Azathioprine daily, and 6ml of Famotidine daily since her initial visit. Her blood counts (PCV & Reticulites)
have varied WILDLY from 4 % PCV with NO retic's to her current 33% PCV and 7 to 7.5% retic counts. Her appetite is DEFINITELY back and she's regained the 4 lbs she lost the first two weeks. Her attitude is much better.. She's back to walking around with her tail UP and [arading into the kitchen ANY time she hears the
'fridge open, a bag crinkle, or a cabinet door opened!
We are down to one blood test weekly and just today the Vet, Dr. Bruce Crull, at Murrells Inlet Vet. Hospital, backed her dosage of Prednisone down to 15mg/day. I hope that we have reached that critical 'turning point' where Bella is now holding her own and is able to produce the red blood cells that her body needs. Weekly
blood checks will determine whether or not our hopes prove to be true.
I have attached a small picture of her which was taken the other day while we were headed to the Vet for
blood work..
Thank you again for your diligence in maintaining this website. I am SURE that your efforts to educate via
this medium has saved numerous pets in addition to educating their thousands of pet owners about the
dangers of the neuro toxins found in Biospot, K9 Advantix, Advantage, Hartz products, Revolution and
drugs of the like.
Thank you again! More updates to follow.
Jason 10/31/07
Hi James:
I wanted to give an update to Bella's condition as of 1-15-08.
Her PCV has fluctuated from the mid 20's to a somewhat steady 33% for the last few checks. Her retic count has also seemingly held steady over the same past visits. It is now at 4.2%. Still, neither are where we WANT them, but they are holding steady, which is a great sign. She has gained about 4 lbs from the Prednisone, but
at least her dosage has been backed down to 5mg 1x daily. She is still on a minimal dosage of azithioprine as well. She's not panting nearly as bad as she was weeks ago, and she's more alert now also. She isn't herself, per say, but she's a LOT better than she was two months ago. Keep in mind that she was diagnosed Sept 28th 2007! I have learned that this AIHA/IMHA has a L-O-N-G drawn out recovery process for most dogs. We're just happy that Bella is still with us. Her sister Kia is just as happy as we are.. :)
More updates to come as time goes by...
Jason 1/16/08
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I can't believe all the different reactions that dogs have had to these products. My mother bought Sentry
Pro XFC today at the store, to try and get rid of the fleas on my two 22-pound Dachshunds. But something wasn't right.
At about 10:30pm, I could hear one of them whining loudly from their crate. They never do this unless they
need to go outside. So, I go over and let them out. But when I'm outside, all they are doing is running around frantically trying to roll on their backs and scratch at the spot where the medication was applied. I brought
them back inside, figuring it wasn't anything but them being a little more itchy than usual. But after a few
minutes, I heard one of them start to hack. I quickly ran on here to try and find something out and I'm glad I
did. These products are not safe. I have NEVER had any reaction like this before. I've always used Frontline
and they've been fine.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS STUFF. IT'S BAD NEWS!
Deb 10/1/07
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We had to put our Miniature Schnauzer (Tazzy) to sleep last week. Tazzy was only 6 years old and suffering
from the affects of AIHA (bleeding internally causing lungs to fill up). One month ago we took her to the vet (because of seizures and fever). They found that she had low blood counts, fever, a slight heart murmur but nothing else. We followed up with another vet the next week. They detected Anaplasa, which is what she was treated for last year as well as having low blood counts. Tazzy was placed on antibiotics. We took her to
another vet 1 week later. Her blood counts were still low and she was very lethargic. The vet put her on a new antibiotic (the other antibiotic was harsh on her stomach) and diagnosed her with AIHA (after looking at the blood cells through the microscope). Tazzy was placed on Predisone to suppress her immune system. One
week or more later she was not any better and had some "boil like" patches on her back. The vet said that
this was either caused from a staph infection or a virus. Tazzy was placed on another antibiotic. She started having rapid breathing that night and it just kept getting worse, so we had to bring her in and put her to sleep.
Back in May (I'm guessing) of this year we changed Tazzy's flea and tick medication to K9-Advantix. I accidentally ordered the large dog dosage and put this on her. About 1 minute later I went to put the package
away and noticed that I had given her the large dog dosage. I immediately washed the area with soap and
water to try and get as much off as I could. Her back and neck area itched for about a week after that. In the following months I noticed that Tazzy seemed a little under the weather around that time of the month when
giving her the flea and tick medication (small dog dosage). In August, she started getting the fever and
seizures a week or so after the August dosage was applied. I became convinced by the time I took her to
the vet the first time that the K9-Advantix may be making her sick, but all the vets would say is that they
couldn't rule it out. I decided that we would go back to Frontline in September, but Tazzy was too sick by
then. I also discussed my concern to my mother-in-law at that time because she had started her 2 miniature schnauzers on K9-Advantix around the same time (my mother-in-law buys whatever flea and tick medication
that I use for our dog and uses that). She mentioned that she was hoping that I would switch back to Frontline because she thought this medication was making her 2 dogs sick as well. As of now, she has stopped using
any flea and tick medication and her dogs are still doing fine.
Ron 10/1/07
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I have a 4 month old yorkie whom I bathed in a Sentry Flea & Tick Shampoo for Dogs & Puppies on
Friday night. Prior to this he was the sweetest most playfull little guy. After going to bed around midnight
I found him in the morning in a full seizure. I am not quite sure when at night it started. He never made a
sound. He has spent two days in the hospital and after $2500 in vet bills the vet is not diagnosing him with
toxic poisoning. They want me to do an MRI ($2200) since they say it is very unlikely related to the shampoo.
He is home with us now but is certainly not himself. He still has a twitch in his nose and is acting confused
like he doesn't know who we are and where he is. If he did get toxic poisoning do you think his condition
will get better each day or has his peronality and mental state of being changed forever?
Lana 10/1/07
Thank you so much for responding so fast. You are a god send. At a time like this I don't know what I would
do without finding sites like yours that let me know I am not alone. This morning the twitch in his nose seems
to have diminished. He is still extremely nervous and weak. I fed him his food by hand since he seems to
have problems picking up his food and gave him water with a medicine dispencer (since he was not
drinking on his own). I am hopefull he will get better.
I was sure that his symptoms were caused by the shampoo after finding the following site:
His symptoms and recovery to date, seem to follow almost exactly what is described. But the vets (at this
point he has seen 4 of them - including a neurologist) just tell me that it is extremely unlikely because of the
low concentration of the neurotoxin (10% permetherin). But he only weighs 3 pounds so I don't know how
they can say that.
Do you think contacting Sentry will help even though his official vet diagnosis does not even refer to the shampoo. I have all the proof including the receipt from Pet Smart that is time stamped at 6:30 pm as well
as all my vet bill (as I mentioned over 2500 dollars worth.)
Thank you again for any help you can offer.
Lana 10/1/07
Well my puppy seems to be recovering. He is eating really well but is still very nervous and I would say almost depressed. But definitely every day seems to be getting better. I have been told by all the vets (he's seen 6 in total) that although they don't know what caused the seizure they are sure it is not the shampoo. They said that the concentration level in this shampoo is so small (1%) that it would be impossible for that to have been the cause. Is there any way for me to test the shampoo to see if there was a problem with the manufacturing and somehow it was mixed with a higher concentration then stated?
It just seems to be too much of a coincidence to have him seizure like that without any warmings right after the shampoo. Plus the fact that he is getting better would make me doubt that there is anything else (neurologically) going on. The vets at the hospital said that the only way to rule out neurological issues is with an MRI (at a cost
of $2,300 dollars).
If you know of any place I could take the shampoo to be tested that would be great.
Lana 10/6/07
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Thank you so much for your website. I breed toy poodles and have always used spray on Frontline with no ill effects. I ran out and needed something for my personal favorite (best friend, bedmate, you name it), Patrick, who had 2 fleas and some eggs on his ears. I gave him a bath & applied Sergants Gold flea & tick squeeze on.
I noticed that he ran around, rolling up the throw rugs, rubbing on the beds, etc, but I didn't really think anything about it, since this is his normal behavior when he gets a bath. But by 10:30 pm tonight, he was still running around crazy. WHat really made me think he had a problem was that when we were lying in bed, he would snuggle against me and then kind of jump and itch himself. He did this about every 30 seconds.
I checked the box, lookng for symptoms and found nothing except that some dogs may experience "sensitivities" - what KIND of sensitivities??? His eyes were dialated, he was extremely hyper and you could
just see in his eyes that he was miserable, plus he was chewing a hot spot on his left hip. I gave Patrick a bath
in a tea-tree/lavendar/rosemary clarifying shampoo and gave him 1 cc of bebedryl. Then I fired up the laptop
and found your website.
I am sick, because I know that Patrick is having a reaction. I gave him another dose of benedryl to bring it up
to 12.5 mg for 10 lbs and gave him another bath. He is not very happy with me, but at least he is clean. He is
still chewing the hot spot and is still hyper. It has been 30 min. since the last dose of benedryl. He goes to his water bowl and sniffs it, then runs away. When I get finished with this email, I am going to see if holding him will help him calm down. He is a very calm, quiet little dog most of the time, and to be perfectly honest, I am near hysterical to think that I have done this to him. He had this stuff on about 4-1/2 hrs before I figured it out - I just hope I got it off him in time.
Thank you again for your website - I will keep you posted.
Blessings,
Kristen 10/1/07
Thank you for your email and again for your website. Patrick seems completely normal this morning, thank God. It took about 3 hours for the bebedryl to really work or the poison to start to flush, I'm not sure which. I finally fell alseep with him in my arms at about 4 am. He couldn't rest unless I held him and then he was very "twitchy". When I woke up this morning, he seemed completely normal. My husband woke up in the middle of the night sometime to me crying and Patrick convulsively twitching and when I told him what had happened, he was shocked. "You mean they can sell something that dangerous in the pet department???" I am sure many other people have that same reaction...
That was one of the scariest things I have ever encountered in 10 years of breding. I have very strong, healthy, farm-raised toy poodles. They are all very healthy and have extremely strong constitutions. Patrick has never been sick a day in his life at 5-1/2 yrs old. I fully intend to contact everyone I possibly can about this, and I will also put up a page on my website warning people about these products and offering alternative treatments. We use my homemade tea tree/rosemary/lavendar shampoo with a tea tree/vinegar rinse to completely eliminate lice (works on small children and livestock!) because I am so concerned about reactions to poison. I hadn't used any flea products this year at all until Patrick had these 2 miserable fleas the other day. Fleas in a large pack of dogs, even poodles, can get out of hand really fast, so I didn't want to fool around with it. I won't make a similar mistake again, that is for sure.
I will be in touch again. When I have the page up on the website, I will also let you know about it.
Thank you again for your work. I don't know what I would have done last night without your website. I feel sure
that if I hadn't bathed Patrick twice, that he would have died.
Blessings,
Kristen 10/2/07
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Deb and Ron....please don't be fooled into thinking frontline is `fine.' Don't switch the current product you used
to frontline or you will open your pet up to a recurrence. Ron, it is the worse scenario imaginable to loose your
companion animal to AIHA. I mourn you in your loss. My beloved dachshund pal is fighting the AIHA battle as
we speak, due to FRONTLINE. All of the flea control commercial products are pesticide based. Switching
over (from one to another) will not be the problem solver. Switching to homeopathic (non-toxic) remedies is
the only answer. I wanted to respond to your posts because as consumers we have to inform one another of
our experiences and learn from them. Believe me, the conglomerate, powerful pharmaceutical companies
are strictly profit oriented over safety (incredulous as this may sound) and will never reveal full scope of the
destructive nature of their pet products. They will deny to heaven's gate (if they end getting there!) If consumers refused to purchase that would be one method of getting these poisons off the market. Don't believe Betty White's smiling frontline sales commercials.... (she should take herself off of this marketing outreach. My
guess is she doesn't know the truth). Best wishes,
Jan 10/4/07
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I have been using Vet recommended flea and tick med"s for years on our dogs and cats with nothing more
than a stinging reaction that lasted a very short time. We live on acreage that causes the dogs to have the
large sheep ticks certain times of the year so Frontline Plus has been the brand I have been using most of
the time. Several months ago I picked up a new supply of Frontline at the local feed co-op which should be
no different than buying it from the vet. All 3 large breed dogs and 3 young cats received their dosage like
normal, but this time something different happened. One of the young cats got what appeared to be a hot
spot in the exact area I applied the Frontline Plus. It did not heal and more started appearing around it's
face. They would bleed and ooze. I checked the other animals and they had very minor but similar reactions
that went away. I eventually took the cat to the vet and they did a skin scraping but found nothing. The cat
was given a steroid shot and when I told the vet it all started after a Frontline application I was laughed at
and told it was just a coincidence and the cat had to have food allergies. By this time the cat had sores
down its neck and in his ears. This was a perfectly healthy young cat getting premium feed.
The steroid shot did calm down the reaction so the cat then received a longer acting Steroid injection. The
sores never fully went away and had started to worsen again after 1 month, along with her weight dropping rapidly so I was getting ready to take the cat back in for another injection which as you probably know has
its own set of problems. Liver problems and shortened life expectancy.
I was at the point of figuring the cat would eventually have to be put down when I got into our animal/livestock med drawer and found an Enzyme supplement (PROZYME) I had purchased a while back for a sickly old cat.
I knew a lot of people swear by probotics (we use them for the livestock) so I decided to give it a try and low
and behold within a week the cat is looking better and the bleeding, oozing soars appear to be healing. In
my honest opinion, I think it could be a bad batch of frontline was sent out and this one cat was sensitive
enough to get a bad reaction.
Will this keep me from buying Frontline Plus again? Probably not but this cat will never get it again.
Sara 10/4/07
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I found your website when I started to do some research on what caused my cat to become severely and possibly fatally ill. I went to Petco to purchase flea drops, decided to try Bio Spot as it was cheaper then Frontline. 12 hours later we found my cat having seizures, she was twitching uncontrolablly, urinating herself, vomiting, eyes rolling behind her head and foaming at the mouth. We rushed her to an emergency vet at
11:30 at night. Hours later they came out to tell me she was having a reaction to the Flea Drops. They had
to keep her and as I am typing this almost 24 hours from her first seizure she is still in the vet hospital. They
are not sure at this point how long she will be there or what kind of recovery she will make.
I am very interested in contacting this company but have been unable to find a number. I am heading back
to Petco, mainly for piece of mind to make them aware of the product they are selling. If you can help me
reach the company, I'd greatly apprieciate it, as my medical bills are piling up.
Denise 10/4/07
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Believe it or not, your story is giving me some hope for my yorkie - she has received another flea medication
of the same type, but we never suspected it might be the cause of her sudden terrible sickness till my husband suddenly suggested that it might be a reaction to the flea medication.
She has had seizures, drooling, inability to walk, loss of bladder control, extreme lethargy -- to the point that
we were sure she would have to be put down.
We have taken her to the emergency hospital, her regular vet, and the veterinary neurologist -- and the first diagnosis was epilepsy; however, the doctor then said that he thought she had a brain tumor. We have not
been able to afford the MRI that has been recommended to find where the tumor is located. She has had
steroid shots which have helped, but I am now going to bathe her in a very gentle shampoo, and I don't think
we'll EVER use a flea shampoo or medicine again unless it's homeopathic. I am very hopeful that this will be
our little love's lifesaver. We have just been sick about her prognosis.
However, perhaps this will be the answer to the problem. It's unconscionable that the pharmaceutical
companies - both for humans and animals - seem to ignore terrible problems with their "medicines.
Thank you for alerting us to this terrible problem
Mary 10/4/07
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I've just finished reading your site on these flea/tick control products and am sickened! I applied Zodiac
Spot On to my otherwise flea/tick free 10 year old cat three weeks ago. He now has scabs all over and
chunks of hair falling out and scratches constantly. I took him to my vet as he was running a fever also
and she immediately suspected ringworm although the tests came back negative. I will call her tomorrow
as now I am certain is was caused by the Spot On. Isn't there something we can do to get these products
off the shelves? It has cost me over $200 in vet bills but I don't care about that - I am just sickened that I
thought I was helping my pet and I harmed him. I will bathe him now with Dawn even though it's 3 weeks
later but there may still be some residue on his fur. Now all I can do is hope and pray that he has no
liver damage from this treatment.
I have written to Wellmark International, the makers of Zodiac but would be interested in knowing what
other action I should take to prevent others from suffering like this.
Thanks for all your information.
Laura 10/7/07
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I am so thankful I found this site..My 11 month old little dog almost died this past week..He spent 4 days
in the hospital had a spinal tap and countless blood tests and nothing showed up ..everything was normal.
I had applied Frontline Plus 3 days before the symptoms started.. I came home from work and found him
having muscle tremors, he couldn't walk he would fall over, his eyes were constantly twitching, he was in
pain. The Neurologist couldn't find anything wrong, so they sent him home to die.. I began researching on
the web and came across your site and after bathing him in Dawn within 2 hours his eyes stopped twitching
and the next day he was sitting up looking at me wagging his tail.. I am so upset after spending 2000.00 in
vet and hospital bills and this all happened because I thought I was doing something good to keep him safe
from fleas..If anyone knows who to contact to try and recover some of these expenses Please let me know.
Chris 10/7/07
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Of the early hours of this morning my Border collie had a seizure that lasted a good few minutes, he was unconscious, he was doubly incontinent & when he came out of the seizure he did not recognise me & was barking defensively & went to bite me. However once he smelt my hand he calmed down immediately.
Before the seizure happened I was asleep upstairs with my older Border collie who leapt up & woke me,
the minute I heard the sound of my younger B.C failing about I knew instantly what was happening & rushed downstairs to witness the seizure.
The dog that had the seizure is just over one year old, there has never been any sign of epilepsy in this dog which I have had around 11 months, and he competes at Obedience competitions & has never once shown
any signs. However on Friday I treated both my dogs with Frontline, this was the second time I had used this product on them. We went to a show yesterday & although it was warm we made sure the dogs had plenty
water & kept cool, they were not left in the car unattended.
On the way home from the show, both my son & I smelt urine from the back of the car, yet we had given the
dogs a chance to go to the toilet before we left & both dogs are used to travelling, this was a shorter car
journey than normal. Now I realised that maybe my younger dog probably had a slight seizure or absence
then but at the time thought nothing of it, until early hours of this morning.
I have personally witnessed many seizures in humans, as I worked as a nursing assistant for many years
& we had a few patients that were learning disabled & have witnessed at least 3 of these patients having seizures. Although I have only seen one dog have a seizure I am in no doubt what I witnessed. I can only
put it down to the Frontline & am very upset & worried for my dog. He is everything I want in a dog, excellent temperament, brilliant attitude to his work & has a bright future in front of him; I just hope there has been no lasting damage.
I treated him straight away with Bach Rescue Remedy & Bach flower remedy Crab Apple, which is recommended for seizures, as it cleanses the system & the rescue remedy for shock. He seems completely normal but I will be having a chat with my vet.
Julie 10/8/07
UK
Just to give you an update on my dog Gizmo, he was fine all day Monday until 10pm, when he took another seizure; this lasted longer & was more violent. I phoned the vet who requested that we come in the morning
for a full blood test but at the moment there really wasn't much we could do until the Frontline had left his system.
The next Seizure was at 01:30 again lasting longer & more violent. Post seizure, Gizmo was uncoordinated, wandering round in a right circle & very vague & unaware. Sensitive to noise.
03:30 Another Seizure similar to the last one. Post seizure he was having difficulty standing, wobbly, exhausted & very stressed.
I felt that with the pattern he was presenting, the seizures were coming at night when he didn't have access to
be able to defecate & so wasn't able to get the toxins out of his system, thus the toxins were building up. So I
took him out for five minutes on his lead (in case anything happened) he managed to open his bowels, passed as diarrhoea & then settled back to sleep.
The next seizure was at 07:00 this was definitely less severe, didn't last as long & he seemed to recover quicker.
I took him out again, he passed diarrhoea again.
It is now 24hrs have passed, he has had no more seizures & seems more settled, less manic & more like him self. His bowels are back to normal as well.
The bloods, Kidney/Liver function all came back normal & the vet has given him the all clear. He has spoken to the lab & they feel that he definitely doesn't have Epilepsy & the most probable cause is the Frontline.
I have heard from Meriel but I will send them the update of the past 48hrs & see what there response is then & also will provide them with my Vets details.
Many thanks for your support
Julie 10/10/07
UK
I have just received this letter [Page 1] [Page 2] from Meriel this morning, I am fuming, yet again they are trying
to deny all responsibilities what will it take for them to admit that some dogs are having an adverse reaction to Frontline & other spot on treatments. They are just brushing it under the carpet & making profits with an unsafe drug.
I am determined that pets owners should be made aware of these adverse reactions & that these spot on treatments are unsafe.
Julie 10/17/07
UK
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I actually tried bio-spot on my animals on Sunday, luckily they haven't had any extreme reactions (I'm seeing
a few rashes on one and my little puppy's a little too itchy at the application site) but they're getting a bath as soon as I'm done writing this. I found this website while trying to find the Bio-Spot website to see if they had
a money back option since the product didn't do anything to help with the flea problem we've been having;
I'm so mad at myself for only checking reviews on sites that sell the product, if I had only typed in bio spot on
my search browser I would have known better than to put this product on my babies. It's horrible that so many people have had the worst of experiences with these products and the rest of the world is unaware. The companies that are selling these products have the big bucks and they publicize their products through so
many venues. we see what they want us to see, and they're doing a good job of keeping the side effects
hush hush. If you see a commercial on TV so many times and all you here is good things it's going to stick
in your head and you're going to want to try it. If we're going to inform people about the hazards of using
these products we have to go about it in the same way as the companies and think big. We need to start
some type of organization to raise money, sell t-shirts, do dog walks, washes, sell home made dog products and treats, any type of fundraising that can get our message out there and get support. We need to do Public Service Announcements, commercials, adds, have known pet loving celebrities sponsor us, and get any
type of publicity that will make people aware. That would be the way to bring down these companies and
if we could get enough supporters interested we'd be able to do it. If anyone has any suggestions or would
want to help don't hold back.
Kaylee 10/8/07
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My 11 year old pom died last night. One night after applying sergeants flea & tick. There was absolutely
nothing wrong with him the day before I applied it. He was a healthy dog and now mysteriously he's gone.
The doctor said it was old age...i don't think so.
Lisa 10/8/07
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We applied Sergeant's Gold to our daschund. We didn't notice it until later but he began fiercely shaking
his head. It wasn't just once or twice but every few minutes. We didn't connect it to the flea medicine until the
second application. The infrequent head shaking, which had almost stopped, began again. We knew it wasn't
an itch because he didn't scratch, just shook his head so hard we thought his brain would shake loose. We
had taken him to the vet after the symptoms started before. He gave us an antihistamine but couldn't tell us
why Leo was shaking his head. We are now convinced that it is the Sergeant's Gold Flea & Tick Squeeze-On For Dogs. We washed him with Ivory detergent to get the residue off his hair but the head shaking still
continues. We have used Advantix before the Sergeant's but were seduced by the much lower price. I truly believe that Leo was exhibiting symptoms from the Advantix as well but not as severe. The Sergeant's just excelerated what probably would have happened had we continued using Advantix. We never noticed any symptoms from Frontline at the lower weight dosage when he was in that weight range. Here again, his
allergy may have evidenced itself had he not changed weight ranges. We'll never know unless we try Frontline again. This insecticide contains Cyphenothrin 40.0% and Pyriproxyfen 2.0% with 58.0% other ingredients
which are not listed individually.
Leo has also exhibited allergies to certain pet foods during the time period when dogs and cats were dying
from the Chinese wheat gluten additive. This may have been coincidental because there were other pet foods before this that affected him adversely.
Thanks for your informative site.
Jean 10/10/07
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My 9 year old seemingly healthy Shih Tzu died a few days ago after my administering K9 Advantix. It is the second time I had used it. We have not had a flea problem in our home in years but got them while at the vet
for one vaccine-rabies. They are required annually in our state.
I had tried all natural means of eradicating the fleas and my vet recommended this. I did not buy it at the time
as I generally research anything chemical that is used in our home. I went to get Frontline that I had used before and they were out so I opted for this and used it unfortunately without research. On the first application the dog who died and another Shih Tzu the same age had a lot of itching and red skin. I assumed it was stirring up the fleas and would subside. Five weeks later after a bath, I applied it again and there was again itching and in hindsight I realize the dog became lethargic and had slight cough. This persisted for a short time and she
began to have rapid respiration and coughing during night. The next AM I took her to local vet who suspected congestive heart failure or pneumonia/lung issues. She was started on Lasix (diuretic) and cough subsided
and breathing improved. He suggested I move her to University based Veterinary Hospital for further treatment and 24/7 monitor and oxygen etc. She seemed stable when sedentary at this point but when she would try to play, she would last about 30 seconds and then lay down panting and would lose healthy color inside mouth. After every test came back negative, they requested to do "scope" that required sedation. She died as she came out of the test. This is a top veterinary school in the US and they had never seen anything that compared
to my sweet dog's case. Now they have sent necropsy samples to state lab and they also say the pathology of the heart is nothing they have ever seen before and have sent it on to another resource for checking that we
will hear from in 4-6 weeks.
I feel quite sure that the K9 Advantix is what ultimately killed my sweet dog and we are devastated. I am interested in any other reports of dogs who had respiratory/pulmonary or cardiac issues to try to piece this together. These seem to be the extreme reaction but I would appreciate any feedback from others.
I also do not find a reporting agency for reporting such incidents other than the manufacturer and I would be interested in knowing if they are required to report adverse reactions to any agency federally. I do not think
they are but I may be wrong. I do find one site for reporting prescription products but not over the counter.
Is there any organization who is working on these reactions to this drug that I might contact or any lab that
would be able to do testing post mortem to ascertain cause of death if it is not determined in the Necropsy.
Thank you so much and I would also appreciate any info on where to post on this subject on other boards or groups so that I can get even more feedback. This sweet dog was so full of life and precious and I owe it to
her to try to uncover the cause of death and hopefully contribute to preventing it for other animals if it was
related to this product or anything else.
Many thanks for any info and for the opportunity to learn from the group.
Karen 10/10/07
Hi James... so sorry to bother you with another post.
I have another Shih Tzu that I think is developing the more serious symptoms that killed my Aggie last week.
I may be at emergency university based vet hospital with her again. This dog also was 100% healthy before
the K9 Advantix. Before I embark on this again and thousands of dollars of mainstream testing, is there ANY antidote for this?? Is there anything that you are aware of to reverse it once it begins to affect heart/lungs?
I want to suggest that that we not waste time on all the tests again that will show nothing but if there is no way
to reverse this. it seems hopeless for the most part. I am going to Google further the drug and see if anything
is recommended for human toxic exposure but convincing them even after the other dog died that this is the culprit is not going to happen I am afraid. I apologize for yet another question but I didn't feel time was on my side and hope you do not mind my asking in case you might have uncovered info that would be helpful in all
your time of researching this.
Karen 10/15/07
Hi James.. I do not know if this will be helpful to you or not but sending it anyway in hopes it might. I called the ASPCA [Poison Control Center] tonight.. they of course said skin rash etc is all the drug [K9 Advantix] will do.
I got the VET on duty on phone for an hour. She gave me her email below and is skeptical but open to receiving info and I thought I would send her your site and wanted to share the info with you in case you would like to communicate also or send it instead of me if you feel it is worth doing. I am new to this and I know you would likely better present it than I can. :) You have probably already contacted them many times but sending this update/info in case.
The second email listed below is the President of ASPCA. She said he would be the one to make decision about any type survey etc that might give info to them on this. Now you have to pay $60 to contact them and she says they are understaffed etc and really don't have toll free number for reports but I argued that they NEED the reports in order to protect the animals and that they could even set up reporting mechanism online. Bottom line is Steve Hansen whose email is below is the one who would decide about that.
I also found out from her that Davis in CA is the only vet lab probably set up to test for this. Not sure if this is
right and you may know better info but just passing along what she told me. Sending Aggie's samples to them may not be of any real help since they would expect to find some in the body. It would take a collection of such results and bad reactions for it to mean anything. It would have to start somewhere but not sure it is worth my
$$ right now after these huge vet bills and maybe more ahead with 2nd dog.
That's about it. Forgive the added email... just wanted to pass this along and wishing we could get a LOT of people who had reactions beyond itching etc to write to Steve Hansen and the vet on duty that I spoke with.
See below for emails...
Karen 10/15/07
steve hansen -President/Director of ASPCA
I said it before and I will say it again, it's very troubling to know that the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, which prides itself on being "the premier animal poison control center in North America" and "your best resource for any animal poison-related emergency," is advising people that flea control products do not cause severe adverse reactions in dogs. Providing that kind of information, and charging people $60. for it, is a disservice
to pet owners who are desperately attempting to save their pet's life.
If the ASPCA is understaffed and cannot afford to offer free advice concerning poisonings in pets, they should provide a way to report these poisonings online. That's really an excellent suggestion.
James TerBush
James and listmates: I would like to ask for any guidance from those who have used Advantix or Biospot
whose dog had severe reaction and who survived. What treatments were done?? I am talking about kidney involvement, fluid in lungs and congestive heart failure along with the other most prevalent symptoms like gait issues and itching. I have noted on many posts that VETS did antibiotics or transfusions and I would like to correspond with someone whose vet has done these treatments.. with or without success. We
