I Almost Killed My Cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is really scary!

About two weeks ago, I gave my kitties a flea treatment. I thought I'd save some money, and used some of that "between the shoulder blade stuff" from Walmart instead of the really expensive stuff from the vet. For Yuki, I used ZODIAC SPOT ON PLUS, and for Scratch I used HARTZ ULTRA GUARD PLUS. (I had to use different brands, because Yuki weighs less than five pounds and that's all they had.)

Anyway, Yuki was fine, although she still has a flea issue... But Scratch went into the bedroom and hid under the bed. At first, I thought he was just mad at me, and stressed out with Yuki, who is always trying to ambush him and bugs him constantly, and he has never been a social kitty, so I really didn't think anything of it. Then, after about three days of this behavior, we started getting worried. At that point he had stopped eating, was lethargic, and when he walked, he couldn't retract his claws and they kept catching in the carpet. Of course by then, it was the weekend and no vets on duty except for the Emergency Clinic ($$$$$$$). So we started looking online, to see what could possibly be wrong. I thought he had an abcess/infection from Yuki's little kitten bites. Jim started making the connection to the Hartz drops, and found this website:

http://www.geocities.com/againsthartz/

THE HARTZ DROPS WERE POISONING MY CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got Scratch from the bedroom and we washed him with Dawn dish soap. To tell you how sick he was, he didn't even put up a fight about that! I took him back into the bedroom and dried him off, and cuddled him to keep him warm, and I noticed then that his pupils were completely dilated too. I felt so bad!

About two hours later, I went back in to check on him. Already, he looked more alert and his eyes were not so screwed up. The next day, he was eating and drinking again, and by the third day he felt well enough to sneak out the door when Jim let Patches out. Today, he is fully recovered and back to his old cantankerous self.

We were really, really lucky. Many cats have died or have not recovered like ours did. Never, never use Hartz drops on your kitties!!!!! Actually, we are not going to use ANY Hartz products anymore. When you buy a product like that, you are placing your trust in the company, that they have tested it and it is safe to use as directed, and Hartz has abused that trust. They will not get our business again!