Stop the Slaughter by Joyce Anthony
Returning home from a routine trip to the library on Friday, July 13, 2007. I found one of my beloved cats lying on the floor in a pool of blood, her tiny body wracked with convulsions. Checking on the others, I found two more unable to stand, their legs too shaky to hold their bodies, their bodies trembling fiercely.
Ash
Wrapping these three in towels, we headed for the Pet Emergency Hospital, where one of the first questions was whether I had recently given the cats a flea treatment—I had, that very afternoon. The next question: “Was it Hartz?” Again, my answer was yes. This was my first year using this particular brand.
When I left the hospital that night, it was without my three cats. They were too far-gone to make it through. I left with instructions to bathe the remaining four and watch them closely. I followed this. They were quiet and nervous that night. By the next morning, another cat was in full-blown seizures and the other three were blinking rapidly and jerking, their muscles starting to be affected. Another trip to the Pet Hospital.
I held my precious baby and cried, feeling hopeless and helpless as her body jerked with seizures. I wasn’t the only one crying—others in the waiting room joined me. She looked at me with a scared look, asking me to help and I could do nothing but hold her and cry.
Luna
When I left the hospital, one more of my babies was gone and the other three had been admitted. I was scared they would not make it.
These three did come home. They survived physically, but my heart goes out to them as they wander through the house crying for those who are gone. Now, nearly two years later, Caramel will stand by the door when anyone leaves-afraid they won’t return. Every so often, her legs jerk and a ripple runs down her spine. My son still cries as he thinks of those lost. As for me, at least once a week I dream of Sierra-she was “Queen Kitty”, matriarch in the social structure of our little cat colony. She looks at me, eyes full of pain, and I wake up crying.
The look on the vet’s face got me thinking and I started to research. This was not the first tragedy caused by Hartz flea treatment. Cats have been dying from this product for years—yet the product remains on store shelves. Unsuspecting consumers, wanting to protect their pets and trusting the Hartz name buy and use it—sometimes it is fine, all too often it ends in tragedy. Dogs have also been harmed. This site http://www.hartzvictims.org/ has so many stories of pain.
Sierra
The warning on the box states simply the product should not be used on cats under five pound, pregnant or ill. None of my seven fell into any of those categories—all were over five pounds, five over ten pounds. None were pregnant. All were healthy. The youngest was just over two years old and the oldest six—not kittens. Yet EVERY SINGLE ONE had a reaction!!!
I am working to get these products off the shelves. It is too late to save my babies and so many others-but maybe I can save others. Then, and only then, will I be able to rest.
Topaz
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Hi Highlandlove – beautiful photos!!
OMG, I thought it was just me. Some years ago before Frontline, I sprayed my Danner kitty with Hartz flea treatment. I walked into the living room for a few minutes and by the time I got back Danner was on the floor with his tongue hanging out, drooling and convulsing. He always started licking after I had washed him, so I figured it was the flea treatment stuff. I grabbed him up, threw him in the sink, and sprayed his fur till I thought I’d gotten all the crap off. I kept putting water down his throat till he puked. I wrapped him in a towel and dried him off and he almost immediately revived. Don’t know if it was he didn’t have it in his system long enough or what, but he got better and I’ve never touched another product that didn’t come directly from my vet. I lost him to old age a couple years back after 18 years, and like any member of the family, I miss and love him.
How horrible, my heart goes out to you. I’ve never used Hartz as I have always felt a little suspicious of it for some reason. I’m glad I trusted my gut instinct. How is this product still allowed to be sold?
I can’t believe they are allowed to still sell this. You should submit this story to 60 min or 20/20 or something. Look at all of the outrage the tainted pet food got. You’re right something needs to be done, as you beloved pets deaths were completely tragic!!!
This is horrible. It amazes me that pet companies, which should be looking out for their best interests, can do this! (I have issues with pet food companies too, for same reasons…what cats eat is directly related to health issues like diabetes and UTI’s, but companies care more about the bottom line than they do about educating owners about proper nutrition.)
Anyway, ((((hugs)))) and thank you for telling us about this! I can’t imagine the pain you went through.
Oh god, I am so sorry =( I know what it’s like to lose a beloved pet to death and I can imagine your anger to this ‘hartz’ company and also the pain and sadness you felt then and are still feeling. Thank you for sharing, now we’re warned not to use ‘hartz’ products.
Bahh, I’m feeling bumped.
I am so sorry for the loss of your kitties. I hope the memories that find you are sweet and healing. Our pets are our children…you never get over the loss, just come to terms with it.
May God bless and keep you and yours safe in the Hallow of His Hand.
Thanks for the wonderful hugs and thoughts everyone! They were my babies-and I havn’t stopped fighting to get these products off the shelves, Please warn everyone you know–and it hasn’t happened just to cats, there have been man dogs in peril with Hartz flea treatment.
I’m still with you on this fight. I like the idea of 20/20 or sixty minutes. This company has got to be stopped!
Let me know if I can do anything. Send me the full text and I’ll post it on my blog again.
I think it is horrible that big name companies can do this to animals and get by with it. I will stand with you on this fight. Animals can’t, but we as people can.
I wrote an article on eHow, with a warning against using this product and Sergeants, and BioSpot.
If enough people get together, we can make a difference. So let’s do it!
I think it is horrible that big name companies can do this to animals and get by with it. I will stand with you on this fight. Animals can’t, but we as people can. http://www.ehow.com/how_5107421_keep-pets-safe-especially-outdoors.html
I wrote an article on eHow, with a warning against using this product and Sergeants, and BioSpot.
If enough people get together, we can make a difference. So let’s do it!
Oh ,Joyce, I cried when I posted your sad letter on my website in 2007 and now I’m crying again. The idea of 20/20 or one of those programs might put Hartz where they belong, out of business. The public needs to know.
If there’s anyway I can help let me know. There must be a way to stop this murdering of beautiful, helpless little animals. Perhaps a letter to ASPCA and the Humane Society would help to at least get an investigation started.
My heart goes out to you
Pee Wee
Our vet has a big display on their front counter warning people that these products are unsafe. Ever since I heard what happened to Joyce’s kitties, I’ve spread the word every chance I get not to buy any Hartz products. Count me in to help any way I can.
While I am not a “cat person,” my late husband and I had dogs most of our married life. For a company that is supposed to be concerned about the wellbeing of animals, it is obvious they care about nothing but their own pocketbooks. I hope the animal lovers of the world can unite and sue them so they will think about something else.
Janet Elaine Smith
We too almost lost a cat from the Hartz flea stuff. He started flicking his ears and became VERY sensitive to touch within an hour of putting the stuff on. I immediately washed it off and within a day or two he was fine. One of the other two lost her hair in the area where we applied the stuff and an open sore – like a chemical burn – formed in the hairless spot. Took about 2 months to heal. Our third cat didn’t seem to have any adverse reaction.
Many times when I’ve been in a store in the pet section and have seen people looking at the Hartz poison I have butted in and told them flat out not to buy it because it will kill their pet. There are and have been many law suits against Hartz.
A heartrending story Joyce, and such beautiful photos.
Keep up the good fight–you are magnificent taking on such a heartless company.
Joyce – I feel so bad you had to go through this. My heart goes out to you and to the surviving cats.
We have experienced near disaster with this product too. It was a few years ago that we put some on our cat Buster. Within a few minutes he started foaming at the mouth and was having seizures. It was awful.
Hartz should not be allowed to continue selling these products. It’s wrong.
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This is absolutely disgusting, Joyce. I don’t understand how a company that is in the pet products business can dare to keep selling anything this dangerous. Nor do I understand why it continues to be allowed.
I’ll be buying NO Hartz products from now on. If everyone would do the same – boycott this cruel company completely – it would soon be out of business, and that would be a good outcome as far as pet safety is concerned.
So sorry about your babies! I know what it’s like to have a dying pet look to me for help I cannot give. Different cause, but same horrible, helpless feeling.
Incredible that a company in the pet supplies business would keep on selling such a product despite all the harm it’s done! Incredible, too, that they can get away with it. I’m never going to buy another Hartz product of any kind. If all of us did that, they’d soon be out of business; and then they would not get a chance to make money by poisoning someone else’s precious pet.
My condolences to you and your son and your surviving pets, Joyce. I know what it’s like to have a dying pet look to me for help I cannot give…just awful. So utterly helpless!
Joyce,
I remembered when this happened. I could not believe it was not an immediate recall on Hartz – I feel your pain and wish that something could be done.
hugz to you , Shane and the remaining furkids. Thanks for posting this.
Billie
Joyce,
I am saddened to hear about your precious angels. My heart does go out to you.
Having studied in the pharmaceutical field for the last year, I can maybe explain why the product has not been removed from the market, though I do not agree with this policy. Pharmaceuticals for animals are not required to meet the same very strict standards as pharmaceuticals for humans are required to meet. Often medications that are recalled for use in humans are still marketed for use in animals, even with the side effects deemed unacceptable to humans. Off the top of my head I cannot remember the exampled given in my text books, but I do remember being shocked that they were still manufacturing the drug at all, even after the deaths the drug had caused. There is a certain percentage of casualties that is deemed “acceptable”, though no casualty should be.
The people whose pets were affected but they merely washed them well and the pets recovered without going to the vet may not have reported the incident and therefore their pets may not have been included in the tallies for “adverse reactions”. Because your angels were taken to the vet, all of them were reported to the company as having had adverse reactions, or should have been.
Unfortunately accurate records as to the number of “adverse reactions” to the products probably do not exist as there are currently no laws that require the same type of reporting for animals as is required for humans.
Without the documentation of “adverse reactions” the FDA (the agency that approves the “acceptable Use” of such drugs as the products produced by Hartz) cannot ask the company to recall their product. Though honestly I would see how many people whose pets were affected would be willing to contact the FDA with their stories of their Animal Children’s reactions to the product and see if the FDA doesn’t ask for some kind of action on the part of the company who manufactures the Hartz product line.
Hope this information is helpful, though it may not be any solace.
BB,
Jodi
It is certainly disgusting what they allow on the market. Wonder if they make it in China? Hope your campaign is successful!
In Homage to Sierra, Ash, Topaz, and all the rest, yours, and everywhere, I, for one, will NEVER purchase a Hartz Mountain product again!
Willow
This is a huge problem not only with Hartz, but other medications containing the same chemicals. Hartz however is the largest offender and should be under sanctions from the FDA. Hopefully the full weight of PETA and the ASPCA can be brought to bear against them, but most importantly are people like you. Like us. The power of the market and the dollar. Cut off their sales and they WILL hear the message loud and clear.
Bless you
I had heard this before…Does anyone know that by adding a capful of vinegar to a dogs water bowel and less for a cat will keep fleas at bay? You can check but I’m pretty sure ticks too…how about that..a natural remedie.
That is awful…I’m so sorry.
Christ, I’m bawling at work. Thank you for sharing your story, for letting others know. Thank you.
Reading this blog, and what happened, brought literal tears in my eyes. I use to have cats when I was young, so I know how you feel about losing them.
I’ve heard about the brand “Hartz”…but nothing beyond recognition of the name is clicking in my head. I’ll have to remember to steer clear of that brand even for puppy dogs. I have two dachunds, a male and female, and they are most beloved.
So sorry about your loss
I’m so sad now. I’m sorry for your losses.
I have 3 kitties and to have them pass because of a flea treatment is just horrible.
I have three kitties – and I just can’t imaging going through that. I’m sorry – I just don’t have words right now.
Wow–I can feel the love coming through here–I want to thank each and every one of you for reading, commenting, passing on the message. An extra thank you for those who will no longer buy ANY Hartz products-my son and I both catch people when we are out and tell them our story. Phil–I’ll have to check on the China thing. I will keep everyone updated. Again–thank you!!
OMG, how terrible for you and those babies. I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I had NO idea. I have heard of flea meds having a bad reaction if you give them to dogs too young, or too much, but never anything like this. Thank you for sharing. I will never again buy any Hartz products, although I can say I have never been a big fan, anyway.
I’m SO so sorry for your loss.