Hartz Flea, Tick Drops Generating Thousands Of Complaints

This warning doesn't only go for cats. The workers at Petsmart recommended Hartz for my dog and he had a bad reaction also. I called Hartz' hotline at 2:00 in the afternoon and pressed the number for medical emergencies and received a message that Hartz only operates its customer service lines from 9-5 EST. So if you're on the west coast, don't expect any help from them, just take your pet to the vet like I did. These products should be pulled from the market.

I agree completely. I don't like any of the drops for dogs, cats, or horses. I used the Hartz on my dog and he cried like it was hurting him and not long after he started getting these bumps that were like little tumors. They finally went away after I quit using the drops. Years ago when the oral flea pills first came out, a vet gave me some for a dog that I owned at that time. She hated them and I noticed they burnt my hand when it was slightly damp and I had poured a pill into it, so I quit giving her the pills. A short time later we realized that she was blind and not long after she died. I have always believed that her blindness and death were because of those oral flea pills. Of course the vet said it was just old age but she was only about 6 years old. I also tried the very popular fly drops for horses on my horses and they all hated it, like it was hurting, so I never used it again. So, now I will not use any of the drops on any of my animals again. I have came to the conclusion that these big companies that sell this stuff don't really care about animals at all. They are just in it for the money and they know that most of the time if an animal dies the owner will replace it with another.

My young cat has been on IVs and under medical care for 2 days now and thank God due to a fabulous Doctor in NJ he will live. I used the 5 lbs and under cat flea drops and even only used half of the drops because I dont like chemicals. I purchased the Hartz brand because the pets stores I usually go to that carry natural products were closed and my newly adopted cat was very flea infested. Not only did it not work but a week later he started hanging his head to the side, lost control of half his body, couldnt walk or eat or meow and his eyes were dilated. I brought him to my vet who ran the blood work immediately to find that the toxins were indeed the hartz product. No animal deserves to have such a life threatening product used especially when its just fleas we are trying to control and kill not our pets!!! He might be coming home tonight but he is still not well and will need close monitoring and lots of care if he ever does recover. There should be a warning on the box saying, Hartz kills fleas...and maybe your pet too. Take the chance trust in the hartz product. BAD! It has also cost me a small fortune that I am not able to do right now and am not sure I will even figure that one out.What has to be done had to be done to save my family member. Hartz should never put a product out that risks an animals life. I wish I knew before I bought this product.

valerie wrote:

My young cat has been on IVs and under medical care for 2 days now and thank God due to a fabulous Doctor in NJ he will live. I used the 5 lbs and under cat flea drops and even only used half of the drops because I dont like chemicals. I purchased the Hartz brand because the pets stores I usually go to that carry natural products were closed and my newly adopted cat was very flea infested. Not only did it not work but a week later he started hanging his head to the side, lost control of half his body, couldnt walk or eat or meow and his eyes were dilated. I brought him to my vet who ran the blood work immediately to find that the toxins were indeed the hartz product. No animal deserves to have such a life threatening product used especially when its just fleas we are trying to control and kill not our pets!!! He might be coming home tonight but he is still not well and will need close monitoring and lots of care if he ever does recover. There should be a warning on the box saying, Hartz kills fleas...and maybe your pet too. Take the chance trust in the hartz product. BAD! It has also cost me a small fortune that I am not able to do right now and am not sure I will even figure that one out.What has to be done had to be done to save my family member. Hartz should never put a product out that risks an animals life. I wish I knew before I bought this product.

Valerie,
If it were me, I would send copies of the bills to Hartz, maybe call them first. They just might pay everything. I know that Fort Dodge has paid several horse owners because of what their flu shots have done to horses; so, Hartz may do the same. Flea combs do a great job at removing fleas if a pet only has a few. All of our cats are inside only but still get a few fleas during the summer months, probably brought in from outdoors on us. Flea combs can be found at Wal-Mart or about any pet store. You just need a small container of warm soapy water to drop the fleas in once you catch them on the comb, then just flush them. Once the animals realize you are helping them, they love the combing.

I baught some flea treatment for my kittens,6 of them, and as soon as I put it on them, it wasnt 5 minutes later that they started foaming at the mouth......This product should be taken off the shelf before it kills or harms another animal...if 1 animal dies because of this product, that is 1 TO MANY!!!!!! This company angers me, I thought they got their products straightened out, I see now that I was mistaken....I WILL NOT EVER BUY ANOTHER HARTZ PRODUCT AGAIN AND I WILL MAKE SURE ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS KNOW ABOUT THIS AND ASK THEM TO NOT EVER BUY THIS PRODUCT AGAIN AS WELL...

I used the drops on my 4lb yorkie.. With in 15 minutes she became very anxious, seemed like she lost some of her vision, and did not want to be around anyone, we are now on about the 15th hour and she is still messed up, as she only will walk near the walls and not across the center of rooms(very strange). She barely slept through out the night... I made the correlation the next morning and immediately gave her a bath, probably too late though. She acted this way one other time and I am fairly certain now it was the last time I used the drops but failed to make this link.. I am now certain these drops are responsible. Hartz really needs to do something about this, our little dog is a regular member of our family and we all will be devastated if she dies or is permanently impacted. DON'T TAKE THE CHANCE WITH THESE DROPS.

My akita also had a reaction. I washed it off her. NOW I ONLY use TripleSure -- its organic. Cedar oil and peppermint oil spray. Works great and also for mosquitos. YES DO NOT TAKE A CHANCE! I also stopped giving her vaccines. Bottled water and Innova hard food with chicken soup.

It's not just dogs, I used Hartz on my 2 cats(cloak and dagger) last night around 8p.m. At 11 p.m. I found dagger on my bed foaming at the mouth and having sever muscle spasms, he could no longer walk either) I gave both cats a bath immediately )as we just started moving into he house yesterday afternoon, and I wasn't sure if they had rolled in something outside) Cloak was fine but it was after his bath that Dagger started having seizures. I called an allnight vet I knew in Dallas (4hrs away) and he told me to be sure and give im lots of water and induce vomiting by giving him an extremely small amount of hydrogen peroxide. I didn't have any and he told me I would just have to give hime lots of water and wait it out.
Dagger had massive seizures every 10mins and vomitted periodically until 6:30 this morning.
Around 6:30 he the biggest seizure, followed by vomiting up all the water (it looked like more than we'd given him all night) he just kept vomitting, over and over, and I was sure he was dying. when he finished he passed out. After about 20 mins he woke up, walked to his bowl, and began drinking, he drank 2 bowlfulls before he was finished.
Then he came and nuzzled me and I cried. I took him to the vet at 7:15, and got both cats looked at, the vet said Dagger was fine, and he gave Cloak an herbal supplement making him vomit and gave him an IV just to be safe.
He told me never to buy Hartz again, and said that if I had asked him first he would have warned me before hand. Apparently this happens alot, and the cause is always Hartz.

I just lost my cat over the holiday weekend after using Hartz flea and tick for cats. The smallest of my three cats, a 5.5 lb Persian named Maggie Mae, started shivering and couldn’t walk straight. We called the emergency number for the vet, and got him to come in on the holiday. He attempted to save her with fluids, treatment, and warming her. Her temp was down to 93, when it should have been 105 to 106. Her red blood cells were down to 10% when they should have been 30%. She didn’t make it. The vet said that this brand is know to do this, but that when you call the emergency number on the package it directs you to the ASPCA. He said that since the ASPCA supported the Hartz brand, they don’t record and report the complaints. It’s outrageous… they’re allowing pure poison to be put on the shelves available for any unsuspecting person to buy.

I'm actually in Decatur, IL. Not sure where Paris came from.

Libby, I'm so sorry for your loss. Maybe if we all add a comment every day or two this will stay close to the top of the page and more people will be aware of it.
Carol, it sounds like your vet that saved Dagger may have been a holistic vet, I love them. They seem so much better than conventional vets.

Anonymous wrote:

This warning doesn't only go for cats. The workers at Petsmart recommended Hartz for my dog and he had a bad reaction also. I called Hartz' hotline at 2:00 in the afternoon and pressed the number for medical emergencies and received a message that Hartz only operates its customer service lines from 9-5 EST. So if you're on the west coast, don't expect any help from them, just take your pet to the vet like I did. These products should be pulled from the market.

My 65 Year old mother has a cat names Coalie. He is such a sweet boy. My mom went to walmart and bought the hartz drops put them on the cats neck and he began to scream. She immediately gave him a bath. It has been two months now and Coalie has coin sized bumps, he is losing his hair on his head and neck. His Jaw is swollen. My mother lives on SS she only gets 655 a month. She spent 400 trying to figure out what was wrong. The Vet gave Coalie a shot was supposed to make him better but he is getting worse. They need to run more tests but say 600.00 My mother does not have that kind of money. What can we do? Years ago I used this product on my cat a persian and He also cried. I washed him off in the sink with Dawn. It was just there. Now I know that is what you need to do. But my mom used shampoo on Coalie. How long will it take to get out of his system? Will he die? Should she put him down? Arge. I am so bummed for my mom. That lil black cat is her life.

I so want to start a class action law suit against these Animal Killers. Hartz???
More like HURTZ!!!! How can we make them pay?
It is not only the cats that suffer but their people too. This product needs to be pulled off every shelf in the world!!!
I am going to give my mom the number for HURTZ and see if they take responsibility for the vet bills. I will Keep you all posted.

I am sorry to hear about your loss. It really has me bummed out. I am so sorry for your lil furder.
God Bless

Libby wrote:

I just lost my cat over the holiday weekend after using Hartz flea and tick for cats. The smallest of my three cats, a 5.5 lb Persian named Maggie Mae, started shivering and couldn’t walk straight. We called the emergency number for the vet, and got him to come in on the holiday. He attempted to save her with fluids, treatment, and warming her. Her temp was down to 93, when it should have been 105 to 106. Her red blood cells were down to 10% when they should have been 30%. She didn’t make it. The vet said that this brand is know to do this, but that when you call the emergency number on the package it directs you to the ASPCA. He said that since the ASPCA supported the Hartz brand, they don’t record and report the complaints. It’s outrageous… they’re allowing pure poison to be put on the shelves available for any unsuspecting person to buy.

hartz flea dip works good on my kids, no scratching or digging in two days after treatment the school stoped calling me about dem bugs

klaus speck wrote:

hartz flea dip works good on my kids, no scratching or digging in two days after treatment the school stoped calling me about dem bugs

Wow some people really don't have any thing better to do....
The people here are here because they are suffering. This is not a joke.
you should be ashamed...

What can I do???? I have contacted Hartz they say send the bills in the mail maybe they will refund. Maybe.
I informed the poison center.
I googled everything I can think of.

We need a solution to help out Coalie NOW.
What can I do?
What??????
I need a remedy

Coalies Auntie wrote:

What can I do???? I have contacted Hartz they say send the bills in the mail maybe they will refund. Maybe.
I informed the poison center.
I googled everything I can think of.
We need a solution to help out Coalie NOW.
What can I do?
What??????
I need a remedy

It sounds like you have done the right thing as far as contacting Hartz,they just may pay the vet bills. God knows they have made enough money off of pet owners over the years to at least do that. If there is a holistic vet in your area, you could give them a call and see what they say. Vitamin C is great for removing toxins from the body. I'm not sure how much to give a cat but you should be able to find the answer to that over the Internet by doing a "cat vitamin C" search. Also, there is a great product called Invision Silver 100, it is a collodial (spelling ?)silver product. There are some holistic doctors and vets that use this and I have not been without it for the last 15 years or so. You can do a search on that too to find out more about it if you are not familiar with it. There is no odor and no taste so it is not hard to get animals to take it at all. The main problem you would have is getting it soon enough. I just really feel bad for you and your mom and I know the pain you are going through.

My cat is fighting for his life as I type, he has been in the hopsital for 4 days now, while there I mentioned to the Doctor of the Hartz flea and tick drops for cats we put on all 3 cats, our female cat developed severe burns on her back and side where it spread out, we bathed her twice and placed a medication on her, she is fine now but the male, 11 years old only showed signs withing the last three weeks, he stopped eating and became very lethargic and lost for 18 lbs to 9 pounds in less than a week, throwing up and wont even eat or drink water. I am so angry and scared, he is our boy, I raised him from 2 weeks old and now this? I don't know how we are supposed to pay for his bill but even worse, if he does not survive and then having to pay for something that is completely HARTZ fault, YOU KNEW better hartz, why didn't put a warning lable of "COULD CAUSE DEATH" or "WILL KILL YOUR PET"

THEY knew better and that is why I am going to sue them and if I cannot do that, I will place signs on ever street corner that HARTZ PRODUCTS KILL PETS.

Angry and scared in Texas

Pet Owners, please watch for yellowing and lethargy in your pets.

Blessings to all of you, I am so sorry for your losses.