Have you ever used OTC flea medicine for cats in the past?

Question

I've reading on this site all the adverse reactions from flea medication for pets:

http://www.elversonpuzzle.com/biospotlettersv7.html

and ALL flea medicine has adverse reactions even Frontline and Revolution. Other things I've noted is that most adverse reactions happen to dogs by 2 or 3 to 1.

Now I've just bought my kitten Zodiac Flea and Tick medicine for cats and Kittens but after reading everything, I felt bad for trying to be cheap and my brain was conjuring all these bad images even though the kitten seem ok and washed it off. Now I'm pissed that I let these stories get to me.

So here's the question, we all know generally that Frontline, Revolution and most meds you get from Vets work fine. I've used Frontline myself and aside from it wearing off early, didn't seem to have much adverse affect on my cat. But these OTC's can't ALL be that bad, can they. Otherwise, with the thousands if not millions they sell, they would have an epidemic upon release to the

public. Now I don't want to risk my kittens lives either but if a OTC does work, I think we should support it and not just ASSUME all OTC's are fatal for pets. Otherwise Frontline and Revolution will be the only products on the market. It's the OTC's that keep the pet medicine market low. Anyways, enough of my rant.

Here's the Question:
Have you ever used an OTC flea medication before and what happen, good or bad. Let's see the percentage at least among this group who've had good or bad reaction. Please only list your own pet, use and experience and not what you have heard. Thank you.

Important, please list what brand as well. I think we can all agree that Hartz is horrible for pets. That I won't dispute.

I've never used it myself but there are enough reports on Hartz to convince me not to experiment with it.

Answer 1

I can tell you that I have not seen that many BAD reactions to most of the over the counter flea treatments..except Hartz, many reactions there...bit I HAVE seen enough cats treated with the cheap ones to know that they do not work very well.
I work at a cat shelter and have seen TONS of cats come in through the shelter or the spay/neuter clinic that were treated with the cheap stuff and they all still had fleas. No joke.
I like Zodiac sprays and bombs..if you HAVE to use either type of product....but I see no reason to use the cheap stuff and risk a total outbreak in the house,more chance of tapeworm,flea allergy dermatitis,and general unhappiness. Advantage is no longer so much more expensive than the cheap stuff. You can get soem pretty good deals online and with many cats, you buy the large dog Advantage and break it up into smaller doses. It is the same strength for the dogs and cats, there is just more of it in the dog tubes. We use strickly the large dog at the shelter. Much cheaper!!!! One large dog tube can treat 5-8 cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ditch the cheap stuff!!!!

I have seen 5 deadly reactions where the owner applied a DOG tube to the cat by mistake. With many of the products, they are sold next to each other and a mistake can easily be made. I have seen this happen several other times, but in the 5 cases the cat died.
Really, I do not think the cats and kittens will drop dead, but the degree to which they work is a real question!!! ANd lets say in a few days you see it DOES NOT work too well. You are SOL for a while!!!!! You cannot go and sick more products on it while it still had that chemical in the bloodstream!!!!! At least with Advantage, you can reapply after the first week for a really bad outbreak.

The one that caused the death of three of the 5 cats was Bio-Spot.......at a dog dose.
My mom has applied a large dog dose of Advantage to her cat THREE months in a row, and there were NO side effects...no fleas either!!!!

Answer 2

I am not following your stipulation here and I would like to explain about the OTC products.

Those insecticides or medications are ones that do not require a veterinarian prescription so anybody can produce them, not a pharmacist. They are items that vets have found to be ineffective or dangerous for use on animals. I think this may be particularly true of wormers -- because there are three types of worms that cats get and the particular worm has its own effective and safe treatment. If you use an OTC pill you may not be getting at the right worm. And you are putting poison into your cat's body.

Also people tend to think that more is better when it comes to flea treatment and don't wait for the medicine to take effect. So they overdose there too. Much to the detriment of many cats and kittens who can be damaged neurologically by too much.

Answer 3

To me, my cat's life is not worth the $10 I would save on a more shady product. I would never forgive myself if there were a problem.

If fleas are a major concern and you are worried about the spot treatments, talk to your vet about other flea control options. Eliminating fleas from the animal and from your house, essentially setting a clean baseline, and then keeping your animals indoors is the easiest way to prevent fleas. I've only had 2 flea issues in the 15 years that I've had my indoor cats. Both were remedied by flea combing and/or one treatment of Frontline. Getting to the source is a great way to prevent future infestations.

Good luck to you! : )

Answer 4

i had a flea collar that is usually good for 30 days on my cat at the expiration of the flea collar i bought hartz drops and put them on my cat at around 8pm on a friday evening..by 6 am the next morning i awoke to my cat having a continuous seizure i immediately took her to the emergency vet they bathed her and put an iv in her to flush out what had gotten into her bloodstream and she stayed in the hospital all day sat and was released to me 14 hours later at the cost of over $400...i am an activist to prevent anyone from using these poisionous products on animals the vet told me that hartz and most otc flea drops are pure poision...ask a vets opinion if you like they will tell you much the same

Answer 5

Yes I have, many times, and I have had no bad reactions and it worked fine. I think it was either Revolution or Advantage. But don't buy those cheap flea medications. You have to shell out real money for the real stuff.

Answer 6

I totally recommend Advantage- i used OTC once and while there were no adverse health affects, my cats were greasy for days- it was disgusting. Advantage is worth the extra money!