SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT: "Cat Fight" Convulsions. Loss of balance. Could a flea treatment for cats cause this? CBS 2's David Goldstein investigates a popular product that might be dangerous for your kitty. Tonight on CBS 2 News @ 11Sneak Peek
Nov 13, 2003 8:58 pm US/Pacific (KCBS)Convulsions. Loss of balance. Could a flea treatment for cats cause this? CBS 2's David Goldstein investigates a popular product that might be dangerous for your kitty.
"Cat Fight" originally aired Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 11 p.m.
This is not how you want to see your family cat: shaking, falling over, violently ill.
Home video taken at a vet's office shows two very sick cats. Their owners say a popular over-the-counter flea and tick medication sent their cats into convulsions.
Stephanie Simao has seen the same symptoms in her cat. She says she doesn't know what she would have done if Ruckus would have died.
This cat lover cares for a colony of cats, including three of her own, including Ruckus. Last year when he got fleas, she purchased Hartz Advanced Care flea and tick drops.
Simao says within 20 minutes Ruckus was dizzy, uncoordinated and having trouble walking.
Stephanie took Ruckus to an emergency animal clinic, where they washed him to try to get rid of the medication. But she says Ruckus suffered permanent nerve damage.
David Goldstein: "Do you think he was poisoned?"
Simao: "I know he was, there's no doubt in mind."
But Ruckus was one of the lucky ones.
Mike Groves now spends his afternoons passing out flyers alerting his neighbors to the dangers of Hartz flea and tick drops.
Earlier this year, his cat Goldie died after he claims he followed the directions on the label. Now he wants to warn others.
Groves: "I want Hartz to know the product is poison. It's killing animals, it's making animals sick."
The Hartz Mountain Company is one of the most recognizable names in the pet business. Their flea and tick drops for cats have been around for a number of years and the ingredients have been approved by the EPA. But veterinarians around the country have seen problems.
Dr. John Condello: "They'd be sitting there jerking and twitching."
Dr. Condello says he's had two cases in the past month where cats have had an adverse reaction to the Hartz drops.
Dr. Condello: "I do advise clients not to use this product because my experience has been I've seen some cats quite ill from the product."
So has the EPA. The agency received 5,000 complaints about the drops before ordering Hartz to re-label the product last year.
But even with the new labels the agency logged more than 1,400 complaints in the first six months of this year. And the agency has questions about its safety.
In documents obtained by CBS 2's Special Assignment, the EPA says the product should be re-evaluated. The agency ordered Hartz to conduct additional studies and to keep track of complaints.
But in a satellite interview from New York, Hartz was providing few answers.
David Goldstein: "How many complaints has Hartz received from cat owners?"
Hartz Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Albert Ahn: "I don't have that information readily available."
Dr. Ahn wouldn't tell us about complaints, but claimed the numbers were much less than what we might think.
Dr. Ahn: "It's actually considerably smaller."
Goldstein: "Give me the number, doctor."
Dr. Ahn: "I don't have that right now."
Goldstein: "You set up this interview and Hartz wanted to respond to the complaints from our viewers and I appreciate that, but you're not prepared to give me any answers?"
Dr. Ahn: "I'm happy to get back to you with that information."
But they never provided any hard numbers, saying "It is misleading to look at an absolute number of alleged incidents," without taking into consideration that Hartz sells more products than anyone else.
Simao has her numbers. She started an online petition and has collected more than 1,700 signatures.
"I see more posts every week," she says. "This can't be allowed to go on. Somebody has got to stop it."
Hartz counters by saying that 90 percent of the thousands of complaints may also have mistakenly included a competitors product, or misuse on the part of the cat owner. But they provided no documents to back up the claims.
The EPA is still investigating.
Additional Info:
If your cat has had some of the same symptoms described here after using the Hartz product, contact your veterinarian, or call Hartz at 1-800-275-1414 or the Animal Poison Control Center at 1-800-548-2423 (There is a $30.00 charge for this service.)
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