Dog flea treatment can kill cats.

[moonshadow]

This warning is in the newspaper so I thought I would pass it on. Hundreds of cats are dying each year as their owners are treating them with dog flea treatments.Over the counter treatment Permethrin which is in Bob Martin dog spot on, Johnson's Insecticidal flea and tick drops, Wilko dog flea drops and Armitage flea and tick drops for dogs are fatal to 1 in 10 cats and leaves 88% twitching and suffering convulsions. Permethrin is so dangerous that cats will fall sick by sharing bedding with recently treated dogs. Some people either use them accidentally or to save money, split the doses between their cats and dogs.

[Roughquest]

Yep, this happened to a 6 month old kitten of mine, my b/f treated him with the very same drops, while I was out of the house one evening, came down to wee kitten convulsing badly in the hall, eyes staring and pupils fixed, rushed him to vets at 4a.m. and he was dead by 10.00am - vets did all they could, washed him etc, gave him fluids, but the damage had been done, awful very distressing time, took me ages to get over that....makes me feel ill thinking about what that poor cat went through and I miss him, he was so, so lovely.

[moonshadow]

The same thing happened to my friends cat ,Roughquest, but until I read that article I didn't know it was dangerous to let them share bedding with recently treated dogs. After I posted this today it came on the lunchtime news and the vet said he gets at least three a week at his practice. I'm so sorry your little one didn't make it.

[Kleiber]

If pet owners would only READ the leaflet that comes with the medication, they would see that you can't use dog flea treatments on cats!! I agree, moonshadow, accidents can happen, but some folk are just totally thick or irresponsible!!

[pastafreak]

I read that also-it said that treated dogs should be kept seperate from any cats in the house for 72 hrs. They also must not share the same grooming tools.

[lankeela]

I've mentioned before about spot on treatments, I wouldn't use them on either a cat or a dog. I'd only ever use Frontline spray and then with caution and following instructions.