This particular shampoo contained NO FLEA OR TICK medicine. This was simply a moisturizing and cleansing shampoo that claimed to be "extremely gentle", etc etc. My vet even said that these shampoos are SUPPOSED to be formulated with consideration that animals will lick themselves after a bath and that not everyone "rinses thoroughly". She claimed my kitten would have to drink half the bottle in order to exhibit the symptoms my poor little kitten was suffering through. NOT TRUE.
I adopted a little kitten from a lady who had some in her barn. She was quite well taken care of by this couple even if they were kept in the barn. They were warm and well fed with plenty of fresh, clean water. They each had their own little kennels with beds and were obviously loved. Mama cat liked to hunt, and they let her. She would bring back rabbits for the kittens which they would eat along with the cat food the couple provided. The night we picked her up, she seemed perfectly healthy and happy. She's a big time cuddler and super, super sweet. It was obvious to us that they had actually spent time with these kittens and weren't just unloading some cats they didn't want. Since she was a barn cat and spent a lot of time outside, she needed a bath, and she needed a bath with shampoo. Water just wasn't going to cut it. I had this Hartz Oatmeal Moisturizing Shampoo under my bathroom sink so I just grabbed it and thought "a tiny little bit should be fine". I would never use flea or tick medication of any kind on a 10-week old kitten, but I figured just a plain and supposedly "gentle" shampoo would be okay for now. I was SO WRONG it hurts.
I used about a dime sized amount (if that) and washed her up good. I then rinsed her for a good 10 minutes, maybe longer. I know I rinsed her for what felt like an eternity, on purpose. I wanted to be sure I got as much of that shampoo off of her as possible, because as cats do, I knew she was going to go off and lick herself dry -- which of course she did. This was in the morning after we had picked her up and by that evening she started having small seizures. Her head would drop and wobble back and forth and a few times it looked like she was trying to shake her head but was severely lethargic. This was a small seizure. After this she would search around as if she couldn't see and then she seemed to be okay, although still pretty lethargic and slept a lot. This started around 7pm the night after I shampooed her and by 9pm she had a full blown grand mal seizure. From a standing position she fell over like a fainting goat. From that she spazzed out flipping over onto her back then onto her stomach again and began dragging her back legs as if she was paralyzed. She crawled off a little bit and then vomited violently. She would paw at the back of her head and was so out of it I thought for sure she was dying. My daughter came over to comfort both her and I and we did some research and found out that the vomiting and every other symptom she was having was a direct result of the large seizure and these symptoms can go on for hours afterward (which they did). They will vomit, appear to be blind or paralyzed at times, become disoriented, wobble when they walk, often drag their back legs and urinate or defecate where they stand as they lose all control. There was nothing I could do for her and I was devastated. I just tried to keep her as calm and quiet as I could and prayed this would stop. We called the vet and subsequently made an appointment for her to be seen the following morning.
Overnight she had two more seizures. I kept her in her kennel on my bed with lots of towels around just in case and made sure she had lots of blankets and quiet. She seemed to do okay through the night and just slept. The next morning she was still wobbly like a drunken human, but there were no more seizures or vomiting. Off to the vet we went.
She had no clue. They did bloodwork for the feline 5 which came back all negative (thank God), but aside from MRI's and extensive and expensive further testing they couldn't pin down the cause of her seizures. Again, according to her she would have had to drink half the bottle of shampoo in order for her to have such acute symptoms. I decided to just take her home and wait it out and see what happened.
Well, guess what, not one seizure since. Not one sign or symptom of any kind of illness or malady that would cause her to have seizures. Perfect health. Happy, playful, inquisitive and a giant pain in my ass just as a kitten should be! I've never been happier to have an animal drive me nuts in my life. She constantly tries to lay right on my face and I am so happy she does! This means she's back to being a normal, healthy kitten.
Moral of this story? DO NOT USE ANY HARTZ PRODUCTS ON ANY ANIMAL. EVER. A friend of mine even sent me a link to a blog of people telling their horror stories about Hartz products and the SEVERE consequences of using their supposedly "safe" products. Some animals have died.
You can view that blog here: www.hartzvictims.org
We all should seriously consider a class action lawsuit.
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