Harry Potter and The Deathly Flea Dip

OK, so the title is a bad play on words, but it fits the blog.

I finally finished reading the last Harry Potter book yesterday. Good book and a good series. I was satisfied with the ending. I don't want to write to much in case some one reads this and I spoil the ending. I have enjoyed reading all the Harry Potter books and I have enjoyed the movie versions of them as well.

As far as the deathly flea dip...I purchased a package of Sergants Gold Squeeze-On Flea Control for our family dog. I followed the directions carefully and applied the product. Within 4 hours our dog was acting very strange. His head would involuntarily twitch and shake, one of his back legs did the same, and then he started wheezing when he breathed. I looked the product up on the Internet to see if anyone else had this problem. I found several sites telling me that their pets almost died after using this product and some small animals, especially cats, did die. I called the 1-800 emergency number on the back of the package and talked to someone who told me to wash the product off and give my dog Benadryl. The next morning our dog was still twitching, despite the baths and Benadryl. I called the 1-800 number for customer service on the back of the package and this time reported the product to the Sergeant's Company. They told me to take our dog to the vet and have him checked out in case their was a dangerous reaction to their product. I took our dog to the vet, and the vet told me that they get reports frequently about the squeeze on flea products (not just Sergeant's), except for Frontline products. The squeeze on products can have adverse affects on small pets' nervous systems, that can sometimes be deadly. The vet proceeded to give our dog a muscle relaxer and doggy Valium to try and calm his nerves. If the shaking does not stop after the weekend, the vet will do a blood test to see if she can narrow down the problem further.

What a scare! My kids are gone for the week and I almost kill our dog with a bad product. What really makes me mad about this is that the Sergeant's company did not even put warnings on the package telling the symptoms of negative reactions to their products on pets. It does say if their is a negative reaction to wash off the product immediately. That's it! No warnings about shaking, wheezing, nerve damage or possible death. I am not a suing man, but if our dog dies, I will expect Sergeant's to pay. Not only is our dog just an investment of money, but he is also a family member. Be warned, DO NOT USE SQUEEZE ON FLEA CONTROL PRODUCTS, UNLESS THEY ARE APPROVED BY YOUR VET! THEY COULD KILL YOU PET!