Popular flea collar linked to almost 1700 pet deaths. EPA has issued no warning | Hacker News Reader

Popular flea collar linked to almost 1700 pet deaths. EPA has issued no warning

usatoday.com

53 pointsbeefcubebrush13 comments

I've had many cats in my lifetime. All the ones I had which we used flee collars eventually died of some breast tumor/ liver/kidney failure early in life around 5 cats died under 5 to 6yrs. We eventually stopped treating fleas, we just washed them, and sprayed our home, it was a much smarter solution. our last batch of 4 siamese all lived into their late teens, having never been given flea products.

How often do you need to wash them for it to be effective?

The health of pets matter. We treat a couple of billion people worse, including a small percent of people within our rich population.

If pets are what it takes to help those billions, I think we should look into this.

Pet owners are also an unchecked force, this could all be BS. Without autopsies people quickly make stuff up. But I think it's worth a thought

"What veterinarians know that physicians don't" - https://www.ted.com/talks/barbara_natterson_horowitz_what_ve...

Has the same been observed in spot-on treatments?

I treat my cat with imidacloprid, as it is bunny safe and I don't want my rabbit potentially being harmed by being in close proximity to the cat. It looks like imidacloprid is one of the active ingredients in this collar, however.

So far I've not observed any adverse effects in either animal, but this does concern me a lot. Bizarrely, I take care of their health more than I do my own...

"In addition, in 2010, the EPA increased label requirements and limited some inert ingredients in spot-on treatments, which are applied to a specific area of a pet. This happened after incident data showed the treatments were causing hundreds of pet deaths, as well as issues such as irritation, rashes and hair loss, gastrointestinal problems and seizures."

This story is so strange.

> her veterinarian recommended she purchase one

Every small animal veterinarian I've ever met (probably dozens at this point) has said in no uncertain terms that no one should ever use flea collars on their pets.

I wonder why this one said otherwise.

My vet recommends the Seresto collar. I asked again yesterday, and they reiterated that they haven't changed their minds on that. (I'll inquire with them again as new information comes out.)

This is a vet I trust very much, and who has given my cats decades of excellent life. They do not sell it directly and do not make a profit on it.

I don't know what the difference is between my vet and the ones you know. Do your vets recommend the drops instead? I use the collar because one of my cats did not react well to the drops. (Nothing serious, but he had a bald patch.)

I've never had a problem with the Seresto collars. Which isn't to doubt the article; the incidence of problems is high enough to be of serious concern but low enough that it's not surprising that I would observe no issues. I trust my vet will keep me posted.

> Do your vets recommend the drops instead?

Well, "the drops" is a broad category. They typically recommend certain spot treatments and offer to administer it for free because the most common reason for problems is misapplication and they really do care about the health and safety of your pet. Most of these are friends or family who happen to be vets and not my pet's vet, but the same applies.

> I use the collar because one of my cats did not react well to the drops.

It stands to reason that even a potentially dangerous treatment could be better than no treatment at all when the standard front line treatment fails. I think there's also definitely an element of "now that you know it works and didn't instantly kill your cat maybe switching to something else introduces risk unnecessarily". It's probably best to keep following your vet's advice for your cats' specific circumstances.

From a big picture perspective? If everybody stopped using pesticides on pets, would the risks associated with pests outweigh the risks presented by the pesticides?

when has a cat ever died of having fleas?

Also my question. Just not sarcastically

There are a number of flea-borne illnesses:

https://www.dvm360.com/view/feline-fleas-and-flea-borne-dise...

They appear to be rarely deadly, but unpleasant. The fleas themselves are also deeply unpleasant, both to the pets and to the humans in their houses. If your pets brought in fleas, you would almost certainly want to treat the house with a pesticide bomb.

Inquiring further on the particulars of pesticides, their environments, and applications might be a good place to start to answer the general question.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com