Question about Frontline

[momcat]

Yesterday I was talking to someone about cats and a question came up. About three years ago my friend had a very healthy and well cared for 5 year old female cat. Since kitty went outside at times and there are woods behind their house, she asked her vet about flea and tick protection, the vet gave her Frontline. She's a health care professional and knows the importance of following directions to the letter. She applied it exactly as directed but kitty died 2 days later. There were no signs of injury, no change of food, the only different thing was the Frontline. When she called, her vet said he never saw or heard of any problems with Frontline. Is anyone aware of any problems or side effects from Frontline?

[Logan]

The only "horror" stories I have heard about with Frontline or Advantage is if people give the dog formula by mistake or try to use the dog formula on their cats, in smaller quantities, to save money, or apply it to a young kitten, below their recommended weight and age.

If you study on this stuff, the dog formula contains a substance that is highly toxic to cats in many cases. Wish I could tell you exactly the name right this second, but I can't remember anything except it starts with a "P". Anyway, the cat formula is different, and pound for pound, is far more expensive than the dog formula.

We have never had a problem using Frontline Plus on our cats.

[CathyBogart]

I was aware of problems with Hartz, but not frontline. When it happened, I would have suggested a necropsy on the cat.

[catnapper]

Outdoor kitty? She could have eaten one of hundreds of things that could have caused her death. She could have licked a puddle of fluid from a leaky car, eaten a poisonous plant... you name it.

Momcat is right about people using the dog formula, but if it came directly from the vet, that wouldn't have been the case.

[sirrahbed]

This is awful!

I am trying to think of problems with these flea products - and someone here - jazzcat I think?? - used one from the vet (NOT Advantage) and it caused a bad rash and hairloss. Maybe she will check in...

Then, Hartz drops has been taken off the market because they caused all sorts of problems and yes, some deaths, too.

Another product is Revolution drops and this may or may not have been the one that caused problems with the PT member I am thinking of.

But I wanted to clarify one thing from your post Logan - about using Advantage (NOT Advantix) dog product on cats. With Advantage by Bayer - the formula for cats and dogs in exactly the same. The substance used in this product - for both cats and dogs - is called Imidacloprid.

I have no idea what is in the other products and am sorry to read about this kitty who died. I had thought that Frontline was a very good product and had to use it years ago on all my cats - but used the Frontline spray that is applied and left to dry - I did NOT use the newer Frontline Top Spot prevention drops.

I hope that your friend contacted the company in the event that the product is causing problems with other cats - they need to know this -especially if she used the prevention drops - since they are a fairly new product.

[catmandu]

I AM SORRY,TO HEAR ABOUT THAT POOR CAT,AND SHE,IS NOW HAVING BREAKFAST,AT THE RAINBOW BRIDGE,WITH ALL THE NEW ARRIVALS,AND WANTS HER MEEOWMIE,NOT TO FEEL GUILTY,AS IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT,AND YOU WILL MEET AGAIN,ONE FINE DAY.

[CalliesMom]

I would have contacted the company as well. As already mentioned, with the kitty being indoor/outdoor, it could have come into contact with a variety of things. Poor kitty!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

We use Frontline for our cats too; never had any problem

[lvpets2002]

MMMM My babies {cats/dogs} all use Frontline & even my youngest kitten 4 months of age Splenda is on frontline & have not had any problems at all.. Sorry about your baby..