Many are carcinogens and endocrine disruptors as well and may contribute to the increasing incidence of cancer and diseases of the thyroid and adrenal glands in dogs and cats, if not also to cognitive and behavioral problems. One commonly seen pet reaction is panic which, as an ethologist, I interpret as a state of terror caused by the neuro-excitatory effects of some insecticides, sometimes manifest also as transient tremors and ataxia, other times permanent damage with epileptiform seizures or death. I have received many letters over the past two decades from readers of my nationally syndicated newspaper column Animal Doctor whose cats and dogs had adverse reactions to various flea and tick treatments. ![]() Since that time there has been little done except adding more details on packaging with regard to application and possible adverse reactions. The US government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)announced in May 2009 that it would conduct a thorough investigation of topical anti-flea and tick products used on dogs and cats after some 44,000 reports of adverse reactions were received by the EPA in 2008. At least one dog had seizures when actually taken off fiprinil-containing Front Line flea and tick treatment, a rarely reported withdrawal effect. The increased incidence of seizures in dogs and cats I believe correlates with the increased use of fiprinil and other insecticides regularly applied to companion animals across the world. But they too can compromise the liver, immune and neuroendocrine systems of already immuno-compromized dogs suffering from the harmful side effects of prior drugs and vaccines, signs being more severe in some breeds than others. The latest widely used ‘preventive’ flea and tick drugs that are given orally or are injected or put on the skin and absorbed transdermally, are said to be safer for companion animals than organochloride and other petrochemical pesticides. Petrochemical pesticides have been manufactured and used as dips, powders, sprays, feed-additives and injections for farmed (food) animals, including laying hens and for companion animals. These latter petrochemicals were often quite effective however in treating some skin diseases and ectoparasites and became part of the agrichemical revolution after World war 11 that lead to the manufacture of the first generation of chemically engineered pesticides. Creosote, coal tar, tractor sump oil and grease were cheaper but more injurious substitutes for Stockholm tar. Crushed rock sulfur was often added, along with lard. It is a distillate from pine wood and was popular in the last century as a hoof dressing and wound protectant. ![]() Stockholm tar was an old farm remedy for all manner of skin diseases in livestock. Reference is also made to the widespread use of these substances on farmed animals. Their short-term use in emergency situations of confirmed presence of ectoparasites on companion animals may be justified with caution when all other control measures have failed. This review of current products on the market being sold to kill fleas, ticks and other insects on dogs and cats, assessment of their documented insecticidal action and incidence of harmful side-effects indicates their long-term use for prevention, widely practiced, should be avoided for animal and public health and environmental reasons.
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