Spot On Flea Treatment melts Plastic Crate to Dog

Written By: Susan Thixton
10-15-2009
Categorized in: Pets

As if there aren’t enough worries with spot-on flea treatments for pets, here’s a new one to add to the list. VinNews.com reports that Advantage flea treatment dissolved a plastic dog crate gluing a dog to the crate floor.

When the poodle wouldn’t come out of its crate, dog and crate had to be taken to the vet. “Following two hours of sleuthing, Dr. Dhalwal concluded that benzyl alcohol, an inactive ingredient in Advantage, was to blame.”

“Dhaliwal said the owner of the dog, a 15-year-old poodle mix, had applied Advantage to the dog before bedtime. He speculated that the dog rolled over in the crate before the liquid pesticide dried. Presumably, residue of the product made contact with the plastic floor of the crate, causing the plastic to dissolve and “glue” the dog in place overnight.”

Per research provided by VinNews.com, benzyl alcohol “can extract and dissolve polystyrene plastic and may attack other plastics.” A pet owner won’t even find this chemical listed in the ingredient panel, “as manufacturers are not required to list inactive ingredients.”

To read the full VinNews.com story, visit http://news.vin.com/vinnews.aspx?articleId=14061

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com

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Comments (4)

Cameron

Said this on 10-16-2009 At 08:14 am

Thank you Susan... for keeping us current on petsumer product issues.

Reply to this Comment

Kathy

Said this on 10-16-2009 At 03:45 pm

I love it! After reading the wonderful article on Advantage Flea Control gluing a dog to its crate, I scroll down and see an "Ad By Google" for that very product. Ironic! Thanks, Susan for making us aware of this problem.

Reply to this Comment

Moll

Said this on 10-17-2009 At 12:38 am

A pet owner won’t even find this chemical listed in the ingredient panel, “as manufacturers are not required to list inactive ingredients.”
Benzyl alcohol sounds pretty ACTIVE to me, and lethal!!!

Reply to this Comment

Amaranth

Said this on 11-5-2009 At 08:05 pm

If you look at benzoic acid, the chemical that (both naturally occurring and man-made) benzyl alcohol derives from, scientists have been aware for a long time that cats are extremely sensitive to it. There's no good reason for the stuff to be anywhere near pets. Then there's the part where I'm allergic to all benzoic acid derivatives. Whether ingested or topical, I get chemical burns on contact. It would be nice to know what I'm being exposed to when I treat my animals.

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