Local Veterinarian Offers Pet Safety Tips For Flea And Tick Season
By John McDevitt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Experts say it's going to potentially be one the most severe flea and tick summers in some time due to the mild winter. And a local veterinarian stresses topical pet parasiticides meant for dogs can be fatal if used on cats.
The product is the spot on flea and tick preventatives in liquid form. It's applied between the shoulder blades of dogs. But if put on a cat, it could be deadly; however there is a treatment says Philadelphia Animal hospital's Dr. Lawrence Rebbecchi.
"We probably treat a cat weekly in that inadvertent application of that dog product on a cat and it starts with neurological signs but if caught early enough there is an antidote to the toxicity."
The Environmental Protection Agency is suggesting manufacturers change the labels.
"Well the labeling is the warning not to use on cats is not obvious enough. Its very, very small so the EPA is asking the companies to make that image a lot larger so the clients are not buying that product and applying that product onto a cat."
The EPA is involved because the treatments are categorized as pesticides not drugs.
