Sergeants Gold

Question
Hi Jessica,

I was researching the safety of Sergeant's Gold for cats online when I came across this site.  All I could find was the comment though from someone thanking you for sharing your bad experience with it.  Could you please tell me what happened?  I have a long haired Siamese cross and I'm concerned that he could have a reaction to it.  In the past, I had another Siamese that reacted very badly to a Zodiac product and don't want to risk any problems.  I'd really appreciate any info you can share.  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Tonda.  Actually, my cat's reaction wasn't to Sergeant's Gold in particular.  It was to another product containing a pyrethroid.  While to varying degrees, all pyrethroids are toxic to cats.  Sergeant's Gold contains etofenprox, which is a pyrethroid.  THIS IS THE SAME INGREDIENT IN ZODIAC SPOT-ON TREATMENTS,  so you can assume it may cause an adverse reaction.  Etofenprox is a safer pyrethroid than say, permethrin, for example.  However, even natural pyrethrin, the mildest of pyrethroids, is toxic if swallowed.  So I will never use another product with a pyrethroid ingredient.

It's funny you should mention the kitty that had a bad reaction was Siamese.  The cat I had the reacted badly to the flea treatment was Siamese also.  He began with foaming at the mouth and within half an hour began to convulse.  He made it to the hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU and put on fluids to flush his system.  He remained in the hospital for 3 days, but fortunately, he did fully recover.  My regular vet shook his finger at me - he'd warned not to use pyrethroids, but I thought he was being overly cautious.  After all, who would sell an unsafe treatment, right?  Wrong, unfortunately.  Many other pets and their owners have not been as fortunate as we were.  In fact, many of these products are voluntarily pulling their products from the shelves by 2007.

Personally, the only over-the-counter flea treatments I will use on my cats or recommend to others are Frontline and Advantage.  I've been using Advantage for 10 years and Frontline for about 7 and have never seen an adverse reaction, not even in tiny kittens.  They are certainly worth the extra couple bucks.