My name is Wendy Hale-Adams and I am sharing the story of our family pet Mr. Mc Nalley.
Our 7 year old cat was a wonderful part of our family and he was taken from us tragically by flea medicine. I thought I was doing something good for him and instead I unconsciously poisoned a family member. My guilt is unbearable, but what would be more unbearable would be if I stayed silent so more animals suffered a tragic horrendous death that is preventable. It is only preventable if people know!!!
Our cat was given flea medicine and within an hour he was foaming at the mouth and having tremors. I rushed him to the emergency vet clinic and they quickly asked about flea medicine. At that point they rushed him to the back and began their work to save his life. The vet came and said to me and my 11 yr. old son that our cat had Pyrethrin Toxicity. They started IV fluids and gave him a bath, of course they had to sedate him in order to do this. My son and I sat in the room listening to our cat yowl in pain. They sent us home with instructions to come back in the morning and move him to his regular vet to be monitored for the day. This is what we did, and the outcome looked good. At this point he was responsive, and even wanted to be loved. I had him monitored at my vet and at the end of the day they said I could bring him home, although he was having small seizures, which I understood would eventually go away. I had his seizure meds and brought him home to be more comfortable. I put him in a small area with food/water and cat box as to monitor him. I watched him all night having small seizure every hour. I talked and soothed him through this. When it was time for his meds I gave them to him. Our Mc Nalley was eating/drinking and using the cat box. The next morning I thought he was getting better as he sat and cleaned himself, but then he started seizing again and acting crazy, almost fighting with himself. I rushed him to the vet even though they weren’t open yet, confident that someone would be there. 5 minutes later I am pounding on the window of the vet sobbing, they all run out and our cat is seizing so badly you can’t even hold the cat carrier. Our Mc Nalley never made it back from that seizure, he was comatosed. We tried everything but his fever had gone so high, then he needed water pulled from his brain, his glucose level dropped, then he needed plasma. By the next day he was in renal failure.
3 days is how long I let it go on. My son kept saying “he’s so strong, he has never been sick, please mom just one more day”. You see I had explain to my son about a choice to let him go if I thought he was in pain and agony! I should of let him go after the last horrible seizure, but I still thought there might be hope! I was wrong! I sat with our family cat while the vet administered the final dose of medicine. I told him how sorry I was and that I gave him that flea medicine, I told him I would do everything I could to share our story, I told him we loved him and to be at peace. He looked at me with the one eye that would open, his body immobile, praying he could hear me.
We grieve, it has been 4 days and my son has bad dreams, our 14 yr. old German Shepherd is sad without her baby. She adopted him when he was a kitten, so cute. And I write this letter in hopes that I can get the word out to not use over the counter flea meds on your beloved family pets. I watch the news, I read the paper, in my 40+ yrs. I never heard anything about this poisoning. In fact this toxic drug is not even listed on the packaging for ingredients. How can this be? The EPA has said there is an increase in reports about this toxic drug. Our economy is down so people are penny pinching. When it comes to your pets, the cost is much higher in the end!
Please help get the word out!
You can reach me through mcnalleysite@aol.com