Are Over-the-Counter Flea-and-Tick Treatments Really Safe for Dogs and Cats?

By M.B. Pell and Jillian Olsen | December 16, 2008

Last June Diane Bromenschenkel applied a flea-and-tick product to her English pointer, Wings, so the dog wouldn’t get ticks while hunting pheasant in the tall grasslands of western Idaho. Wings, a healthy five-year-old with a sleek white coat and a chocolate brown mask, enjoyed long walks in the woods, bacon treats, and burying things in the yard. But three months after the pesticide was applied, the animal was dead. Read more

• Cautionary Tales

  Bad Reactions and Frantic Trips to the Vet

• Pet Owners Find Little Comfort in Court

  Tough Cases, Modest Payments

• Flea Poisons: The Danger to Humans

  EPA Believes Risks Are Acceptable; Others Aren’t so Sure

1. Articles

Introduction: ‘Safe’ Pesticides Now First in Poisonings

By M.B. Pell and Jim Morris | July 30, 2008

Two-and-a-half-year-old Amber Nickol McKeown had head lice. Her mother, Eileen, put the child in a warm bath and massaged Osco Lice Treatment Shampoo into her scalp. Problem solved. Read more

2. Pets and Pesticides: Let’s Be Careful Out There

   Are Over-the-Counter Flea-and-Tick Treatments Really Safe for Dogs and Cats?

3. World Wide Web of Pesticides Can Endanger Consumers

   The Internet Presents a Unique Challenge for Pesticide Regulators

4. A Checkered Past

   The EPA’s Erratic Effort to Monitor Pesticide Poisonings