I wrote a post about Sergeant’s SentryPro XFC topical flea and tick product almost a year and a half ago. The treatment threw Porter and Rosie into an allergic reaction that consisted of trembling, panting, scratching, and “air licking.” I made the post because I was upset. I was upset at Sergeant’s for putting the product out. I followed the directions and BOTH of my dogs has an adverse reaction. I was also upset at myself for not using my usual Frontline (which I’ve never had a problem with before or since the SentryPro incident).
So, I made the post in May of 2007. I had no idea that thousands of people would read the post, hundreds would comment, dozens would email me personally, and the post would be the number one Google search result for “SentryPro XFC.” I got mentioned on The Consumerist. Some of my readers started a class action lawsuit.
It took all of that an sixteen months, but Sergeant’s finally responded.
People who have posted a comment in the past are automatically emailed when someone makes a new comment, so hundreds of people got an email tonight with Sergeant’s reply. A few people have already started to reply …. I have a feeling this isn’t over by a long shot.
I tried it on my dog today and he is giving me fits and I don’t know what to do–I gave him a bath and rubbed anti-itch cream on his skin where he is digging it raw with his paw. I assume( it was on about 2 hrs before he started itching )it has absorbed into his skin. I am wondering how long he will suffer from the itching before he gets some relief. He ate grass outside and then he vomitted.
I just googled sentry pro XFC and saw your post. My dog is having the exact symptoms that your dogs were having. The scary part is I bought the same brand for my cat and applied it at the same time. He is a very old cat.
I’m very worried. I also, use frontline but the vet was closed at Pet Smart so I purchased the stupid, sentry pro XFC.
Now, I am deeply saddened by it. Looks like it is going to be a long night! And why haven’t they taken this off the market??
I just got back from taking my 2 year old pom to the vet after using this horrible product! the vet told me they have nothing but bad reports on sentry pro xfc. i purchased it from petsmart and when i went to return it the employee told me at least one person a week returns it after complications. one dog had a seizure and another dog began bumping into walls like it was drunk. the employee told me petsmart won’t take it off their shelves if they don’t have enough complaints. So a store that consumers trust is going to allow this product to stay because they don’t have enough complaints?! REALLY! i am disgusted in sentry pro for making a product that would harm animals and petsmart for selling it. they both know what this crap has done! my dog was restless, panting, vomiting, scratching, and foaming at the mouth because i trusted the store and read the packaging and felt safe using it on my dog. it’s back to frontline for me. the only reason i stopped using that was the price was getting outrageous. it’s not worth saving a few bucks after watching my baby suffer.
I bought Sentry pro XFC and put it on both of my dogs last night at about 7:00 pm. At about 3:00 am I woke up to a strange sound. I got up and went to check and our jack russell was coughing and gaging constantly. He couldn’t stop. Our beagle was coughing a small amount but not as much as the jack russell. The jack finally threw up and I freaked out and called the emergency vet clinic. They told me to bring him in but my fiance thought that I should wait a bit and take him to the regular vet which opened in just a couple of hours. So, we waited and Jack kept coughing and gaging. We tried to nap but he couldn’t sit still. He kept getting up and re positioning himself all night long. So, I called the vet when they opened and told them what had happened. He said to bathe them so we did and give benadryl and have them eat tuna. After that the Jack russell seems to be improving but the beagle is hoping on one foot and chewing on his feet. The vet seems to think that’s the fleas dieing. He keeps shaking his head too. The main thing the vet is concerned about it seizures and muscle spasms. So far haven’t had those but the first sign of them I am taking them in. =[ My poor babies!! I was just trying to save money and now they have to suffer. From now on it’s frontline for me.
WOW!!! Simply put same exact thing.. Vet was closed, couldnt get Frontline, wasnt prepaired because its the end of season, went to Petsmart bought this JUNK for both of my dogs, one we figured out it was burning his skin right away, we figured it was because he has very sensitive skin, we gave him a bath right away. The other one however, a bit tougher we thought he seems fine. NO WAY, he has burns on his back from this junk, he has scratched so bad that he has 3 inch circle scabs now!!!! NEVER AGAIN WILL I STRAY FROM FRONTLINE. my poor itchy dogs.. P.S. I called Petsmart explaining what happened, they say never had a problem with that product but they will pass it along.
Incident
On 11/3/08 I purchased Sentrypro XFC flea & tick squeeze on for dogs at Petco. I applied this, as directed, to my 6 month old miniature schnauzer puppy. Within a couple of hours, Harley was scratching & biting himself in the area where this product was applied. He then began to act crazy…running around the house, continually shaking his head, drooling & not able to sit still. I checked the back of the box & read that if there were signs of sensitivity from the use of Sentrypro XFC, to bathe the dog with a mild soap & to rinse with large amounts of water. I gave Harley a bath, using a mild puppy shampoo, but this did not work. Harley vomitted 2 times before I gave him a bath. After the bath there was still no change so I went online to do some research. I was totally SHOCKED at what I read about this product! There were thousands of complaints from people who experienced the same thing as I did with their pets. How in the world can this product still remain on the shelves for people to purchase???? I immediately called the Emergency Animal Hospital and I brought Harley in right away for an examination. He was given another bath, injections of Benadryl & a steroid (Dexameth Sod Phos). I was told by the veterinarian that she had seen several cases like this. I brought Harley home and he could not sit still. We were up all night, as he was unable to lay down for a minute. I gave him another bath to see if that would help, but it didn’t. This morning I went and purchased Dawn Soap Detergent as I read that this was the best thing to use to remove any oil left from Sentrypro XFC. I gave Harley his 4th bath & also gave him a half of Benadryl table (which was recommended by the vet). I went to Petco & asked to speak to the manager. I explained to her what had happened & she said that she had many people come in with the same complaint about Sentrypro XFC. She was genuinely concerned & said that she wished that she could remove this product from the shelves. She promtly refunded the money that I had paid for this product.
Damage Resulting
Total cost within 24 hours of buying and applying Sentrypro XFC to my puppy:
$18.99 + tax for SentryPro XFC (money was refunded from Petco.)
$176.20- Emergency Animal Hospital Bill
$ 2.99 - Dawn Soap Detergent to bathe Harley
$ 5.00 - Benadryl
This expense is a huge burden to me. I am a single mom who works paycheck to paycheck. I never have any extra money to put aside & have a difficult time paying my monthly bills. I had to put the vet bill on my credit card. This was so upsetting to have my little puppy go through this & I have so much GUILT for applying this poisonous crap to my dog! Consumers trust that the products on the market are safe for their pets. I cannot believe how many pets have suffered and it’s a shame that SentryPro XFC is still available for purchase. Unfortunately there will be many, many more helpless pets that will experience the same effects that my poor Harley had to go through. I only wish there was something that I could do to stop this from happening again!
4 and half hours ago my ordeal began. I decided to pick up SENTRYPRO XFC at PetSmart because it was Sunday and the vet wasn’t open. at 7pm I applied the crap to my 1 yr old Shih Tzu and my 2 1/2 yr. old Jug. Within an hour both dogs started running around the house like 2 crazed beasts, the Jug started to whine uncontrolably while the Shih Tzu started licking the air.About 8:30pm both dogs started this aweful cough sorta like a reverse sneeze then the Shih Tzu started jumping off and on the couch and kept repositioning herself like she couldn’t get comfortable. She started running around and stopped at my feet as soon as I seen her eyes all bugged out I started to get a little worried. I picked her up and thats when the seizure like activity began. I immediately read the box to see what to do incase of ad reaction, it simply said bathe dog with mild soap and use large amounts of water. Ok simple enough right? NO WHERE CLOSE! I bathed btoh dogs and the Jug seemed to calm down once he was dry, no such luck for the Shih Tzu, she started trembling and her legs were jerking and she kept throwing her head back coughing again. by this time it is 9:30pm. I called local Vetinary Hospitals and they all were closed and gave the number to the nearest trauma center. I called the trauma center and the receptionist told me to wait an hour because the Vet was in surgery. I said ok I would watch her. 10 minutes off the phone and her condition worsened. I grabbed her and jumped in the car and rushed her there. The Vet said this is quite serious because there are 2 pesticides listed on the box the one she has never heard of, she contacted poison control and they recomended 24 hour observation. So as I type my little baby girl is in a cage with an IV doped up on valuim to ease the muscle spasms, I have to pick her up at 8am only to transfer her to a clinic that can keep her full time until she gets better.
So far I have spent $20 on SENTRYPRO
$617.00 to admit her to the emergency trauma center. who knows what tomorrows bills will be! At this point I don’t care how much it costs to get her better because I will get that money back one way or another. Even if I have to sue the bastards! I am now going to purchase Frontline for the whole yr. round not just March-October! Now I feel so guilty for not waiting until tomorrow or I should say today to go to the vet and pick up Frontline.
Please pray for Izzie the Shih Tzu!
I bathed my baby shih tzu this am and applied Hartz Gold after she had dried. About 2 hours later she began having a very bad reaction — foaming at mouth, bad scratching, and noticeable suffering. We’ve rushed her to the vet for help. They are going to bathe her several times, administer benadryl and watch her closely. I do not understand how these products can stay on the market. We must get the word out asap to save other animals from this poison!
11-28-08 I have a King Charles Cavalier that is six months old. Noticed a flea on him (Charlie) and wanted to start a treatment for fleas right a way. Went to PetsMart and purchased Sentry Pro XFC. As soon as I applied it to Charlie he started running around the room trying to rug off what I have just put on this back. I thought this reaction was probably normal. About an hour later, Charlie started turning circles whining as if in pain. We I would pick him up and hold him in my arms we would be calm, but as soon as I put him down, he would start running a whining while looking for a place to hide. I caled by vets office and the office manager got in contact with the vet who was out of the office and he said if Charlie was not vomiting, drulling or had diarea he would be okay, but to wash off the Sentry Pro XFC using something like Dawn liquid several times. I have done all that. It has been about 10 hours since I put the Sentry Pro XFC on Charlie and he appears to be feeling somwhat better. He is still not acting normal, but I hope by tomorrow he will be. Tomorrow I will be paying PetsMart a visit it get my money back and demand they remove a product that adversally affects so many pets.
11-28-08 This is unreal! My 5 month old puppy is currently in critical care overnight at the vet, she was drooling, vomiting, beginning to foam at the mouth, she was having tremors in the car on the way to the vet. Thank god we got her there and treatment before she had a seizure. We are looking at a $700 + vet bill tomorrow morning. Happy Holidays Sentry! This stuff is poison!
To everyone who has had this problem:
I have notified the FDA in a formal complaint of thos issue. They have a form to fill out on their website. just print it out and have your vet fill out some of the info and send it to the FDA they actually have a self addressed portion that prints out with the form. I reccommend anyone who has had their pets have an adverse reaction to Sentry Pro do the same. If we flood the FDA with these complaints maybe they can step in and do something. Petsmart will not remove the product from the shelf unless there is a recall on the product by the manufacturer. So how many dogs have to suffer before they take it off the shelf. I feel as though Sergeants is doing their clinical trials in the community at our cost and the cost of our pets health. Also on the box there is a 24 hour hotline # call them ASAP! I called and the intake person seemed a little cold but there was a consumer realtions person who called a few times to take updates on Izzie’s condition and sent me documentation to fill out and send back with the vets reports. She said they will review the case for a refund of the medical costs. Save the box and any unused product as you will have to send that with the documentation. I made copies of everything.
We just recently moved to CA from OH (where you don’t need to treat for fleas in the winter) so, we were caught off guard by our dogs itching. Because of the move, money was tight, so we chose to use SentryPro XFC this month instead of our usual Frontline…Bad idea! I would rather each Ramen Noodles every day in order to provide my dogs with Frontline. Both my lab and boxer are still itching (we haven’t found any fleas or eggs), and my usually calm boxer has diarrhea and cna’t lay still for more than 30 seconds…he is constantly pacing the house. Although not as serious as some of the other horror stories, I still feel awful, because my dogs can’t DO anything to help themselves!
We just moved from Brazil to Augusta, GA and we’ve used Frontline since Philly, a lovely Maltese, was a puppy with great results. We could not find it at PetSmart and bought SentryPro XFC instead. In 20 minutes Philly was itching and in 40 minutes we had to take her to the Vet. This is the second night in the Hospital and she does not seem to get better. She has the same symptons as the other dogs. It is heartbraking. Where are the authorities of this country?