Beware What You Spray

I usually spray all the dogs with a well known flea and tick spray every few weeks or so and did so again on Friday. For once I decided to read the instructions and discovered to my astonishment that you need two spays per kilo, a lot more than I had been giving them. I shampooed them outside using the hose to rinse them off and it was very welcome in the current 38 degree (100F) heat I'm sure.

I sprayed Maia and Gassi with no problems and decided to give 35 kilko ZsaZsa a few more that the usual ten or so sprays. Nowhere near the 70 recommended, but about 35 I suppose. All was well, then a  short time later she started attacking her front paw, chewing and licking it. She also threw up in the evening. We had a restless Friday night as she scratched at the door to get out at about 3.30am and then ate a load of grass. She threw up again on Saturday morning and her paw was again getting the chewing treatment. She had licked it almost raw between the toes and so was having trouble walking on it. She was wriggling on the ground on her back too as if she was really itchy. Maia also threw up.

Despite being a lab, ZsaZsa has a delicate stomach, and eating the slightest weird thing can make her sick so I was not too concerned as I was sure it would pass. I thought maybe she had a bite or something on her paw.

Saturday night I was up twice in the night with her. She vomited again and had diarrhoea and didn't eat her breakfast. For foodaholic ZsaZsa this is unheard of. I had become increasinly convinced that it was my spraying her with so much flea stuff that was to blame. I went online and Googled the product and 'allergic reaction' was horrified at some of the comments and experiences people had been through. Some dogs had even died for God's sake, mostly with the spot on treatment. But almost all the symptoms were the same as hers. I raced downstairs took her outside and shampooed her thoroughly. Something else I didn't know was that this spray is systemic – ie absorbed into the dog's body and then excreted through the skin and so I know she would have already got a dose in her body that would take about six weeks to pass out of her system, although I read somewhere else that it stays in the body for ten years. Still, the shampooing would help and it seemed to. I did a spot of hands on healing too, thinking that would do no harm and she stretched out and sighed. Maia lay down next to her and Gassie did the same. Animals sense when you are healing and seem to absorb the vibes from the animal being worked on.

I shampooed her a second time about two hours later and she has improved steadily since then and today, Monday she is her old self again.

Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe it was something she ate. I'm not going to state that it was definitely the spray, as we have used it on her all her life with few problems (although she almost always throws up afterwards) and she is now six. Saying that, I will never ever use it on her again.