# Bob Martin spot on side effects - dog put down



## tonityler83 (Apr 6, 2012)

Hi a few months ago we used spot on on our family dog as we found a couple of stray fleas and the grand daughter was coming over ( normally we used front line and wish i had this time). in the space of 24 hours it left our dog fitting and lead to kidney failure and out dog being put to sleep. 

I spoke to Bob Martin and they were no hope ( they didnt seem to understand the hurt it causes to lose a much loved animal) and because of this i am writting to ask for any other cases like this to come forward so i can build a stronger case and hopefully lead to bob Martin spot on being takien of all shelves. If you could please help me in this battle please reply below or send private message 

Thanks for your time


----------



## Gemmaa (Jul 19, 2009)

Really sorry to hear that.

Bob Martin wormers (the breeder gave it to him) gave Danny awful diarrhoea. I think there's also some Bob Martin hate groups on facebook, might want to look them up.


----------



## Ianthi (Oct 21, 2008)

I'm so very sorry to hear about your dog.

I've certainly heard about cats suffering very severe side-effects from the BM flea treatment, but can't recall hearing of any instances in dogs. I know once when I googled the product, the reviews yielded some horrifying results. 

Welcome to PF, though sorry it's under such sad circumstances.


----------



## Dogless (Feb 26, 2010)

I am sorry to hear about your dog and wish you luck in your search for others who can be of help to you. I haven't heard anything positive about BM treatments, but they do keep on selling.


----------



## Pointermum (Jul 2, 2010)

Sorry for your loss, i have never used it and will make sure a say well clear of it :frown2:


----------



## BumbleFluff (Jul 23, 2011)

I havent heard anything bad or good about Bob martin  I have a BM flea collar on my greyhound and havent had any negative effects

Im very sorry to hear about your dog


----------



## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

There are side effects to all medication, and there have been similar posts on several forum re other flea treatments by other makers.

Nothing in life is risk free and Bob Martin's is a veterinary licensed medicine available OTC.

It is really important that owners read the warnings and contra indications on the accompanying paperwork before administering and why it is often better to get flea treatments from the vet.

Sorry for your loss


----------



## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

gosh thats dreadful,im so sorry for your loss, ive never used Bob Martins and never would, but i'll certainly warn other people about it.


----------



## tonityler83 (Apr 6, 2012)

smokeybear said:


> There are side effects to all medication, and there have been similar posts on several forum re other flea treatments by other makers.
> 
> Nothing in life is risk free and Bob Martin's is a veterinary licensed medicine available OTC.
> 
> ...


Hi my argument is that BM dont state these side effects on their packaging and that is what i am wanting them to do so it doesnt happen to other animals without owners reading the risks


----------



## leannelatty (Aug 14, 2009)

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Get-Bob-Martins-products-off-the-Shelves/265912996765961


----------



## leannelatty (Aug 14, 2009)

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/say_no_to_bob_martins/


----------



## 912142 (Mar 28, 2011)

tonityler83 said:


> Hi a few months ago we used spot on on our family dog as we found a couple of stray fleas and the grand daughter was coming over ( normally we used front line and wish i had this time). in the space of 24 hours it left our dog fitting and lead to kidney failure and out dog being put to sleep.
> 
> I spoke to Bob Martin and they were no hope ( they didnt seem to understand the hurt it causes to lose a much loved animal) and because of this i am writting to ask for any other cases like this to come forward so i can build a stronger case and hopefully lead to bob Martin spot on being takien of all shelves. If you could please help me in this battle please reply below or send private message
> 
> Thanks for your time


I am sorry to hear of your loss - I would advise you to ask your solicitor to write to them to formally complain and then see what happens. They will then have to advise you what the next step is in their complaints handling process.


----------



## Helbo (Sep 15, 2010)

Most drugs come with a leaflet that you must read before administering. Don't BM usually supply one with the risks? 

I don't use spot-on treatments so I don't know...

(p.s. - OP, sorry for your loss)


----------



## tonityler83 (Apr 6, 2012)

Helbo said:


> Most drugs come with a leaflet that you must read before administering. Don't BM usually supply one with the risks?
> 
> I don't use spot-on treatments so I don't know...
> 
> (p.s. - OP, sorry for your loss)


Hi no it doesnt state that it can do to the dog what it is meant to do to the fleas x


----------



## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

Hi and welcome - sorry it's such sad circumstances.

Thank you for the warning, I will be avoid all BM products!

I try and avoid chemicals/drugs as much as possible but sometimes it's the lesser of the 2 evils. 

Do you know the name of the drug used in the BM spot ons?


----------



## 5rivers79 (Mar 28, 2011)

Sorry for you loss.

The only spot on iv ever used is Advocate from the vets. Iv only ever use it now and again as i dont like chemicals being pumped into my dogs. Touch wood have had a flea issue even with the use of flea treatment only a couple times since iv had my dogs.

Isnt garlic meant to be a good flea deterrent? Anyone on here use anything herbal/natural to keep fleas away?

I do use BM puppy shampoo on my dogs and they get bathed quite regularly (well Lucky does)..hopefully there are no side effects for that!


----------



## Helbo (Sep 15, 2010)

tonityler83 said:


> Hi no it doesnt state that it can do to the dog what it is meant to do to the fleas x


Wow thats surprising. You can't even buy hair dye these days without thinking you're going to end up in A&E, or worse. Putting any chemicals on living things is dangerous and proper warning should be included. I agree.


----------



## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

As far as I know Bob Martin products do not contain anything that has to be licensed therefore there will not be warnings about side effects. They certainly do not do what they are supposed to do and are a total waste of time. If you can buy it off the shelf in an ordinary pet shop then it is not licensed basically.
Not sure how this company has kept going for so long as I can remember the vet I worked for tearing his hair out over dogs full of worms after being done regularly with Bob Martin wormer back in the early 70s and I cant imagine anything has changed.

So sorry you found out the hard way OP.


----------



## crazydogs (Aug 13, 2011)

Years ago i put the Bob martin spot on flea treatment on my greyhound, his fur fell out on the area i put it on the skin went red and started to bubble like he had been scolded with boiling water.
Of course he was straight to the vets and was given an anti-inflammatory injection and cream to sooth it.
I made a complaint but nothing was done about it and have never touched any of there products again anybody i seeing looking to buy it i always tell them about my boy.
Sorry for the loss of your dog i really feel for you.


----------



## ilovemypooch (Jun 26, 2012)

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-chat/245179-adverse-reactions-pet-flea-worming-products-reporting.html#post1062110180

This post provides a link to the the Veterinary Medicines Directorate website. They have an online form to report adverse reactions to any pet medicines. You can report both adverse pet reactions and adverse human reactions.


----------



## Javy (Jun 11, 2012)

So sorry to hear about what happened. Just the other day I was debating whether to buy the Bob Martin spot-on or Frontline. Fortunately I avoided Bob Martin as I had never tried it before.

I wish you all the best in your efforts to bring this to people's attention and hope you manage to get BM to acknowledge their failings.


----------



## Spellweaver (Jul 17, 2009)

I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Was it the new Bob Martin Fleaclear Spot on, the one that contains fipronil (ie the same ingredient as Frontline)? If so, it might be the fipronil itself. We used Frontline, which contains fipronil, and nearly lost our border collie when he was just under a year old. The vet thinks it was a massive allergic reaction to Frontline, but the company categorically stated that it was impossible because the drug stays on the skin and is not systemic.

I have never believed them - and now, sadly, it is looking more and more as if I was right not to.


----------



## RockRomantic (Apr 29, 2009)

How awful  

I used BM spot on on my four when one of them had fleas, thankfully there were fine, didn't get rid of the fleas but there fine, we ended up using frontline which got rid of them.

Since then I haven't heard a single good thing about Bob Martin products


----------



## loveourdog (Jan 10, 2017)

tonityler83 said:


> Hi a few months ago we used spot on on our family dog as we found a couple of stray fleas and the grand daughter was coming over ( normally we used front line and wish i had this time). in the space of 24 hours it left our dog fitting and lead to kidney failure and out dog being put to sleep.
> 
> I spoke to Bob Martin and they were no hope ( they didnt seem to understand the hurt it causes to lose a much loved animal) and because of this i am writting to ask for any other cases like this to come forward so i can build a stronger case and hopefully lead to bob Martin spot on being takien of all shelves. If you could please help me in this battle please reply below or send private message
> 
> Thanks for your time


We have an experience that I so wished I did not have to share - we used Bob Martin Flea Wash on our Dog and she is not well....

Here is our experience with using Bob Martin Flea wash on our Kelpie Cross - NEVER EVER would I want anyone to go through what our gorgeous dog went through. Hubby bought the Bob Martin Flea wash on Friday. I washed our dog on Saturday morning with the wash. By Saturday night she was throwing up, by Sunday morning she was throwing up blood....on Sunday afternoon we had her at the Vets and they took blood to test what was going on. At first they thought it could have been Rat Poison but we don't have any of that here....and her blood test didn't show any rat poison in her system. We were given antibiotics and anti-nauseous medication, and told to watch her closely. She wasn't allowed to eat for 24 hours to see if the bleeding would stop - she also had blood in her stools.
Yesterday I started to think about all that we had done differently and what could have caused the throwing up of blood and bleeding out of her back side - and would you believe I started to do research on the Flea wash, and the reviews were what got me to ring the vet and start to ask questions....yes the vet strongly advised me to wash our dog asap to see if we could help to get any of the Bob Martin Flea wash off her - yes it appears that she was having a poisonous reaction to the flea wash....please do not ever use the Flea wash on any animal. We are now playing a waiting game to see if she can keep down plain Rice and Chicken, to monitor her breathing and to watch for any more signs of bleeding. She is able to keep down water and is slowly recovering. Would never ever want this to happen to any dog - how can this product be sold on a supermarket shelve?


----------



## Muttly (Oct 1, 2014)

Oh god @loveourdog I'm so sorry to hear about your dog.

I have often used a flea spot on product called 'Pestroy' for the months when I'm not using Advocate on Muttly. I just googled it and horror! It's made by BobMartin! Doesn't say that on the packet! But a couple of years ago I wormed Muttly with a Bob Martin wormer and he threw up all evening!

Although Muttly has never showed any issues with this spot on, I don't think I will use it again, just in case. Thank you for this, without your post I wouldn;t have known.

I really hope your lovely Kelpie recovers quickly, please keep us updated.


----------



## cbcdesign (Jul 3, 2014)

Sorry to hear this. Unfortunately sometimes living beings are allergic to medications and some chemicals. Its not until you use them that this becomes evident sadly. Like Blitz I have always found Bob Martin spot on products to be utterly useless and would never recommend them but it may be that other products would have also contained an ingredient that caused an allergic reaction in this case, its hard to tell.


----------



## MaggiesMom (Oct 13, 2016)

The rescue I volunteer at has a boarding kennels on site, the lady who owns this has several newfoundlands. She used the bob martin spot on treatment on one of hers. The dog quickly developed sores and all her fur fell out around her neck and she looked like she had been burnt 
Luckily (kind of) this happened before she could continue to treat any of her other newfoundlands so I think it juts happened to the one but it was horrible. I keep guinea pigs also and I know of a lot of people who have had similar issues with their products, some even resulting in death sadly.


----------



## Katalyst (Aug 11, 2015)

The one and only time I used bob Martin spot on was on my group of 6 ferrets about 14 years ago. One of my gills, Privet suffered a terrible allergic reaction and lost almost all of her fur, lost weight and developed a kidney issue. She was never the same again and died a couple of years later. 
I will never know for certain sure that it was the spot on that cause this and other than some itching, the other ferrets were all fine. But it put me off big style.


----------



## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

MaggiesMom said:


> The rescue I volunteer at has a boarding kennels on site, the lady who owns this has several newfoundlands. She used the bob martin spot on treatment on one of hers. The dog quickly developed sores and all her fur fell out around her neck and she looked like she had been burnt
> Luckily (kind of) this happened before she could continue to treat any of her other newfoundlands so I think it juts happened to the one but it was horrible. I keep guinea pigs also and I know of a lot of people who have had similar issues with their products, some even resulting in death sadly.


Although I hate Bob Martin stuff as it is so inefficient I have to say I treated a guinea pig with ivomec pour on (from the vet) and he had a terrible reaction and ended it up with a huge open sore. I think there is always a chance of reactions to pour ons and the POM ones are often only licensed for one or two species so you have no come back when you use them on unlicensed species.


----------



## Lilylass (Sep 13, 2012)

MaggiesMom said:


> The rescue I volunteer at has a boarding kennels on site, the lady who owns this has several newfoundlands. She used the bob martin spot on treatment on one of hers. The dog quickly developed sores and all her fur fell out around her neck and she looked like she had been burnt
> Luckily (kind of) this happened before she could continue to treat any of her other newfoundlands so I think it juts happened to the one but it was horrible. I keep guinea pigs also and I know of a lot of people who have had similar issues with their products, some even resulting in death sadly.


It can happen with any product though - my cat had this as a reaction to a product (not had bob martin which I also wouldn't use) from the vet!

All his hair fell out where it was applied


----------



## Lilylass (Sep 13, 2012)

MaggiesMom said:


> The rescue I volunteer at has a boarding kennels on site, the lady who owns this has several newfoundlands. She used the bob martin spot on treatment on one of hers. The dog quickly developed sores and all her fur fell out around her neck and she looked like she had been burnt
> Luckily (kind of) this happened before she could continue to treat any of her other newfoundlands so I think it juts happened to the one but it was horrible. I keep guinea pigs also and I know of a lot of people who have had similar issues with their products, some even resulting in death sadly.


It can happen with any product though - my cat had this as a reaction to a product (not had bob martin which I also wouldn't use) from the vet!

All his hair fell out where it was applied


----------



## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

loveourdog said:


> We have an experience that I so wished I did not have to share - we used Bob Martin Flea Wash on our Dog and she is not well....
> 
> Here is our experience with using Bob Martin Flea wash on our Kelpie Cross - NEVER EVER would I want anyone to go through what our gorgeous dog went through. Hubby bought the Bob Martin Flea wash on Friday. I washed our dog on Saturday morning with the wash. By Saturday night she was throwing up, by Sunday morning she was throwing up blood....on Sunday afternoon we had her at the Vets and they took blood to test what was going on. At first they thought it could have been Rat Poison but we don't have any of that here....and her blood test didn't show any rat poison in her system. We were given antibiotics and anti-nauseous medication, and told to watch her closely. She wasn't allowed to eat for 24 hours to see if the bleeding would stop - she also had blood in her stools.
> Yesterday I started to think about all that we had done differently and what could have caused the throwing up of blood and bleeding out of her back side - and would you believe I started to do research on the Flea wash, and the reviews were what got me to ring the vet and start to ask questions....yes the vet strongly advised me to wash our dog asap to see if we could help to get any of the Bob Martin Flea wash off her - yes it appears that she was having a poisonous reaction to the flea wash....please do not ever use the Flea wash on any animal. We are now playing a waiting game to see if she can keep down plain Rice and Chicken, to monitor her breathing and to watch for any more signs of bleeding. She is able to keep down water and is slowly recovering. Would never ever want this to happen to any dog - how can this product be sold on a supermarket shelve?


I am so sorry to hear about your dog and hope that she will continue to improve and be OK. Was it the Bob Martin Flea shampoo you used? That appears to contain Pyrethrins

*Ingredients:*
This shampoo contains: Pyrethrins equivalent to 0.475 mg/g as Pyrethrum Extract, Piperonyl Butoxide 4.9 mg/g,
It may be this that has caused the problem, so if it isn't this specific one below check to see if there are any Pyrethrins or pyrethroids contained in it, it is possible for dogs to get a toxic reaction to this ingredient although they are not as sensitive as cats. Pyrethrins are the natural version that are derived from the chrysanthemum the Pyrethroids are I believe are the synthetic man made version of it.
It can cause a skin reaction in some dogs but more of a systemic reaction if they ingest it a lot depends on the concentration/how much of the product is in the preparation.
So that may be the suspect if Pyrethrins or pyrethroids are in the product. If there is and especially if she could have licked or ingested it, then it may be worth speaking to your vet again in case there is anything else they can give or do that may help her recovery more.

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=257684654


----------



## cbcdesign (Jul 3, 2014)

Yes that the first thing I thought with the shampoo, ingestion. Its vital to make sure any sort of shampoo used on dogs for any reason is really well rinsed out because dogs will naturally lick their coat which carries with it the risk of ingesting toxins.


----------



## loveourdog (Jan 10, 2017)

Muttly said:


> Oh god @loveourdog I'm so sorry to hear about your dog.
> 
> I have often used a flea spot on product called 'Pestroy' for the months when I'm not using Advocate on Muttly. I just googled it and horror! It's made by BobMartin! Doesn't say that on the packet! But a couple of years ago I wormed Muttly with a Bob Martin wormer and he threw up all evening!
> 
> ...


Oh gosh I am glad your pet is okay, and I am glad you did research on the product you use. From now on we are sticking with natural products that do not have any chemicals added, and we are going to do our own research on anything before using it


----------



## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

loveourdog said:


> Oh gosh I am glad your pet is okay, and I am glad you did research on the product you use. From now on we are sticking with natural products that do not have any chemicals added, and we are going to do our own research on anything before using it


that is all well and good but unless the correct chemicals are in the product it is not going to do any good so you might as well not bother.


----------



## elmthesofties (Aug 8, 2011)

loveourdog said:


> Oh gosh I am glad your pet is okay, and I am glad you did research on the product you use. From now on we are sticking with natural products that do not have any chemicals added, and we are going to do our own research on anything before using it


Just because something was grown on a farm instead of a lab doesn't make it harmless. All natural products are made of chemicals, which can still be capable of causing a nasty reaction, so be careful with your research.


----------

