Advantage Glues Senior Poodle to Crate

A Canadian veterinarian presented with a peculiar case of a 15 year old poodle mix stuck in its crate last week traced the problem to the pet's spot-on flea treatment.

When the dog wouldn't come out of its crate, its concerned owner brought the dog, crate and all, to Dr. Tej Dhaliwal of Ontario, Canada. Following two hours of sleuthing, Dhaliwal concluded that benzyl alcohol, an inactive ingredient in Advantage, was to blame.

Residue from the product Advantage, which was applied between the poodle's shoulders, somehow came in contact with the plastic base of the animal's crate, dissolving the plastic and causing it to adhere to the dog's belly. Dhaliwal said the owner of the dog had applied Advantage to the dog before bedtime. He speculated that the dog rolled over in the crate before the liquid pesticide dried. Presumably, residue of the product made contact with the plastic floor of the crate, causing the plastic to dissolve and "glue" the dog in place overnight.

Bayer Animal Health, maker of Advantage, acknowledged that the flea treatment was the likely culprit and offered to pay the owner's veterinary bill, compensate him for loss of salary and replace the crate, Dhaliwal said. A spokesman for Bayer in the United States confirmed that Advantage contains benzyl alcohol, which reacts with certain plastics.

Dhaliwal noted that the dog had been unable to eat, drink or relieve itself for 15 hours by the time he managed to free it with a tool normally used to scrape excess plaster from drywall. The white dog had a patch of dark gray plastic about 6 inches by 4 inches stuck to its fur. Following the advice of representatives at Bayer, Dhaliwal said, he removed the remaining plastic using the contents of another two tubes of Advantage. Once freed, the dog was fine.

Source: news.vin.com