Hi all. I was called today by a close farming friend who had just opened a Bob Martins flea collar. She was staggered by the awful, powerful smell and so she read the instructions in great detail. What a shock she had when she discovered that there is an organophosate compound as the main ingredient. A substance banned years ago to the farming industry as it is so very toxic / carcinogenic. From what she could find out today, the instructions say not to let children cuddle or sleep with the dog. Its obvious why they instruct that then. It appears this product has been banned in France so why is still available. You cant stop kids playing with dogs, let alone what is absorbed into the poor dog wearing the collar
The ingredient is called DIMPYLATE. Look it up on Wikipedia. I felt compelled to warn people, how many of us read these instructions in such detail. Hope this helps coz I'm thinking about the poor dogs wearing these collars.

Bob Martin is crap, I've used it for other animals befor every time with reactions. I used the spot on for rabbits and my rabbits neck swelled up, I had to use it twice on mice as I couldn't get anything else and they needed treating and both times had mice drop dead. My friend use it on her two guinea pigs and one was dead the next morning.

A lecture at college who is a vet surgeon said the reason vets don't sell it is because they can only sell stuff that has been tested and had below a certain amount of negative side effects, so it's either not been tested or had to many negative side effects.

I went to a talk at my vets today about using herbs to treat dogs. Prevention of fleas came up and the vets were adamant that Bob Martins are either useless or can provoke a severe reaction.

I bought a couple years ago. Couldn't stand the smell -sort of rotten cabbage odour so binned them . So pleased I did.

What I want to know is why on earth hasn't the goverment banned it in the uk. My friend bought hers today. I had one of these collars in the cupboard I bought early this year at Pets at Home. Thank goodness I'd never used it. Its my belief we put far too much "stuff" into our pets, even down to continual vaccination boosters, tho I've never had the guts to say no to boosters. I'd never forgive myself if my girl got some awful disease because I hadn't had her vaccs done.

I've heard some horror stories on other forums about Bob Martains flea products, I really can't fathom why they haven't been banned either, or even why P@H still stock the stuff .

i used a cat flea collar on one of my cats years ago. all the fur arround her neck dropped out and never grew back.

Money i assume is the reason it's not banned, just like how some dog food has stuff in it that is banned in other countries

I think the simple rule of thumb is to NEVER buy flea or worming products that have not come from a vet or is supplied by a specialist pet pharmacy, never the cheap over the counter stuff. They are not as effective and can cause problems.  Flea collars belong back in the dark ages, there are so many better ways of preventing fleas -not to mention better to do nothing at all unless there is a reason. (Although the one thing I have heard they can be useful for is popping one inside your vacuum if you have carpets at home and have got fleas!) As for worming tablets, years ago I wormed a cat with a Sherleys tablet. She had a stroke and was lop sided for the rest of her life, which was another ten years. I've heard of many others having the exact same reaction to over the counter wormers.

Scalibor collars are essential for dogs visiting mediterranean countries; otherwise they're a bad idea.

Agree the only time I would use the flea collar is inside of a hoover....not on an animal..

I´m in total agreement with Goldmali here.  Many years ago I gave a cat a Shirleys worm tablet.  A few hours later he was falling about all over the place.  I instinctively picked up the wormer packet and rushed cat to vet where he was given an antidote.  As with all my animal problems over the years, this was a holiday weekend so I paid over the odds for treatment.  Now will someone please tell my WHY my pets all choose "out of hours" to have sudden, unexpected health problems!  Grrr