Bad experience with a Bob Martin ‘spot on’ treatment. Warning: margosa extract can be toxic.

Halfway down this page is an article written by a visitor about six years ago: Suzy. She said that she had a very bad experience with Bob Martin’s spot-on flea treatment because it poisoned her cat. At the time I did a bit of research and decided it was a naturally occurring substance called margosa extract a.k.a. neem oil which was the culprit. It is not listed as a poison by the Pet Poison Helpline in America and apparently it is safe at the proper concentrations. It has wide uses in areas other than as an insecticide for companion animals.

Further, the Pet MD website says that neem oil has not been used as widely for cats as it has for dogs and horses. And they recommend caution particularly as cats are fastidious self-groomers. That advice was provided in 2018. So is quite recent. There are no veterinary health warnings as far as I’m aware.

However, I have unearthed a study called: Apparent adverse reactions to neem (margosa) oil in cats. The report is unavailable to me except for a table which you can see below. The table provides data about the clinical effects from 99 apparent cases of feline adverse reactions to neem oil reported to the Veterinary Poisons Information Service (London).

The top adverse reaction is listed as increased muscle activity in 56 cases. It’s a long list including convulsions, tremor, twitching, ataxia, lethargy and hyper- salivation. These are all nervous system problems. Clearly neem oil can harm the nervous system of domestic cats. I am sure that it is rare but I don’t know how rare.

Notwithstanding the rarity, cat owners should be aware of this potential danger before they make an informed decision. There are alternative products which may be safer. I don’t know.

Below is the article written by Suzy

This was first published on Oct 12, 2016.

I’ve had a very bad experience with a Bob Martin ‘spot on’ treatment. I need advice and also to get this off my chest. I will no doubt post to Bob Martin via Twitter of my bad experience as I see Twitter as the only way these days to get things done, forget lawsuits, it seems naming and shaming via Twitter works better. Or so I’m advised.

I have used Bob Martin ‘spot on’ since Tiger Lily came to live with me and a year on she got fleas, which are currently so bad she scratches a lot of the time 🙁 .

Bob Martin’s containing; margosa extract 3% w/w, ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate 9.8% w/w. Also contains diethylene glycol ethyl ether 86.95%.

This is flea and tick spot on 24 weeks protection with 6 tubes and a chart to record exactly the date you administer each tube, as it must be built up over time.

This box almost poisoned Tiger Lily. I am most upset with myself for being ignorant about this. I had no idea. I assumed stupidly that all these Bob Martin boxes sold were the same ingredients. THEY ARE NOT.

Not only did this not kill the fleas properly as she scratched again a few days after each application but somehow each tube had a bigger and worse affect on her. I am very upset by the experience as I had used only Bob Martin boxes which are easily available and the previous ones worked fine and for a couple of months after just one application unlike this last one.

It’s only now after visiting the amazingly helpful and caring staff at my local Pets at Home store, with their help and the vetenary staff asking the vet on duty which ones I could use. They spent ages with me checking each box for the ingredients. We were all appalled at how the listing for the ingredients is tiny and hidden and near impossible to find quickly on many of the boxes.

And also all the different ingredients on each box and each manufacturer used various concoctions and different ingredients on very similar looking boxes. It’s a mine field. We struggled to find some box with ingredients on! I’m fuming. So we’re the staff there. It’s very wrong of these manufacturers.

Note from Michael about the ingredients with reference to toxicity:

Margosa extract 3% w/w. Margosa is known as Neem. It comes from India and has various purported health benefits but Wikipedia states the following about it:

However, insufficient research has been done to assess the purported benefits of neem. In adults, short-term use of neem is safe, while long-term use may harm the kidneys or liver; in small children, neem oil is toxic and can lead to death. Neem may also cause miscarriages, infertility, and low blood sugar.

Ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate 9.8% w/w — Insecticide with “the only demonstrated hazards relate to eye and skin irritation.”

Diethylene glycol ethyl ether – this seems to be a solvent. It appears to be slightly toxic and can cause redness in the eyes. There is little information on this chemical.

My guess is the Margosa is the culprit. But just a guess.

Below are some more articles on flea treatments.