Bitter Yuck kills cats

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  • 9 September, 2011 at 6:57 pm #47777
    Marnet
    Participant

    There is a product, Bitter Yuck, sold in pet supply stores and online as a no chew spray to discourage cats and dogs from chewing on electronics wiring or anything else you don’t want your pet chewing.

    A dear friend used it according to the instructions on the package, being careful not to use more than recommended, to stop her cat from chewing the wires to her computer equipment. That was back in March. Her cat immediately got dangerously sick, apparently poisoned, from ingesting some of the Bitter Yuck when the cat tried chewing the wires after the Bitter Yuck was applied.

    Sadly, the Bitter Yuck caused permanent kidney and liver damage. Her poor cat has been increasingly ill ever since and has now died.

    At the time of the initial poisoning from Bitter Yuck, my friend contacted the company that makes the product and talked with several company representatives as well as doing considerable research about the product. It turns out that one of the ingredients is known to be highly toxic to cats. The company knows this and one person there even admitted that verbally to my friend although, of course, not officially and not in writing. Despite that, the company continues to include that ingredient as a bittering agent. If I recall it is one of the variations of rosemary oil. There actually are several different compounds that have that common name and at least one of them is lethally toxic to cats.

    So please, please, please do not use Bitter Yuck and be extremely wary of using any other commercially produced bittering agent to prevent your cats or other pets from chewing wires.

    Please, no one else end up poisoning their precious pets and condemning them to a miserable death from kidney or liver or other internal organ failure caused by this horrid product!

    9 September, 2011 at 7:38 pm #692188
    feral
    Participant

    Wow…how horrifying!! There’s no excused for that kind of carelessness on the manufacturer’s part. It’s so pathetic that the company knew this. They should be dissected to find out why this was left to be a silent death sentence for any pet owner’sanimals.

    Marnet…I’m so sorry for your friend’s loss. she must be devastated. And rightly so. I’d go after them w/both barrels. Hugs for you also. And Thanks for the Heads Up. I know some people here on TDK have used the stuff in the past.

    9 September, 2011 at 7:56 pm #692189
    Marnet
    Participant

    Thank you Feral.

    She is devastated. She and her vet have done everything they could but the damage to the cat’s kidneys was too severe and permanent. The poor cat never had a chance. My own Tigger died of chronic renal failure due to old age but it took him 5 years to waste away. Her poor baby went from a very healthy middle aged cat to a wasted ghost in barely 6 months.

    Sadly, there is no recourse against the manufacturer. My friend began an intensive investigation back in March, immediately once her cat was poisoned by the Bitter Yuck. She consulted several attorneys to see if there was anything she could do to force the manufacturer to totally remove that ingredient but there is not. The labeling on the bottles no longer shows rosemary oil as part of the ingredient list but a source inside the company did admit that it is still included as an ingredient, just no longer shown on the label. Because the product is not for human consumption or use, there is no legal regulation which mandates accurate labeling of all ingredients.

    9 September, 2011 at 9:25 pm #692190
    Marnet
    Participant

    CORRECTION: I just looked up Bitter Yuck online to find that the “new improved” version lists rosemary as its first and prime ingredient!

    The essential oil from rosemary, as with almost all essential oils of any type, are toxic to cats!

    9 September, 2011 at 9:40 pm #692191
    HuddysMama
    Participant

    I think I used that with Wheaten.

    9 September, 2011 at 9:49 pm #692192
    Marnet
    Participant

    Apparently most cats find the smell alone repulsive enough to avoid anything it has been sprayed onto or, at worst, may take one nibble and be cured of a bad habit due to the bitter taste. My friend’s cat must have continued to nibble some and ingested some of the product. The cat experienced acute poisoning that required intensive vet care to survive. But the permanent damage was done to kidneys and the cat died of renal failure barely six months later. The vet has determined it was due to poisoning from Bitter Yuck.

    The one person at the manufacturer who would give any info to my friend admitted that hers was not the only animal that owners had contacted them about having shown signs of acute poisoning after use of Bitter Yuck. Despite that, they claim it is a safe product and say that anectodal claims of harm from the product are not reason to believe Bitter Yuck is dangerous to cats despite the main ingredient being an essential oil toxic to cats!

    9 September, 2011 at 10:00 pm #692193
    feral
    Participant

    It’s too bad that there isn’t an attorney out there willing to go the full nine yrds, with this. I’m not saying the lawyer didn’t help your friend. But,I’m sure it would be quite expensive to fight a big company to the end. And they probably look at it as itwas just one cat who had a bad reaction.

    I have to wonder how many others lost their beloved pets,not tieing the 2 together as being the reason. Once again us pet-loving consumers are being put in a position of not knowing what’s safe & what isn’t. I don’t know what could be done. I do know I’m so angry for your friend & the pain she had to witness in her furbaby & allbecause of one product deemed safe by them. A company that truly was concerned about their consumers & the safety of their pets would investigate & do tests that would either find the claims to be true or false.

    Again…I’m so sorry.

    9 September, 2011 at 10:09 pm #692194
    Marnet
    Participant

    Thank you Feral.

    10 September, 2011 at 1:34 am #692195
    JerseyJoan
    Moderator

    Oh wow, Marnet, that’s horrifying. I’m so sorry for your friend.

    16 April, 2018 at 7:17 pm #867187
    NaturVet
    Participant

    We of course are truly saddened anytime we hear about a furry family member passing away. We also take any accusation or incident very, very seriously. Anytime one of our products is involved in situations such as an accidental over consumption or adverse reaction, we are required to take an Adverse Event Report. Since 2011 and up until today, we have never had a report taken that involved Bitter Yuck in a dogs or cats death. A serious report such as this would have been investigated to the fullest extent so either the customer never contacted us, or it has been passed along over the years with no actual substantiation to the event.

    We have no control over social media and blog posts but we can assure you that for over 25 years we have been manufacturing products that benefit pets, not harm them, or we would not still be in business. We have to answer to the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) in our reporting and also to the FDA as far as auditing so we take everything we do very seriously.

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