Truthfairy in the Great White North

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Click this link for the previous article in our Truth Week series: Truthfairy Abroad

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Hello Readers.

Today, Truthfairy is back on Yahoo, more specifically, Yahoo Canada. Here’s a screenshot of her profile page:

 

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This is the profile page for Truthfairy's Yahoo Canada account, made nine month's after her account on Yahoo's USA site, referenced in yesterday's post.

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Truthfairy had to go to the trouble of creating a separate Yahoo Canada account in addition to her Yahoo USA account in order to spread her message northwards but, to ensure the whole world knows how great Hartz products are, Truthfairy is willing to do anything.

Now that she had arrived, it was time to find an opportunity to spread more “truth” and, ideally, get a chance to increase fear about another of Hartz’ primary competitors, Advantage.

She found it:

 

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Both my cats have flea’s!!!!!!! HELP!? – 2009

By: Toocan

“I live in an apartment building and both my cats are indoors 24/7. But there is a cat who is an outdoor cat and now both my cats have flea’s!
I can see them crawling around on them, and how itchy they are.

I’m going to buy Advantage, but is there anything that works in one day to kill them all?”

 

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The following was chosen as the best answer by the asker:

 

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In response to Toocan’s “Both my cats have flea’s!!!!!!! HELP!?” – 2009

By: KLMCats

“Advantage is WONDERFUL!

It will start to kill w/in 30 minutes. Best part is that it will also start to kill the fleas in your apartment.

Fleas do not live ON cats/dogs, they live in the carpet & furniture & only hop on the animal for a meal. Once they bite a cat treated w/ Advantage they are goners.

My 1st experience w/ Advantage I had *just* bug bombed my house, flea bathed all my cats & washed everything… days later the fleas were hopping around again. I went to my vet in tears & she told me all about the new product ADVANTAGE.

I went home & treated all my adults (no kittens), in less than 30 minutes I could see dying fleas falling off cats. I flea combed to get rid of bodies, but I never had to bug bomb again & my home was flea free soon after because as soon as new fleas hatched they would bite a treated cat & die.

REMINDER: fleas carry tape worms, have your cats checked w/in a month for this problem.
Source(s):
breeding/showing purebred cats since 1972”

 

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If you look through all the comments, you’ll see others singing the praises of Advantage as well as some other products but no one was even thinking “Hartz”.

It was time for Truthfairy to step in and “educate” the public:

 

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In response to Toocan’s “Both my cats have flea’s!!!!!!! HELP!?” – May 2009

By: Truthfairy

“Sure. I have two indoor cats too. I use Hartz Ultra Guard Pro topical drops for cats. It kills the buzzards within 12 – 24 hours, then repells them for up to 4 weeks.

I’d be careful with Advantage. Look on the package …it says WARNING, that’s because it’s an EPA Category II for toxicity, which means it’s “moderately toxic”. There’s no caution or warning word on Hartz Ultra Guard Pro for Cats, because it’s a Category IV “Least Toxic” and the EPA does not require any signal word for the least toxic.

I’ve always used Hartz without a problem and we use it at the shelter where I’ve volunteered. It works. The Pro comes with a little applicator tip that burrows into the fur and makes applying real easy, it’s way better price value than Advantage, a little safer and it did the trick for Venus and Pandora…..”Didn’t it, girls”?
Source(s):

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/845867/review_hartz_ultra_guard_plus_flea.html?cat=7”

 

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The source Truthfairy provides does not provide any factual details to back up the scientific claims made in her statement. Instead, she has chosen to direct individuals to a classic example of shilling.

The “author”, Bridgette Williams, comes from the Yahoo Contributor Network. This network allows corporations to offer “exclusive” paid assignments.

The translation: shills for hire.

Broken Hartz considered providing only snippets of this “article” in the interest of preserving Ms. Williams’ “intellectual” property but, in the end, we feel she lost that long ago.

The contents of this over-the-top article provide strong evidence to suggest Hartz is guilty of shilling.

Plus, it’s just plain ridiculous. You have to read this thing.

 

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Review: Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar for Cats

By: Bridgitte Williams

I have used Hartz pet products for many years now and I will be the first to admit it, some products work very well and some don’t. I recently purchased Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar For Cats because my usual flea product for my cats was not doing the job. Here is what I discovered about this pet product!

My cats have been on vet recommended flea control drops and this product quit working. I have no idea why. I wondered if the fleas had developed an immunity to my usual brand of flea control for my cats. Anyway, I decided to try a flea collar since, in the past, these always worked very well on my cats. I bought the Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar For Cats. This product cost me about eight dollars. I was very frustrated with my usual vet recommended flea product because it was not doing an effective job. Before these flea drop products came out, the kind you apply to your pet’s neck area, I had always used a flea collar for flea control on my pets. I had to do something quick so, I decided to go back to using a flea collar on my cats.

Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar For Cats has came a long way, in my opinion, since I have used this product, many years ago. As I opened the package and followed the easy to understand instructions, I noticed immediately that this flea collar had an almost pleasant scent to it. When I stretched the collar and activated this product, a white powder appeared to let me know that the collar was ready to be placed on my cat. Gone was the medicine smell that flea collars used to have. I was impressed that this collar did not smell bad. That was a relief. I really like the design of this collar, it has an emergency snap on it, to break away, should your pet get the collar caught in something. It is also made for a loose adjustment so the collar can slip over the cat’s head, if it needs to do so. It will work effectively, even adjusted very loosely! This flea collar has an adjustable buckle and will fit most cats or kittens. It fit my pets wonderfully.

The best part about this flea collar, in my opinion, is that it provides seven months of protection. That is great! When I placed this flea collar on my cat, she did not mind it at all. She went about her daily routine with no problems. My pets had no bad effects from this flea collar. I was delighted. Now, the most important question, did it work? Yes. Immediately. I have not seen a flea or noticed my cats scratching since I put the flea collars on them! The flea collar worked very fast and I discovered it was safe and very gentle on my pets. I have no idea why my cat’s regular brand of flea control drops stopped working but, I can say, with much relief, that when I experienced this problem, Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar For Cats saved the day! This pet product is great. It provided wonderful flea control for my pets. I rate Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar For Cats four and one half stars out of five stars. It is a wonderful product and I will be purchasing it again. You can find Hartz Ultra Guard Plus Flea & Tick Collar For Cats in most grocery stores, pet stores and places that sell pet care products. It provided marvelous flea control!

 

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Bridgette may have been quite literally “sold” on this product, but we are not.

The Hartz Ultragaurd Plus Flea and Tick Collar for Cats is a deadly Tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) product and the white powder Bridgette describes can cause muscle twitching, drooling, seizures, respiratory paralysis, comas and death in humans.

Hey, at least it smells good, right?

Stop by tomorrow for our Truth Week wrap up.

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Click this link for the conclusion of our Truth Week series: A Tale of Two Doctors (and One Fairy)

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Truthfairy Abroad

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Click this link for the previous article in our Truth Week series: Down with Broken Hartz!

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The fleas are gone, but not until after illustrating another Hartz “truth” tactic: fear-mongering.

Today, we’ll look at some interesting “questions” posed by Truthfairy.

It appears that, even though many brands were named in the EPA’s Public Advisory, she had become very concerned with Frontline and decided to try her best to make others scared about one of Hartz’ biggest threats as well.

We don’t have an exact date for when Truthfairy posted these “questions” but, since the EPA first announced it’s heightened concern over these products in May of 2009, we’re going to go with that. Additionally, Yahoo lists the questions and comments as coming from three years ago, so this assertion seems to make sense.

 

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On a side note, you’ll notice this particular account was created on March 10, 2008. In a future post, you’ll see another Yahoo Truthfairy account was made on November 7, 2008 in order for Truthfairy to spread her message northwards to Yahoo Canada.

 

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Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats on its most toxic list? – May 2009

By: Truthfairy

“An EPA Advisory was distributed over the wire today saying increased scrutiny of flea & tick products for pets was needed because of an increase in reports of adverse reactions. There were 44,000 reported complaints to the EPA about product reactions and 80% of them were caused by only 7 brands, and Frontline Plus for Cats was one of the brands!! What is in Frontline that causes so many reactions in cats and dogs?”

 

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In response to Truthfairy’s “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats on its most toxic list?” – May 2009

By: TM

“I have not seen this particular report but one thing about that statistic makes me skeptical. If they’re saying that 80% of the 44,000 complaints were in reference to 7 brands that could be very misleading. This type of statistic does not account for the fact that brands like Advantage and Frontline account for much of the market share. Remember that it’s important to understand what a statistic is telling you as they are very easily manipulated.

Another possibility is that people are using the product incorrectly. This is especially easy with cats because they groom themselves. I once got an Advantage/Frontline type product too far down on my cat’s neck and she was able to lick the medicine. It was a horrible experience for everyone involved. With a cat there is very little margin for error so I could see where people would have problems with the product.

If you have a link for the article I’d like to see it.”

 

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TM makes an excellent point about market share leading to a possible misinterpretation of the absolute numbers but, as you’ll see below, Truthfairy’s response was to further push the “absolute number comparison” method, by trying to suggest this was the EPA’s intent:

 

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In response to TM, regarding “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats on its most toxic list?” – May 2009

By: Truthfairy

“TM – Here’s the link:
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/petproductseval.html

I would be more cynical if it wasn’t the EPA, which regulates pet pesticides, that issued the Advisory. One assumes they have got the right statistics, since they actually receive the reports of product reactions.”

 

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Of course, this was not the EPA’s intent and, later, they made that point very clear, multiple times, in the EPA’s Public Advisory published in March 2010.

They even underlined it in the following example:

 

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(EPA Public Advisory Published in March 2010, Page 12, Paragraph 2, Sentence 1)

“A comparison of the absolute numbers of incidents among the different spot-on products in this report is not appropriate.“

 

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The bulleted section that follows this comment in the EPA’s Advisory goes on to explain many reasons why a comparison of the absolute numbers is inappropriate, among them, market share.

Moving on, Truthfairy made sure to follow-up with the misuse argument. This was to be expected, seeing as how TM had mentioned misuse as well, but there’s a problem with that argument, which we’ll address in a moment.

 

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In response to TM, regarding “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats on its most toxic list?” – May 2009

By: Truthfairy

“TM – On another page of the Advisory, the EPA mentioned that consumers need to pay careful attention to the label directions. Misapplication is an issue.”

 

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While Broken Hartz is sure there is some merit to the argument of misuse, we have previously shown overwhelming evidence suggesting these claims have been grossly inflated by Hartz Mountain Corporation and others:

• Misuse or Mislabeling
• Misuse Revisited

 

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During this same time period, Truthfairy decided asking this important “question” once wasn’t enough to get people good and worried about Frontline.

Plus, she “realized” the public shouldn’t forget to be afraid of what Frontline could do to not only cats, but dogs as well.

 

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Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats & Dogs on their most toxic list? – May 2009

By: Truthfairy

“An EPA Advisory was distributed over the wire today saying increased scrutiny of flea & tick products for pets was needed because of an increase in reports of adverse reactions. There were 44,000 reported complaints to the EPA about product reactions and 80% of them were caused by only 7 brands from 4 companies. Frontline Plus for Dogs and Frontline Plus for Cats were 2 of the 7 brands!! What is in Frontline that causes so many reactions in cats and dogs?

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/petproductseval.html”

 

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Before moving on, please note how Truthfairy claims Frontline Plus for Dogs and Frontline Plus for Cats to be two of the seven brands named in the EPA public advisory, even though everyone but Truthfairy is aware those are not two distinct brands, but two products under the Frontline brand.

Also, while it’s possible only seven brands had been named at the time of Truthfairy’s posting, in the end, there were ten brands listed and they were (in alphabetical order):

1. Advantage
2. Advantix
3. Farnam
4. Frontline
5. Hartz
6. Promeris
7. Sergeant’s
8. Vectra
9. Wellmark
10. Zodiac

Now that we’ve covered that, let’s continue.

In response to Truthfairy’s last comment, someone replied:

 

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In response to Truthfairy’s “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats & Dogs on their most toxic list?” – May 2009

By: Frozen96

“I am more surprised that BioSpot and Hartz are not on the list, those brands are VERY toxic!
Frontline is usually one of the better brands, I am surprised that it is on the list. I wish they provided more information.

However, many reactions are caused by improper use of the product. Owner’s buy the wrong size for their pet or don’t put it on correctly.

I do agree that the companies that manufacture flea medication need to make healthier products, but many of them are safe. Alot of it is just human error.”

 

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To this, Truthfairy replied:

 

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In response to Frozen96, regarding “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats & Dogs on their most toxic list?” – May 2009

By: Truthfairy

“You can’t really say that Hartz & Bio-Spot are very toxic versus Frontline, if the EPA data on reported adverse reactions does not indicate them as having high incidence numbers. I don’t recall this kind of information being made public before, perhaps that’s why everyone thinks Frontline is the best, becuase of the advertising, but we just never knew how animals were reacting. I would believe the EPA over all those internet hate sights. But do you know what’s in the product?”

 

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Ouch, that’s pretty harsh.

By Hartz and Bio-Spot “hate sights [sic]“, we assume Truthfairy to be referencing HartzVictims.org and BioSpotVictims.org. These sites are dedicated to allowing grieving victims of these careless products to tell their stories in the hopes of facilitating the healing process while saving others from similar fates.

For a “fellow consumer” like Truthfairy to be so coldly dismissive of such websites due to an uncommonly fierce devotion to Hartz’ flea products is very questionable behavior indeed.

Additionally, although some products had more overall incidents than Hartz, we have proven Hartz to be far more deadly than any of the other brands named in the EPA Public Advisory published in March 2010.

At this point, Frozen96 claims to work in an emergency care veterinary clinic and makes some strong counterpoints to Truthfairy’s nonsense:

 

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In response to Truthfairy’s “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats & Dogs on their most toxic list?” – May 2009

By: Frozen96

“All I know is that 98% of all the flea medication reactions/deaths we see at our clinic are from either Hartz, Biospot or SolidGold. In the 8 years I’ve been in emergency veterinary medicine I can count on one hand the reactions to frontline and/or advantage. Whether it is human error, manufacturing error, or specifically ingrediant related, I don’t know.

Flea medication is like any other, there are going to be individuals who are more sensitive to it than others. Look at how many thousands of lives penecillin has saved and yet there are people who are deathly allergic to it.

I would also be interested to know how many actual clinics were polled and from how many states. The article does state that it is all owner reported, not necessarily from a medical standpoint.

Regardless, I wish manufacturers would desing a non-chemical medication that is just as effective.”

 

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Well, Truthfairy must not have like what Frozen96 had to say at all.

She hightailed it out of Yahoo for the time and flew over to Turkey on May 17, 2009. This helps to confirm our assertion above regarding the timeline for Truthfairy’s Yahoo comments.

Yes, Truthfairy was so committed to righting these terrible injustices against Hartz, brought upon by “hateful” victims, she decided to begin spreading her message abroad.

She created an account on the Turkish pet site Mihav.com and promptly began having a conversation about dog crap.

This may seem off-topic for Truthfairy until you remember that talking crap is her specialty.

 

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Here is Truthfairy's first Mihav.com interaction. The topic: dog crap on the floor.

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Truthfairy then went on to re-post her “questions” from Yahoo (1,2) in order to make sure the Turks had a healthy fear of Frontline, adding the following tags in the process:

• cats
• dogs
• epa
• frontline
• list
• put
• toxic

By doing this, Truthfairy was attempting to make words like “frontline” and “toxic” become associated with each other in internet searches, in order to help “protect” the public, no doubt.

The people of Turkey thought it best to ignore Truthfairy.

She came and went in one day, although you’ll notice “Why did the EPA put Frontline Plus for Cats & Dogs on their most toxic list?” posted two days after Truthfairy’s last login.

Looks like someone figured out auto-post.

Way to go, Truthfairy.

 

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Click this link for the next article in our Truth Week series: Truthfairy in the Great White North

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Total “Voluntary” Recall

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Click this link for the previous article in our Truth Week series: Truthfairy in the Amazon

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Welcome back to Truth Week. If you missed last night’s exciting update to our Facebook infringement claim against Hartz, click here!

In today’s post, Truthfairy comes up against BH hero, Richard Parsons.

After a Hartz product killed his dog which, of course, Hartz continues to deny responsibility for, Rich began spreading the word about Hartz’ negligent products to all who would listen.

Rich had many encounters with Truthfairy on various comment boards, like this one for an article from the Chicago Tribune, which is no longer available; entitled “EPA investigating problems with flea treatments”.

Truthfairy flew in to make sure the public knew they were to blame, not the culpable manufacturers, and kindly directed them to Hartz to get the “real” story:

 

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(Commenting on “EPA investigating problems with flea treatments”, Chicago Tribune)

Truthfairy Cat Mother – Fresh Meadows, New York – May 6, 2009

1. Choose the product for the right weight of your animal
2. Do not apply to a very young, old, sick or pregnant animal.
3. Read label directions BEFORE applying, then follow carefully
4. DO NOT use more product than indicated
5. DO NOT apply a dog treatment product to a cat
6. Keep other pets away from the treated animal for up to 12 hours, so no accidental ingestion from licking & grooming happens.

http://www.thetruthabouthartz.com

 

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To this, an appropriately named individual responded:

 

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(Commenting on “EPA investigating problems with flea treatments”, Chicago Tribune)

skeptic – Great Falls, MT – May 11, 2009

Hey toothfairy, it’s clear you work for Hartz, and your advice (i.e, warning label mumbo-jumbo) has done nothing to reduce the incidents, which, have doubled or more in one year, never mind the incident numbers combined since 2005 and earlier.

 

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About a week later Rich showed up and inserted the following opinion:

 

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(Commenting on “EPA investigating problems with flea treatments”, Chicago Tribune)

Rich – La Quinta, Ca – May 12, 2009

Yes, skeptic is correct–Truthfairy Cat Mother is Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, who works for Hartz Mountain Corporation. Hartz Mountain now has their own website, http://www.thetruthabouthartz.com dedicated to their version of the “truth” about their dangerous flea and tick products. Incredibly, a major company in the pet care industry is attempting to burnish a deservedly tarnished reputation by conducting their own “truth” campaign. How many other companies do you know require a website dedicated to their version of “the truth” because their products have caused so much damage? It’s a shame Hartz spends so much time and resources defending the indefensible–the number of injuries and deaths to animals. They could learn much from companies like Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol scare) and others that demonstrate real leadership and concern for their customers and put safety first. Hartz, unlike responsible companies, would rather intimidate and threaten the media, private citizens, veterinarians, academicians and anyone else that speaks or writes the truth about these dangerous products. They should be ashamed of themselves.

 

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Below is another interaction between Truthfairy and Mr. Richard Parsons on this comment board from an article on petproductnews.com.

In this case, Rich commented first but, you’ll notice Truthfairy made her comment on the same night as she made the comment above. A busy one, that Truthfairy. So selflessly dedicated with no ulterior motive whatsoever. A rare breed, to say the least.

 

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(Commenting on “EPA Considers Further Restrictions on Flea/Tick Pet Products”)

Rich, La Quinta, CA – Posted: 4/23/2009 4:27:39 PM

Action by the EPA is way overdue. Think about it–44,000 reported potential adverse incidents in ONE year! And how many go unreported–70%–90%? The EPA should not wait for the body count to rise before taking action. Pets and families need to be better protected, particularly when there are much safer alternatives available. The public assumes that when a product in on the shelves of a supermarket or drugstore or PETCO or PetSmart, etc., it must be safe. Many have learned–sadly–the opposite is true. Hartz Mountain, Bio Spot, Sergeant’s and others have had free reign for too long. Hartz’s cat and kitten product was Cancelled by the EPA in 2005 but thousands of cats and kittens were killed and injured. The cumulative effect of these pesticides over time could very well be extremely lethal to toddlers and children as well. EPA–take action, please.

 

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Hartz was under attack!

Someone needed to help, but who?

The call went out and Truthfairy responded! How refreshing it must have been for Hartz to see a “genuine” consumer, so dedicated to letting people know the “truth about Hartz”, that she swooped in to save the day with her unique interpretation of the word “truth”:

 

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(Commenting on “EPA Considers Further Restrictions on Flea/Tick Pet Products”)

Truthfairy, New York, NY – Posted: 5/6/2009 9:33:28 PM

Dear Rich, La Quinta,
Hartz voluntarily withdrew the cat product in 2005 and replaced it in 2006 with Hartz UltraGuard for Cats, which has been rated by the EPA in the lowest toxicity class available on the market. Plus, publicly available data shows that Hartz UltraGuard for Cats had a very low level of EPA-reported product reactions from 2006-2008.

http://www.thetruthabouthartz.com

 

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To this, Mr. Parson let loose some mighty knowledge upon Truthfairy:

 

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(Commenting on “EPA Considers Further Restrictions on Flea/Tick Pet Products”)

Rich, La Quinta, CA – Posted: 5/13/2009 10:37:57 PM

Dear truthfairy,
All Hartz products–cat and dog–using pesticide ingredients have now been listed by the EPA as among those that they are concerned about. Just the cat/kitten product alone had 956 adverse incidents last year according to the EPA. What’s an acceptable level of animal injuries and deaths? Hartz flea and tick products have killed and injured thousands of animals since 2000. That’s appalling. That’s why the EPA is concerned and why they issued a Cancellation Order on Hartz products in 2005. You can defend them all you want–you just don’t have the facts that would support a margin of safety which is acceptable to pet owners and lovers. Too bad Hartz won’t take the initiative and do the right thing–reformulate to safer ingredients which are available today. I think this says a lot about the company’s character and culture.

 

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Rich then delivers the knockout blow:

 

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(Commenting on “EPA Considers Further Restrictions on Flea/Tick Pet Products”)

Rich, La Quinta, CA – Posted: 5/13/2009 10:49:16 PM

Dear truthfairy,
One more item that you shouldn’t try to get away with…in 2005 the EPA told Hartz they were going to issue a Cancellation Order on their cat and kitten products. Hartz, of course, resisted. When it became clear that the EPA was not moved by Hartz’s appeals, Robert Devine, the CEO of Hartz at that time, wrote to the EPA asking for the opportunity to “voluntarily” withdraw the products. After negotiations, the EPA allowed Hartz to write to customers, suppliers and retailers stating that they were “voluntarily” withdrawing the products. The EPA, however, did issue the Cancellation Order in 2005, the products were forced by the EPA to be out of the retail stores in 2006 and the products terminated. For you to imply otherwise in your earlier blog is typical of the revisionist history we consumers have been getting. You, of course, know what I have written above to be true. Please don’t continue to attempt to mislead the public.

 

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That is why we love him!

More Truthfairy goodness tomorrow!

=^..^=

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Click this link for the next article in our Truth Week series: Down with Broken Hartz!

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Truthfairy in the Amazon

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Click this link for the previous article in our Truth Week series: Could You Define, “Truth”?

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Broken Hartz would like to start Truth Week off deep in the heart of the Amazon.com.

Truthfairy made an appearance on this website, famous for its online shopping experience, in December of 2008. A good product review on a site like Amazon could really boost sales for poor old Hartz, so Truthfairy took it upon herself to do just that.

Truthfairy was just so over the moon about her experience with “Hartz UltraGuard Pro Drops for Cats over 5 Lbs”, she decided it was her duty to make an Amazon account, tell the world how awesomely glorious this product was and then disappear as quickly as she came.

 

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This is a screenshot of Truthfairy's Amazon.com customer profile. You'll notice she only ever reviewed one product before flying from the Amazon forever.

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Would she ever be seen again? Well, it’s called “Truth Week”, so signs point to “yes”.

To be clear, Truthfairy reviewed this product 7 months before anyone else, but we’ll get to her review after we look at some of the other reviews that resulted in this product earning 1.5 out of a possible 5 stars. As you’ll see, however, this product benefited greatly by people not being able to give it a zero star rating.

On an additional note, before we go into the reviews, Broken Hartz normally cites typos in order to be clear when the error is known, but has not come from us. In the case of these reviews, BH decided it would be best to just let it go.

Lastly, if you plan on engaging in the cringe-worthy act of scanning, please make sure you don’t miss “overpriced plastic needle that may poison your pet”.

 

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1 Star – Not only useless, it harmed our cats – November 8, 2010

By M. Peacock

If I could give this zero stars, I would. We have 2 indoor cats and clearly bring fleas in on ourselves from the yard. I thought I was being smart by spending less for this product. Never again will I buy a cheaper product. Not only did these drops not work at all, both cats developed scary side effects, including strange shaking (mini seizures?), drooling, unusual meowing, vomiting and a week-long loss of appetite. After seeing this I read some of the reviews on this product and similar inexpensive drops and can see that it pays to spend more on a more trustworthy product. I hate having to put pesticides on our cats but it is pretty clear to me that the companies that make the more expensive brands really do put their time and money into making sure their products are (what I would call reasonably) safe.

 

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1 Star – rating: 00000000 – March 30, 2011

By Alex Mogell

My indoor cat, Snowy got a few fleas on her recently, so I went to Petsmart and bought this product. Not good. About an hour after I put it in the back of her neck, she clearly was not feeling well. Her eyes were squinting and she developed this awful twitching, and drooling. She then defecated on our bedroom floor, which she has never ever ever done outside of her box in her whole 8 yrs of life.

I immediatly bathed her with Dawn as another person suggested that they did when this happened to their cat, and we just got out of the tub. She is now cleaning herself after her bath and I hope to God she is going to be fine. I have the emergency Vets number handy just in case.

I plan to go to Petsmart tomorrow and return this product and give them a big piece of my mind.

DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT ON YOUR CAT!!!!

 

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1 Star – overpriced plastic needle that may poison your pet – July 2, 2011

By Dalcazar

Talk about getting ripped off: Around half of the regular retail price you pay for this garbage goes towards buying a plastic needle, there is no compositional difference between the Hartz Ultraguard PLUS and Hartz ultraguard PRO, you are being taken for the proverbial ride. And if that wasn’t enough to steer you away, then read on.

I bought some and put it on my cat once, apparently I’m lucky she only ended up with a grease spot on her back that lasted a week and made me want to touch her even less when added to the still-rampant flea infestation. My girlfriend used it on her two cats as well, one was fine but it almost killed the other.

I’m pretty sure that when Frontline and Advantage came out, the people at Hartz realized that their entire stock of flea collars was now useless (as if they ever worked to start with), so they decided to take all their inventory and put it in a blender, then put it into these little plastic squeezers. I hope so because if they purposely formulated this product they ought to be incarcerated.

Most useless products try to sell themselves with gimmicky names like: Hartz ULTRAguard. Now let’s put the facts straight: Hartz made their bottom of the line 3-pack flea that cost $6. Then they made their Hartz ULTRAguard PLUS which they’ll sell to you for $8, and then you can go out and buy this product: Hartz ULTRAguard PRO, with it’s “PRO-cision Flo” applicator for around $13.

Why would you want to control the flow, (oh sorry, it’s FLO apparently) when you’re putting it all in one spot anyway and using the whole thing? These people have no shame.

Does it work? NO
Is it worth the money? NO
Will I be better off setting my money on fire? YES.

 

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1 Star – Hartz = Poison – June 9, 2011

By Tawni

DO NOT buy this stuff! I wish I had seen reviews first. After the first application, my cat nearly died. We’ve been to the vet twice and spent hundreds trying to save him. His inner eyelids are swollen shut, and he can hardly breathe. All I can do at this point is pray that he survives and gets at least some of his energy back.

There is an entire website dedicated to victims of Hartz products: HartzVictims.org. I wish I could give this product zero stars.

 

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1 Star – do not use this stuff – June 8, 2011

By Amber

This product made my cat extremely sick, to the point that she was vomiting and having convulsions. It took her two days to get back to normal, and she had giant open sores where the drops had been applied. AND, it didn’t even get rid of the fleas.

DO NOT
USE
THIS PRODUCT

Just google Hartz and you’ll see all the horror stories that people have about their products making their animals sick and even killing them.

 

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1 Star – Caustic – August 13, 2011

By Gretchen Oberle

We have used Advantage for years without any problems. Recently tried Hertz Ultraguard Pro to save a couple dollars since our cat has become strictly indoors. This stuff is CAUSTIC! Immediately after applying it our cat was visably distressed. Then his HAIR STARTED FALLING OUT on the back of his neck. There were clumps of hair around the house and his skin was inflamed. I bathed him and he is much happier, albeit minus some neck hair. We will NEVER use this product again. It should be renamed Hartz Ultra Chemical Burn Drops.

 

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1 Star – Dangerous product can cause death. – May 30, 2011

By Vevvegrrl

I normally give my pets Frontline. I ran out and bought this at Target instead. As soon as I gave it to them, I looked it up online (which I should have done before applying). Many animals have become very sick and died from this product. I immediately washed it off and called my vet. My vet confirmed that many animals have come into the office sick and/or dying from this product and other Hartz products, and warned me not to ever use it again. Apparently I’m very lucky that my cats did not have seizures or worse. Please do not buy this dangerous product.

 

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1 Star – Hartz causes seizures – October 21, 2010

By Sarah

Tried Hartz Ultraguard Pro on my cat and she began to seize, tremor, and vomit. DO NOT use any Hartz products on your pets. I wish that I had looked into the brand before I bought it because I would have found websites like hartzvictims.org and hartzsyndrome.com which, just by the names of them, would have told me to steer clear of this product. I wanted to try Hartz to save some money, but ended up spending way more money on a vet bill. Thank God my cat is okay, otherwise I would be going after Hartz with everything I have.

If I could give this product 0 stars, I would.

 

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So, what did Truthfairy say about this product long before all the less-than-stellar reviews?

 

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5 Stars – Love the applicator – product really works, too. – December 5, 2008

By Truthfairy

I just used this product on my two cats. I’ve used their products before, but I’d never tried the Pro version. I have a short-haired Burmese and a long-haired American Domestic. The little applicator gismo really helped apply the product right to where it’s supposed to go. I have one squirmy cat and this just went right through her fur so easily and took the stress out of it for me. The flea problem was also dealt with efficiently. You have to follow the instructions they give you, but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, and you can’t beat the price.

 

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In Response to “Love the applicator – product really works, too.”, by Truthfairy:

Integrity in Reviews said – August 9, 2009:

“Truthfairy” is none other than Hartz Mountain Corporation’s lead veterinarian, Dr. Melinda Fernyhough. We all ought to thank her for her “unbiased, objective” review. Hartz Mountain uses these kind of tactics all over the internet and through their media and consumer communications. They have a  terrible safety record with their flea and tick products over the years and they combine that with misinformation, obfuscation and a new website called, “the truth about Hartz”. Can you imagine why a responsible corporate citizen would need their own website to run a “truth” campaign. No wonder thousands of pet owners are anguished and even the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is concerned.

 

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Of course, Truthfairy was long gone in this instance, but you’ll notice a pattern of silence from Truthfairy whenever Dr. Melinda’s name is mentioned throughout Truth Week. Of course, it’s quite possible Truthfairy is not Dr. Melinda, but the odds of Truthfairy being anything other than a Hartz troll is highly improbable as evidenced by this chart:

 

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This chart clearly demonstrates Broken Hartz' opinion as to the percentage likelihood of "Truthfairy's" actual identity.

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The term “shill” typically refers to someone who purposely gives consumers the impression he or she is a random enthusiastic reviewer, when in fact they are secretly working for the company or organization being reviewed.

It should come as no surprise that shilling is illegal in many circumstances and jurisdictions, since it’s clearly an act of fraud. This infraction is heightened in cases such as this, where the act of deception puts consumers and their pets at considerable, unnecessary risk.

In the interest of presenting an even handed story, we like to end with some of the more positive reviews this product received:

 

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5 Stars – Works Great For My Two Cats – June 11, 2010

By James Farrar, Jr.

I have been using this product for several months on both my cats and it has, by far, been the most effective in repelling fleas compared to anythibg else I have tried. I had to shave off a quarter sized patch of hair on the back of there necks to apply it, (she just LOVED that) but I have a long haired cat and that may not be necessary for every cat. You cannot let your cat try to lick it off of themselves because it may make them sick, thats why it is applied on back of neck, so be careful when using and be sure to read the directions. Very Easy to use.
I was a little desturbed by the review claiming that this product will kill your pet. All I can say about that is I have been using this exact same product, on and off for a couple of years and I have encounterd no problems whatsoever regarding cat’s health. It doe make me a little weiry but it’s the only thing that I have found that works very well in repelling fleas. Plus, the stuff smells really good too, kinda like a nice women’s fragrance. This stuff does work.

 

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2 Stars – Been using this for 3 months – August 15, 2010

By E. Fortier “E4TA”

So far my cats still have fleas, but they aren’t dead or sick. I plan to try something else next time.

 

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Truth Week continues tomorrow.

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Click this link for the next article in our Truth Week series: Total “Voluntary” Recall

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Could You Define, “Truth”?

Truth Week is here!

Loyal BH readers are already aware of Hartz’ website, TheTruthAboutHartz.com, through great posts like the powerful culmination of our Hartz “Executive Summary” Exposé.

This little “truth” campaign came quickly after the EPA’s announcement it was intensifying scrutiny of spot-on flea and tick products. The EPA had grown concerned after receiving more than 40,000 complaints in 2008 for a variety of brands from both retail and veterinary channels. The results of this investigation became the EPA Public Advisory published in March of 2010.

According to Consumer Affairs, in response to the crackdown:

“Ecker and other Hartz officials said the ingredients in their companys [sic] topical flea and tick products are among the safest on the market. And they cite Professors [sic] Gaskins [sic] analysis to back their claim.”

Consumer Affairs then states:

“To address those fears [regarding using flea and tick products] — and combat what the company calls misinformation about is [sic] products — Hartz recently launched a Web site called The Truth About Hartz.”

As if a company requiring a “truth” campaign isn’t suspicious enough, the centerpiece of this deceptive act was Dr. Gaskins’ “An Analysis of EPA Adverse Effect Data: July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2008”. Broken Hartz has not only addressed the large conflict of interest that resulted from Hartz’ decision to use Dr. Gaskins for this “independent statistical analysis”, but we’ve also uncovered the shameful manner in which Dr. Charles T. Gaskins’ willingly conducted himself, creating a violently false document in order to facilitate Hartz’ core mission: sickening, injuring and killing pets through recklessly outdated, poorly manufactured poisons in exchange for lucrative profits.

Dr. Gaskins’ report, wielded by Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, made up the core of her reckless “Executive Summary of EPA Evaluation of Pet Spot-On Products”, submitted to our affiliates by a tragically inept member of Rite Aid’s legal team. This was how Broken Hartz began.

There are claims Hartz came under so much criticism for this website it was forced to revise some of the information or face more embarrassment at the hands of its critics.

That sounds familiar. Here are instances when we’ve embarrassed Hartz into making a change (1, 2, 3).

By the time the EPA released its Public Advisory in March of 2010, Hartz decided to shut down the website and it continues to be “temporarily unavailable” (Well… almost unavailable).

Prior to and during Hartz’ campaign, there were several comments and reviews sprinkled around the internet by an individual using the handle “Truthfairy”. Broken Hartz has made light reference to “Truthfairy” previously, but we’d like to take this week to focus attention on this odd little fairy that, for some reason, made it a personal mission to spread the “truth” about Hartz right when they needed it most.

 

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Important Note: This is only an artist's rendering of "Truthfairy". Any similarity to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental and, yes, that's a barrel of dead "Truthcats".

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Broken Hartz is very excited for truth week, primarily, because we know Hartz is not.

We start dropping some serious “truthy” knowledge tomorrow.

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Click this link for the next article in our Truth Week series: Truthfairy in the Amazon

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The AVMA, Brought to You by Hartz Mountain Corporation?

A quick recap is necessary.

For those of you largely unaware of the matter at hand, Hartz Mountain Corporation manufactures flea and tick treatments that have received thousands of complaints over decades from well-intentioned pet owners, whose pets experienced a multitude of side effects: nausea, hair loss, seizures and in far too many cases, death. Many Veterinarians adamantly disapprove of this family of products. Good places to get an idea of the level of evil we are dealing with here are hartzvictims.org and hartzkills.org.

Hartz has an appalling safety record dating back to the 80′s and 90′s with their product, Blockade. They were forced to reformulate their products, but their reformulated versions continue to injure and kill and were named in a 2010 Public Advisory published by the EPA. Horrifyingly, the EPA has not forced removal of these products until they are proven safe.

So, aside from the obvious, why did we need you to know this?

While mining the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) website for information on how to report disreputable Veterinarians that choose to defend these poisons, forsaking their Veterinarian’s oath for a fat paycheck, we came upon the following:

Tomorrow (2/1/12), the AVMA will be naming their recipient of the Karl F. Meyer-James H. Steele Gold Headed Cane Award. That’s a quite a mouthful.

“The award recognizes the achievement of an individual concerned with animal health who has significantly advanced human health through the practice of Veterinary Epidemiology and public health.”

And who has the AVMA entrusted to decide the winner of such an honored distinction?

“Nominations should be emailed to Dr. Charles Thoen, AVES President and Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, AVES Secretary.”

Did you catch that?

That’s right, Dr. Melinda, otherwise known as Hartz Mountain Corporation’s Manager of Scientific Affairs and Resident Veterinarian, often found commenting in forums, suggesting the blame lies with improper use of Hartz products, not improper use of the term “pet care”. Dr. Melinda has been suspected of trolling forums as well, but whether or not Dr. Melinda and “Truthfairy” are one in the same has not been confirmed. It’s interesting to note, however, the two of them have never been photographed together

Truthfairy responding to a complaint posted on HartzVictims.org and someone suggesting she's really Dr. Melinda

 

Truthfairy's "Review" of a Hartz flea product on Amazon, followed by someone claiming this is really Dr. Melinda

The Hartz affiliation with this award is far from ending there. Hartz Mountain Corporation is actually sponsoring this damn thing!

WTF?

While we at Broken Hartz understand the role Epidemiology plays in public safety and, by extension, the need for flea control in order to preserve human health standards; we are appalled to find the AVMA has chosen to allow a company that profits from selling inferior, outdated, unnecessary solutions to a problem when safer, FDA regulated, alternatives are readily available.

We no longer need to play Russian roulette with our pets in order to protect society from fleas.

Get with the times, AVMA.

 

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UPDATE: Truth Week

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We ended up doing a whole series on “TruthFairy”! Check it out.

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