 Purred: Sun Jun 22, '08 11:42am PST |
 | |  | | What You Don't Know Can Hurt Your Cat
On 02/11/01 I became brutally aware of Hartz flea products after using Hartz flea and tick drops on stray cat I had taken in. That day and the next few will forever stand out in my mind. I joking refer to that time as my 'Hartz awakening'.
About Hartz
I like most of you grew up seeing the "Hartz' name on almost anything for a pet. Hartz has been around for 78 years. In December 2000, Hartz Mountain Corporation was sold to a fund managed by J.W. Childs Associates, LP, and a leading private equity investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. J.W. Childs Associates specializes in leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations of middle-market growth companies in partnership with company management.
For the 75 years prior to the buyout, Hartz was owned and operated by the Stern family. No doubt the Stern family is responsible for the long term 'good name' and reputation the Hartz label implies.
In June of 2004 The Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo purchased pet product producer Hartz Mountain Corp. for $365 million.
Hartz makes over 1500 different products under the brands of
HARTZ® PET SHOPPET
NATURE'S GOLD®
L/M ANIMAL FARMST
WARDLEY®
Hartz ® ADVANCED CARE™
Hartz ® AT PLAY™
Hartz ® DENTAL™
Hartz ® LIVING™
Hartz ® NUTRITION
Hartz is well known for their charitable funding to such noted institutions as
University of Idaho
Ohio State University
Ruskin Laboratories
Shedd Aquarium
Kansas State University
University of Florida
Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine
Young Veterinary Research
Biological Laboratories in Ireland
Hartz sponsors CFA's mentoring program and one of the AKC's programs as well. I would bet you could not find one breeder in either of these two organizations that uses Hartz flea products. I find it tragic that organizations such as these two, who millions of Americans look to too set the highest standards for animal breeding and care are willing to sell their integrity for funding.
Let me add here that the ASPCA's Poison Control Center reported to be the finest in the nation has a contract with Hartz to deal with the ever increasing calls from consumers who animals have been effect by Hartz flea products. It has been said that politics makes for strange bedfellows, money and greed make for even stranger alliances.
Hartz has an equally impressive list of affiliates.
ANIMAL HEALTH INSTITUTE
APPMA (AMERICAN PET PRODUCTS MANUFACTURER ASSOCIATION)
PET INDUSTRY JOINT ADVISORY COUNCIL (PIJAC)
The world's largest pet trade association, representing all segments of the pet industry:
PIJAC
Works closely with other industry associations such as APPMA (American Pet Product Manufacturers Association), FTFFA (Florida Tropical Fish Farmers Association), PIDA (Pet Industry Distributors Association) and WWPSA (World Wide Pet Supply Association).
DELTA SOCIETY
A pretty impressive resume by anyone's standards, at least on paper it looks that way.
I have been a volunteer online community leader since 1999 with one of the major internet providers. One of the many things I do is to read message boards. After my 'Hartz awakening', I began seeing posts on message boards about Hartz flea products.
I didn't think much about the first few I read until I read one very moving post. It was from a cat owner who had used Hartz flea and tick drops on her cats. Three days later the cats were both dead.
Little did I know that in reading that post I was catching a glimpse of how the next four years of my life would look like? I was truly moved by that post. As I sat at my computer and tried to form some sort of reply to comfort this person, I thought to
myself, 'What if Ruckus had died? If I hadn't of washed the same product off 20 minutes after applying it and rushed him to a vet, he'd probably have died. How would I feel then? The answer was like a bolt of lightening striking within feet of you. I'd be in shock thinking I had killed this poor stray I was trying to help. The guilt was over whelming.
I began to see more and more of this type of posts. In some the animals only had to be taken to ER Vets where they were put under heavy sedation to control seizures and put on fluids to try to flush the toxin from their ravaged bodies. Those were the lucky ones. The not so lucky ones were no longer a live. In some of the most heart wrenching posts, young children were the ones to find their pets unable to stand, having uncontrollable seizures or dead. What would you say to that child?
When I had called and written Hartz to complain about what their product had done Ruckus the cat, it took them four months before actually contacting me. They said if my Vet would write a letter stating that the product was the cause of Ruckus stay at the Vets, and I still had the original package and receipt they'd pay the vet bill. I thanked the rep on the phone and said after all this time I was much more concerned about the product affecting our peoples animals the same way or worse and inquired what Hartz planned to do to ensure the safety of animals the product was used on. The rep on the other end of the phone told me I must be stupid to think Hartz would do anything over a cat for a product they made so much off of. I won't digress into what the conversation then became like. Let's just say most of the rest of it would have to be blipped out.
It was then I really decided I wanted to know everything I could find out about Hartz flea products. I started out doing late night online research. I didn't like what I was finding out and by this time word had spread in the online world that I was the person to contact if you were a Hartz victim. My email was more than depressing. I formed an online support group for anyone who had had a similar experience with Hartz flea products.
I found out about the class action against Hartz and was delighted at the thought something was going to be done to have these dangerous products pulled. Within months I was notified that the class action was now to be settled out of court. The settlement stated their would be nothing for anyone who's pet had died only those who's pets had lived would be able to have Hartz pay their Vet bills and we would all sign waivers holding Hartz as non responsible for the injuries to our pets. Needless to say many others and I opted out of the class action at that point.
By this time I was receiving 3 or more emails a week from people all over the US whose pets had been affected by Hartz flea products. I knew something had to be done, but what.
I had discovered that the EPA regulated Hartz flea products rather than the FDA. The FDA has control over such products as Advantage and Frontline. They are listed in the FDA's 'Green Book". So why did the EPA have control over Hartz products?
By reading the various EPA documents pertaining to this issue that are available online, you will see that Hartz told the EPA that the reasons for the numerous complaints made by consumers were not due to using the product but the inability of American consumers to:
1. Choose the cat version of the product rather than the dog version
2. The inability of the American consumer to read and correctly follow label directions for use
3. A possible mix-up of the two versions in a certain batch
The EPA responded to that information in 2001 by having Hartz recall the Flea and Tick Drops product to "re-label" it. In my opinion based on the numbers of posted stories since than, the re-labeling did little good to ensure the safety of our animal companions
Despite being forced to re-label the product, a legal action, over 20 news stories and over 33,000 complaints made by consumers across the nation, Hartz still sells this preparation to unsuspecting, pet-owning American consumers.
What many consumers discover after applying Hartz Flea and Tick Drops is that instead of helping the pets they care for, these preparations cause serious injury and -- in far too many cases -- death. Besides the horror of watching a beloved pet suffer, which is obviously the main reason these products should be banned, consumers incur the high costs of extensive veterinarian, hospital and emergency room services needed to save or attempt to save the lives of their pets.
The degree to which Americans love their pets is shown every year in the money spent to provide for them. Although I don't have the figures at hand, the "Pet Industry" is certainly making record profits.
Hartz obviously is only interested in "profits" -- not the well being and safety of the many pets its product continues to harm and kill.
Hartz refuses to admit any wrong doing or that they purposely misled the EPA. It is all too apparent that they have no intentions to do anything but continue to sell a lethal product to make a profit.
Web sites Against Hartz at http://www.geocities.com/againsthartz/
Hartz Victims Quilt Project http://www.geocities.com/HartzQuilt |  |  | |  |
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