Pied Tamarin Loses Temper Over Hartz Ads

Someone just told this pied tamarin that Meg Frost is still promoting Hartz's flea and tick drops on Cute Overload, even though she knows the product has killed countless cats and dogs.

Bonnet Macaque Protests Hartz Ads on Cute Overload

Elwood, a 22-year-old Bonnet Macaque living in the dry deciduous forests of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, is staging a peaceful protest against the running of Hartz ads on Cute Overload.

The macaque, a follower of the teachings of Ghandi and practitioner of his philosophy of Satyagraha, will remain perched upon a leafless tree trunk until the Hartz ads are removed from Cute Overload.

Elwood, whose diet normally consists of nuts and berries, has forsworn food, water, and rest for the duration of the protest.

"Truth will be my nourishment," he told onlookers before withdrawing into silence.

I See Your Rationalization, and I Raise You Disapproval

Look. I'm just a rabbit. If you know rabbits, you know we have a keen sense of smell. But it doesn't take a rabbit nose to know what crap smells like. Have a whiff for yourselves!

Using Hartz on your pet is not akin to eating strawberries or breathing. Using Hartz is not normal, run-of-the-mill risk.

The toxic ingredient used in Hartz flea and tick products is called phenothrin. According to an article in USA Today, "Adverse reports began to arrive at EPA headquarters in 2001, shortly after Hartz changed the formulation of the products to include 87% phenothrin, a potent pesticide. Only a few other tick and flea products use phenothrin, and all at concentrations of less than 10%, says Jim Jones, director of EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs."

The same article quotes John Mullane, a spokesman for Hartz, as saying that the 7,000 reports were "a very small number compared to the number of applications."

If you visit Hartz's deathsite and click on any of their flea and tick products, you won't be surprised to find that they do not disclose the ingredients. Nor are the ingredients listed on the front of the packaging, so enlarging the image won't help. You'll have to go elsewhere to find out what's in Hartz's poisonous brew, like here, for example (click on the "Ingredients" tab).

In spite of EPA intervention, phenothrin still comprises 85.7% of the ingredients in Hartz's flea and tick drops for dogs.

The Hartz campaign features adorable pets suggesting that their flea and tick problems don't warrant a trip to the vet. Now why on earth would Hartz want you to leave your vet out of it? Because they know that if you ask your vet how to treat your pet's flea and tick problem, your vet is not going to recommend Hartz. In fact, they will tell you to avoid it at all costs.

A Florida news team's investigation of 30 local veterinarians found that "more than 60 percent reported having seen cases where cats have either died or become very sick after being treated with Hartz Advanced Flea and Tick Drops for Cats." (Apparently, some vets use the term 'Hartz Kitty' when treating seizing cats.)

By the way, Hartz has other methods of poisoning your animals. It also has ways of using real fur, from real animals overseas, in some of its pet toys. (No wonder Tabby loves that mouse toy so much. It's made of something dead!)

75-Day-Old Kitteh Haz Tiny Request

This red tabby Main Coone kitten is wise beyond his days! Already, he knows that his fur is too silky and his skin is too soft. Also, he's just kind of sitting there. He knows he should be more active--for example, by having life-threatening seizures!

A 'Leetle' Bird Told Him

"Talk about redonk! A leetle bird told me that you can click through web ads to buy a prosh cardboard rhino from Mod Cloth and cheap-ass flea and tick products with which to unknowingly poison and possibly kill your cat or dog from Hartz -- all in one convenient locashe!"

Cute Overload Peddles Pain and Heartache

I have visited Cute Overload, the epicenter of cuteness on the Internet, every day for the past few years. Cuteporter Extraordinaire Meg Frost posts anerable pictures of animals, from shy puppehs and snorgling kittehs to knobby-kneed deers and behbeh Beluga whales -- and her captions are priceless.

A few days ago, however, I noticed that she had started running advertisements for Hartz flea and tick products, which are well documented to have injured and killed countless dogs and cats.

Is there anything cute about that? Nyerhe. I'm afraid not.

Believing that Meg simply must not have been aware of the dangers of Hartz products, I wrote to her and let her know. I urged her to pull the ads. So far, I have not heard back. Others who have written to her expressing their opposition to the Hartz ads tell me that they have not heard back either.

Wanting to warn as many Cute Overload visitors as possible of the danger of using deadly Hartz flea and tick products on their pets, I posted informative comments on several of the entries. Today, those comments not-so-mysteriously disappeared. And on top of that, I've apparently been banned from posting.

No one should profit from a product that is known to be harmful to the animals we love and adore. Sadly, we expect this from evil corporations like Hartz -- but Cute Overload? Are you kidding me?

Please email Meg at cuteoverload@frostdesign.net and meg@cutelabs.com and urge her to do the right thing. Please post comments on the entries. Please tell your friends.

Read a few of Hartz victims' stories here.