Tue 4 May 2010
Spawn!Tag
Posted by anaglyph under Cats, Gadgets, Hokum, Science, Skeptical Thinking, Stupidity, WooWoo
[7] Comments
I fear I have crossed some kind of invisible line. The Spawn is not happy. I swear when I put this on his collar there were sparks.
In all seriousness though, I have done exactly as recommended on the ShooTag packaging, and aim to report any results here on The Cow. In the interests of full disclosure, it has to be said that it’s turning cold here and flea activity is ramping down. However, the Spawn is still scratching on a regular basis and his chemical flea treatment is overdue. I aim to watch him carefully for the next two weeks or so and report on any change in his condition. If ShooTag is providing the 75% reduction in fleas promised on the product website, it should be very obvious.
Ah, the tag says cat. So it does serve a purpose. Kinda. If you wanted to label your animals, for example, but do nothing against fleas or ticks.
I think they should make little tags for the fleas. Makes more sense to me.
Poor Glitchy, if only he knew what his Dad was up to in the name of science.
Hmm, Scabbers is doing fine on Advantage, though I think the name ‘Advantage’ is more about the price/profit ratio than anything – someone’s making a lot of money methinks
The King
Yeah, it’s all a conspiracy by Big Pharma.
Uh, Fleas lay like millions of eggs, I don’t think 75% is going to help, nor would anyone even notice
Um… yeah, but (I hesitate to even use any logic with Malach) even if they did lay millions of eggs, which they don’t, the eggs don’t hatch into millions of fleas.
I love this line in the FAQ section of the “ShooTag” website:
“Because shoo!TAGâ„¢ products contain no harmful or toxic chemicals it is not appropriate to expect 100% efficacy, especially if living in areas with bad flea infestations and no other pest management systems are being used.”
In other words, if you don’t use any real flea treatments, you might even find it appropriate to expect zero percent efficacy.