Absorbine UltraShield - Relabelled for Germany and the UK

I am very grateful I can find UltraShield in Germany, considering the trouble they went to to market it in Europe. Completely differently.

In case you don't know, GMOs are illegal here, and we cannot get a lot of food or beverages that Americans can because of ingredients that are not allowed in the EU. (Not that that's a bad thing, I just don't believe red #40 is gonna hurt me.)

Germans are motivated to save the planet in ways even Oregonians cannot imagine. There are laws in place that I've mostly adapted to. It is illegal to wash a car in your own driveway/street, for example.

So getting a fly spray with permethrin is something I was surprised was legal. Wait.

It's not legal on animals.


When I first ordered it, I took it out of the box I was dismayed - oh no - it's something else - it's got a German label, and a list of insects it kills.....a completely different list of insects than the Ultrashield in America promises to repel.

The label reads, ahem, "Kills the following insects ON SURFACES: ants, silverfish, spiders, mites, beetles, lice, moths, and centipedes."

Also on the frontside, it reads, "VERY TOXIC to aquatic organisms."

J said, cuz he's clever like this, "Check the ingredients. Then you'll know if you bought the same product you expected."

Sure enough, the active ingredients are the same, precisely the same as the Ultrashield in America that is "safe for use on puppies over 12 weeks."

Here is the American label if you're curious. Note no toxic warning on the label.


That they designed a label with pictures of moths and ants....amazing attention to detail so that no one would spray an animal. There is nothing on the label about repelling flies or ticks, the main reason I use it.

Today I opened a new bottle, this one took 3 weeks to arrive because it came from the UK. Oh my, it has another label! This one is a mimic of the German one, with the same warning on the front about killing the fish. It's weird to see it in English, this adapted label.

EQUESTRIAN PREMISES SPRAY
The backside reads: "Spray in areas insects congregate. Spray your dog's bedding."

This toxicity warning works - both Mell and KT said they would never use such a thing, KT said, "It kills the fish!" I wonder how it would end up in my ponds and kill the trout. Perhaps if your dog's bed is directly on the water's edge when you spray it down?

As I type this I have 6 horsefly bites on me, one is over a week old and still itches. The newer ones are dark red and swollen up, the size of dimes. I use Equispot on my horse, and that works great against ticks and no-see-ums, but not so great against horseflies. My horse gets bitten every day when I have no fly spray.

Horseflies are vicious, intelligent hunters that only feed on blood. They wait in the trees, watching for movement, and attack horse or human without preference. They attack using an Immelmann turn. They almost always attack from behind so you don't see them. Clever. I have three bites on the back of my right shoulder, two on the backs of my legs, and one on the back of my arm. I've never seen one on my donkey, her Winter coat is still protecting her.

I'd never experienced horseflies til I came to Germany. They're not what I imagined - the ones we have here are silent, grey and narrow - they  might be an inch long but their bodies are elongated where a house fly is more round.

Then I remembered I'd brought a can of Deep Woods Off with me from my last visit home. I sprayed myself, went outside in the evening and sat in my chair where I normally get attacked, and nothing bit me.

If coating myself and my horse in chemicals keeps us pain free, I'm going to do it.