They accompany us, they make our lives happy, they help us, they detect illnesses, they look for drugs or explosives and they do not demand anything in return. But we are not always up to their standards and, sometimes, the lack of civility makes them monopolize negative headlines and talk about them not for everything they give us but for what they dirty.
In Spain there are already more than 13 million registered pets, according to data from the Spanish Network for the Identification of Companion Animals (Reiac), of which 93% are dogs, 6%, cats, and the rest, rabbits, on everything. In fact, it is estimated that there are already more pets than children under 15 years of age.
The increase in the number of dogs worries municipalities, which have to face significant costs in cleaning (for collecting stools on sidewalks and gardens) and in urban furniture, due to the corrosion caused by urine. Dissuasive fines do not seem to have an effect on irresponsible owners. And there are those who use products to dissuade dogs that are not only prohibited but also toxic, such as sulfur.
According to the Valencian City Council of Xirivella, which has carried out a study on this problem, "a medium-sized dog generates 400 grams of waste per day (12 kilos after a month) and, in addition, urine causes damage to urban furniture which entail significant costs for the Consistory.To give us an idea, a litter bin costs around 120 euros, a bench, 180 or a lamppost, 330.
With this problem on a smaller scale, the Asturian David Hevia found himself. And after months of research, he managed to find a formula that is harmless for the furry ones, but that achieves its objective: that they do not urinate or relieve themselves where we do not want them to do so, such as lampposts, traffic lights, shop and house facades, sidewalks or in the streets. wheels of parked cars and motorcycles...
"My wife and I bought a house in a small village in Asturias. The house had been practically abandoned and all the dogs in the village went there to relieve themselves. I didn't want to have any problems with the neighbors because I had just arrived and, furthermore, I came from the city and they already saw me as a strange guy," he confesses between laughs. Therefore, he got down to work to think of an alternative solution, especially considering that he was about to become a father and the little boy would spend all his time on the floor touching everything.
As a good chemist, he became interested in all the products that were on the market so that dogs would not relieve themselves, but they all contained toxic and carcinogenic products.
So a "Breaking Bad" lab was set up, and like Walter White, he spent entire afternoons trying to find the perfect formula. "I started experimenting with natural products until I hit on the recipe a year or so later," he explains. "I tried it and saw how it worked. The dogs were sniffing the area, but they weren't peeing or pooping." But his efforts did not end there. In the following months he continued to improve the formula so that it would last longer on the ground.
Together with a friend, he realized that this product could have an economic return, and in 2018 they launched a real market survey: they offered the anti-urine to pet stores and asked customers for their opinion. "If someone told us that it hadn't worked, we would go to his house to see what had happened and it turned out that he wasn't using it well," he says.
And when verifying the good reception of its natural anti-urine, a week before the state of alarm was decreed, Hevia set up, together with Vanesa Fernández and Sergio Fernández Diecolpet, a research and development laboratory specialized in the design of veterinary products for the care of pets, and in which the care of nature is very present, since only "natural and ecological ingredients" are used, he points out.
But the pandemic came and they had to stop, although someone as restless as Hevia couldn't quite do it. "That time was good for us to develop other products. And by the end of the year we already had, in addition to anti-urine (which also works with cats), an organic shampoo specially made for pets with atopic dermatitis, or sensitive skin, a cleaner for paws and the queue after the walk and another to disinfect textiles, toys or the dog's bed".
Although at first their main market was specialized pet stores, they soon realized that the product could also be useful to municipalities.
"We realized that the local administrations had a very big problem with the urine and feces of the dogs. There are a lot of uncivilized people and the pee also causes corrosion and damages the urban furniture. With our product, the municipalities can save a lot on cleaning and replacement of furniture", he explains.
For this reason, they have gone to various Asturian town halls that have shown interest in their flagship product, above all, to protect critical points such as monuments, street furniture or playgrounds.
"Our antiurin is the only one on the market with the Ecoitel seal (totally ecological), with 100% effectiveness in preventing dogs from urinating in places we don't want and, furthermore, it does not affect the health of dogs or deteriorate the environment. The dog smells it, but does not mark in that place", assures this chemical associate professor at the University of Oviedo.
Aware that the pet market is a growing market, in the future they would like their products not only to be available in specialized channels (pet stores, veterinary centers) but also in large hypermarkets. But always faithful to its philosophy: "Preserve the natural environment".
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The Trust Project