IPB Students Invents Shampoo for Dogs and Cats from Tobacco
Prime care for pets is needed for our pets to avoid exposure against diseases and to keep its body aesthetically pleasing. Currently shampoo is not only used to wash human hair and scalp, but also used widely to wash cats' and dogs' hair. Aside from washing the hair to make it clean and fragrant, shampoo for pets also functions to eradicate, treat, and prevent ectoparasites such as mite and lice.
Cases that are often found in many large animals, such as cattles is ectoparasite infestations that caused several loss, for example body weight loss and decrease in production. In the case of pets, ectoparasites can cause baldness, hair loss, or scabies in dogs and cats, while also decrease the overall aesthetics of the pet.
To address those concerns, five Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) students initiated a natural shampoo product for animals made of tobacco. Those students are Dede Irwan, Noura Ahraeny, Ulfi Nurul Fadhilah and Maulida Fitriani from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FKH), and Bayu Dwi Pangestu from Faculty of Animal Sciences. They were advised by Drh Andi Aulia Mustika, MSi to realize their innovation.
"There are several plants that can be used to eradicate lice and mites or other ectoparasites in animals. One of the plant that can be utilized for that purpose is tobacco. We then created a natural shampoo for animal with tobacco as the main ingredient as an alternative product that is eco-friendly. Our innovation was presented in Students Creativity Programs in Entreprenurship (PKM-K) proposal of which title 'S'Bacow: Shampo Tembakau Sebagai Alternatif Insektisida Alami Anti Ektoparasit pada Hewan," said Dede.
Their original motive to create this product is to empower tobacco farmers by creating alternative product from tobacco. Tobacco is mainly used as a main ingredient of cigarettes, but now is proven to be able to be processed into animal shampoo. When many cigarettes companies bankrupt, tobacco farmers can sell their tobacco supply to be processed as shampoo. ".. so that tobacco farmers can still have their business running and hopefully our product will open a new business opportunity for those farmers," he continued.
When conventional shampoos in market are made of chemicals, S'Bacow utilizes natural ingredients instead so it is eco-friendly. Besides, S'Bacow also effectively eradicates, treats, and prevents lice and mites infestation in dogs' and cats' hair. Moreover, S'Bacow is also able to keep the pet's hair smells pleasant and looks beautiful.
"The chemicals that are currently used as ingredients in shampoo can cause ectoparasites resistance, intoxicate animals directly, environmental damage, and cause various side effects. Those are the advantages of our products," he said.
"Tobacco contains several active ingredients that can eliminate ectoparasites. For example, there is nicotine that can function as a toxic substance when in contact with ectoparasites' guts or when inhaled through air. After experiments that we did, this shampoo is proven to be effective to eliminate lice and mites and other ectoparasites because all the ectoparasites that were exposed to this product during the experiments died," he said.
The S'Bacow products have already been marketed through online media, and our colleagues in FKH. Moreover, the team targets to sell their product through petshops around Bogor and hope that this product can be distributed to all areas of Indonesia.
Currently, S'Bacow consists of 2 sizes with strawberry, lemon, and apple variants which are sold as much as Rp25.000,00 for 100 ml packaging and Rp40.000,00 for 250 ml size. The affordable pricing is also an advantage that consumers can enjoy. (Ard)
