Common, Everyday Products Can Harm. . .Even Kill Your Animals!

We wash them, comb them and protect them from flies and insects. . . but who’s protecting our four-footed friends from our devotion? Commonly used products – from shampoos and conditioners to fly spray and tick collars – may contain chemicals that can impair and even kill your animals. Just as there is no watchdog agency in charge of oversight on personal care items for humans . . . there is no agency regulating topical products for pets and horses. According to the FDA, regulation was ceded to an industry oversight group in the 1930’s.

Everyday household products can be deadly

Not long ago, KATU 2 in Portland, Oregon, reported on an accident involving a dog and a common liquid detergent. You wouldn't think laundry soap could harm your pet just by getting on their skin. But this incident is a warning to all pet owners.

The dog had a skin reaction over the bottom half of her body according to the veterinarian. A bottle of liquid detergent was on the floor near the cage. Somehow the dog got to it and got the lid off. After lying in the liquid detergent, the dog was found bleeding and in pain.

Veterinarians weren’t sure if the detergent created a chemical burn or skin reaction. The label's only warning is to 'keep out of reach of children and to flush with water if it gets in your eyes.' The owner didn't think laundry detergent was harmful so she didn't have it stored out of reach.

While neither the veterinarian NOR the pet owner had an ingredient list available, what YOU should know is that many soaps use synthetic chemicals to formulate their products and MANY OF THEM COULD BE CONSIDERED HARMFUL to humans as well as animals.

Soaps often include Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) - an inexpensive sudsing agent known to interfere with brain function. If your pet is disobedient and seems distracted or distraught after that wonderful suds-filled bath, it may be the soap that you used ALL OVER his body.

Many soaps and air fresheners include synthetic fragrances to mask odors on clothes, in hair and on your pet’s body. Synthetic fragrances are NOT BIODEGRADABLE -- and it doesn’t have to be listed on a label according to the FDA. Many of them are carcinogenic or otherwise toxic. They typically float in the air about 12” off the floor – where babies and pets are most likely to spend their days. When they settle into the floor covering, we kick them back up into the air as we walk on the carpet or rug, giving the most vulnerable members of our family – our children and our pets – a second dose of toxic exposure.

What should YOU DO to keep your animals safe?

The most important thing we can do is to begin reading labels and select ToxicFree® products whenever we can. Remember the skin is the largest organ in the body. . .and readily absorbs toxins from the air and from topical products we apply. It is a priority to choose SAFE products to put on your pets’ skin since they will absorb ingredients we often lather over their entire body.

• Avoid fragranced or scented pet shampoos. According to the FDA, “fragrance-free” or “unscented” products often contain fragrance chemicals.
• Treat household products as dangerous to animals. . .in the house and in the barn. Place them safely out of reach.
• Avoid laundry products with ‘brighteners’ or ‘foam boosters’. These chemicals are extremely dangerous.
• Avoid sanitizers or deodorizers with fragrance or triclosan. EPA registers triclosan as a pesticide and recent reports from the CDC and research universities have concluded Triclosan may be creating classes of ‘super bugs’. . .bacteria that is immune to current antibiotics.