Raise your hand if you share your home with a critter or two (or roughly 55 in our case ). According to statistics, 66% of us do….. and we love ’em. Pet families spend over $19 BILLION dollars a year in the USA on veterinary care (not including supplements, food, collars, etc).
March is Pet Poison Prevention Month and while we’re talking about spring cleaning, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about pets. Yes, they need cleaning themselves on occasion, but equally important….. it’s our job, as the ones who keep them well and healthy….to keep toxins out of their space as much as is “humanly” possible.
According to the American Animal Hospital Association and the ASPCA, these are some of the biggest chemical culprits for bringing harm to animals .
medications
cleaning products
personal care products
fragrance products
detergent and detergent “pods”
There are more (take a look at the graphic), but I bring these up to give you a for probably already having fixed these issues in your own home and keeping your fur babies safer in the process. Go you!
Animals are often “the canary in the coalmine”. Evidence of toxin overload often affects them on a scale greater than in humans.
Take Georgie for instance. Georgie is our now adult opossum we rescued when she was just an itty bitty thing (her mama had died). Because she was so imprinted on us (she came to be with us before her eyes were open), she was not releasable, and she lives with us as though she is a house cat. Opossums do not live long. A geriatric opossum is over 2 years old. Georgie is over 2 years old now, and doing quite well. The reason opossums do not live long (in addition to getting hit by cars) is that they are super sensitive to chemicals…. even more so than cats. Georgie eats all organic human-grade food (I shop at Trader Joe’s and Local Yocal for her), and has had almost zero exposure to chemicals of any kind. The same can be said for our cats, our dogs, our dairy cows, horses, and chickens. Their toxin load is extremely low.
If you happen to still be using traditional toxic cleaners, give Thieves Household Cleaner a try!
mainstream personal care products? Young Living has a treasure chest of healthy alternatives!
plug-ins or other fake fragrances? Get that diffuser out and use it! Young Living oils are safe for use around all types of animals. We even use oils to help them recover from wounds and illnesses, and rarely do we spend $$$$$$ at the vet anymore. We have saved thousands of dollars over the years by using resources like “The Animal Desk Reference” to solve animal health concerns. Remember that 19BILLION dollars a year the USA spends on veterinary care? So thankful Charlie and I contribute minimally to that number every year!
Detergents and “pods”? Thieves Laundry Soap is an excellent alternative (it’s concentrated so either don’t use but just a little bit, or use one of the recipes on H3 to make your own out of non-toxic ingredients).
Cleaning up your home without adding toxins to your pet’s life only makes sense (and it saves money in so many ways). They are worth it!
What’s one thing you have replaced that might have been shortening your pet’s lifespan by continual “small dose” exposure?
xoxo~ liz
If you are new to the concept of detoxing your home, here’s a list to get yourself started, and let’s chat…. I’m here to help you lower your toxin load too! https://bit.ly/ThievesHouseholdCleaningBundle
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