Let's Stop Poisoning Our Dogs and Cats, Okay?

That was a dramatic title, I know. Too late now, I posted it already. But I’m not kidding, since I’m talking about Frontline and Advantix and such. This isn’t some crazy blog claiming fake things about Purdue chickens or whatever, there are resource links below and you can find more info on it. There’s a safer alternative! http://www.cedarcidestore.com/cedarproducts.html.

After using spot-on flea and tick preventatives (Frontline, Advantix, BioSpot) on my dog and our family dog before her, I learned that there are a lot of concerns about them being toxic (possibly very) and not a good thing to be putting on our animals. Spot-ons work by absorbtion into the blood through the skin, and what they basically do is make the dog’s blood into poison that kills any fleas or ticks that bite them. Yeah, the flea has to actually bite them first and suck out blood.

I never knew that. I guess I'm stupid, but thought the stuff managed to work its way around the skin and warded fleas off. If I’d known I was making Mabel’s blood into a POISON, I never ever would have used it on her. I wonder now if my use of Frontline may even have been a part of her death and it eats me up. No, it doesn’t affect all dogs terribly, but still…how do we know if it will until it’s too late?


The EPA is even investigating spot-on pesticides in this report: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/petproductseval.html

 Which states:

• EPA found that the products could be used safely but that some additional restrictions are needed. EPA’s team of veterinarians learned that most incidents were minor, but unfortunately there were some pet deaths and “major incidents” reported. The Agency learned that the most commonly affected organ systems were dermal, gastrointestinal, and nervous.

“Could be used safely BUT” isn’t good enough for me. Sure, the report isn’t saying these treatments are terrible, horrible, awful, no good, very bad things, but they’re only starting the real investigating NOW. 

And you know how it goes with these types of announcements. Remember the dog food recall? First it’s only one type of one brand. Then it’s two types. Then it’s the whole brand, but others are fine. Then it’s one type of another brand too, but no indications that…what? Okay, it’s two whole brands to avoid. Three. Three whole brands, so don’t buy any of those four brands. Five. You know what, just let them catch some squirrels to eat. But be careful of those injected squirrel growth hormones!

 They let the info out in little crudules over weeks and months so you just get disgusted gradually instead of one giant disgust clump that might overflow into riots. Like the frog in a hot pot of water story: toss him in while its boiling and he jumps out. But put him in cold water and turn the heat up gradually and he doesn’t even notice how bad the situation has gotten and then he croaks (all right, he buys the farm. Pun haters). Also, spot-on treatments haven’t had to comply with pre-market studies to prove they’re safe as of yet. AAAAAIIIEEEEEEEE!


But there's also a safe, organic, flea and tick deterrent available called “Best Yet.” It uses cedar oil, “nature’s pest deterrent.” The stuff is basically a natural miracle, and is explained in this video from their site:





Cedarcide (the company that makes Best Yet) is a safe, natural way to control just about everything. This stuff kills almost immediately – the longest time a flea lived after a spritz was 41 seconds – and kills fleas, ticks, mites, mosquitos, ear mites, lice, silverfish, and works on Bedbugs so quickly and easily that it’s almost crazy they’re even considered a problem. It’s available for personal insect spray, in granules, as a fogger, as a pet flea and tick preventative, as a non-toxic deck stain, and more.

The only side effect appears to be that things sprayed with the stuff smell nice. There appears to be no reason to ever use any toxic insect repellent or pesticide again for nearly any insect.

 

Here’s the website for Cedarcide and Best Yet. It’s available from many carriers, including Amazon.

http://www.cedarcidestore.com/cedarproducts.html

I encourage you to look further into this and check out the cedarcide website, and any others. On Amazon, it rates as 5 stars with over 5,000 reviews, which is unheard of. I’ve looked into it a bit, but I urge everyone with a pet (or bug problem) to look into it further, as I’ve only scratched the surface. From what I’ve seen and read, I would have bought it it for Mabel for sure. Anything is better than poisoning your pet’s blood.

I may even order the insect spray. If this stuff does even half of what it appears to do, it could put Raid and other toxic chemical insect sprays and repellents out of business. Just kidding, don’t worry, those companies have lobbyists to watch out for ‘em!

 

Please take a look and do what you feel is best for your pet. Don’t lose them prematurely to a chemical company.

(c) 2010 Scott Teel.  All rights reserved.