Healthy Pets Go Green!
Pet owners need information on natural, holistic, health care as well as natural, nutritional supplementation. It's all about doing what's best for your pet! Holistic care means keeping an open mind, exploring all of the possibilities that can help keep your pet healthy. By preventing disease, you'll not only do all you can to keep your pet healthy, but you'll reduce your veterinary expenses by reducing the number of sick visits to your pet's doctor!
Natural, Holistic Pet Care Tips
Also, This article by Dr. Shawn Messonnier, DVM can help you keep your pet living a long and healthy life... the natural way!
"Go Green" Tip
Here are some of my favorite remedies that work just as well or BETTER than some Name Brand products.
Natural Flea Control:
* Lemon-aid! The smell of citrus naturally repels fleas and the lemons will help to clean and brighten your pet's coat! Slice up 2 or 3 lemons and simmer them in about a quart of water for an hour, then let steep overnight in the frig. Put the strained liquid in a spay bottle and spray your pet's coat once a day and brush through. Use a flea comb if there are a lot of fleas present. Do test the Lemon-Aid on a small patch of your dog's skin first to make sure he doesn't have any citrus allergies.
* Fleas also hate vinegar! Put some distilled white vinegar in your pet's water - about 1 teaspoon per quart.
* Throw some salt over your shoulder! If your pet has fleas then you need to treat your home, also. Fleas live in the carpeting and furniture of your home. Vacuum at least once a week. If you have a serious infestation going on, sprinkle regular table salt around all your pet's favorite places and leave for 48 hours, then vacuum. Repeat a few times. Fleas love salt so much, they will actually gorge themselves to death!
We're right in the middle of what's turning out to be a heavy flea and tick season, so I wanted to remind you that you have many options for natural flea and tick control.
One of my favorite sites, The Only Natural Pet Store, has everything you need to protect your pet, home, and your family from these unwanted pests.
The Dangers of Chemical Products
The popular chemical-based flea and tick control products are attracting increasing attention because of widespread side effects being reported by pet owners who have used the products. The EPA has initiated an investigation of chemical spot-on flea and tick products due to the high number of reported adverse reactions. Here's a quote from the report summary: "Adverse reactions reported from the spot-on products range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and in some cases death." Read the entire report summary here. The Natural Resource Defense Council has filed suit in California to block the sale of chemical-based flea and tick collars due to concerns over exposure of pets and children to toxic chemicals. An article with more details can be found here. The conclusion - please use natural flea and tick control, for the safety of your pet and your family!
