It’s not easy being green, but more and more people around the world are making the effort to embrace a healthy and natural lifestyle. Families are swapping out toxic cleaning chemicals for eco-friendly, green cleaning products and electing to shop at farmers’ markets or grow their own organic produce rather than eat prepackaged food that’s loaded with preservatives. But even as we become more mindful about making sure that we protect ourselves, our children, and our partners from harmful chemicals in our food and household products, we may be overlooking some important members of our family: our pets. Even if you love your pet as much as you would love a child, by exposing it to toxins and being lax on preventative care, you may drastically shortening its lifespan. But with just a few simple changes, you can make sure that you’re not cutting your pet’s life short.
Image source: Vetdepot.com
The sad truth is, sometimes our furry friends slide down our priority lists. In times of economic hardship, we’re not always responsible about taking our pets in for regular pet visits which can cause treatable diseases to go on the rise. In fact, a recent study released by Banfield Pet Hospital indicated that the occurrence of chronic diseases in household pets has climbed sharply since 2007. And vet costs aren’t the only place where pet owners cut corners. Even if you’re not an extreme couponer or a relentless bargain-hunter, odds are that since you’ve become a pet owner you’ve picked up an inexpensive brand of pet food based not on the ingredient list but on the price at least once.
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But what you may not realize is that streamlining your budget when it comes to things like food and preventative care for your pets is a false economy. Sure you may save some money in the immediate future by skipping vet visits, but in the long-term your stinginess could have some seriously expensive ill effects on the health of your pets. By prioritizing health care and selecting food and other pet care items based on the quality of their components and not on their bargain-basement prices you’ll actually save a bundle in the long run by preventing diseases and the ensuing costly treatments that accompany them.
But this isn’t just about getting a strong return on your investment: it’s about providing for a member of your family who depends on you to do the right things to ensure that they live a long, healthy, and happy life. Here are some of the areas where you can make some easy changes that will help your furry friends live life to the fullest.
Prevention Is The Best Medicine
It’s a common belief that one year in a human life is equivalent to seven years in a dog life. The concept of dog years is actually a little more complicated than that, but the upshot is essentially the same: animals live accelerated lives in comparison to humans. This means, among other things, that illnesses can quickly ravage their systems. This is why regular checkups are just as important for our pets as they are for their owners.
For years, a debate has raged in the parenting community about the importance of vaccinating children after a prominent study (now debunked after it was revealed the original researcher had acted dishonestly) indicated that vaccines may have a link to autism. Now, more and more parents are realizing that vaccinations are critical in protecting herd immunity – at least when it comes to protecting themselves and their children. But when it’s time for their pet’s annual exam, these same people may be tempted to postpone it due to cost or inconvenience. If they have an indoor pet that never encounters other animals, they may reason that annual vaccinations aren’t all that critical. But your pets’ vaccinations are more important than you think. These vaccines protect against a variety of diseases including feline leukemia, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), distemper, bortadella, rabies, parvovirus, and many more. These diseases can cause lasting organ damage, and can quickly become fatal.
And vaccines aren’t the only reason to keep up with preventative care for your pets. At your pets’ annual exam, your veterinarian will perform a thorough clinical exam that includes palpating the body to ensure the internal organs are clear of any troubling lumps. She will also listen to your pet’s heart and lungs check the condition of his eyes, ears, and teeth, take his temperature, and monitor his weight to ensure that he is in good health. By maintaining a strict annual (or even semi-annual) checkup schedule, you and your veterinarian may be able to catch health problems in your pet when they are still early enough to treat.
Mainstream veterinary treatment isn’t the only way to ensure proper veterinary health, either. Many alternative treatments can help pets lead longer and healthier lives as well. Acupuncture and acupressure have been used to successfully treat conditions ranging from allergies to kidney disorders to liver disease. Chiropractic treatments have eased digestive problems and arthritis. Herbal remedies prescribed by qualified holistic veterinarians can provide relief from skin conditions and flea infestations. Massage has been used to improve flexibility and mobility, increase blood circulation, and ease muscle tension. As you continue to be proactive about the health of your pet, be sure to consider these holistic means to promote good health.
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This is true on so many levels. Keeping up with preventative health care is a great money-saving tool. Treating a full-blown illness in a pet is very costly, so catching a disease in the early stages will be less of a stress on your wallet. But more importantly, preventative care has great benefits for your pets. Once a disease has progressed, it’s unlikely that treatment will work, and your pet will likely suffer a great deal through the process. Diagnosing illnesses in the early stages is critical to your pet’s health and happiness, and that’s what really matters.
Image source: Dingo.care2.com
You Are What You Eat
Consumers are more aware than ever about the importance of eating healthy, nutritionally-balanced food. Even avowed junk food junkies are looking for snacks that leave out controversial ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup. More and more people are shopping for produce at their local farmers’ markets and choosing to spend a little more at the grocery store on organic, antibiotic-free meat and cage-free eggs. Yet these same people don’t even think twice about buying whatever brand of pet food happens to be on sale that week. If these ingredient-conscious consumers took a minute to browse the labels on many commercial pet-foods, they might be horrified to see what they’re feeding their furry little friends.
Just like people, animals need a well-balanced, nutritionally-sound diet in order to feel their best. Pets need plenty of water to stay hydrated. They need high levels of protein (especially cats, which are obligate carnivores and physically require animal tissue in their diets in order to thrive). They need fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins and minerals in the proper proportion. What they don’t need are excessive fillers with little to no nutritional value, including corn, feathers, soy, cottonseed hulls, citrus pulp, straw, and cereal byproducts. When you’re picking out pet food for your cat or dog, don’t select a brand based on price. Instead, ensure that protein sources like meat are high on the ingredient list (preferably three of the first five ingredients should be meat or some other form of protein, like eggs). Also, check that any preservatives used are free of harmful, artificial chemicals that may act as cancer-causing agents, like BHA, BHT or ethoxyquin.
If you’re especially ambitious, you can even make your own pet food at home. There are many pros to making this choice. Your animals will benefit from eating fresh, preservative-free ingredients, and you’ll avoid the risks of tainted pet food (as in the case of the 2007 pet food recalls wherein thousands of pets died as a result of consuming wheat gluten contaminated by melamine). However, this requires a great deal of time, and it can be difficult to ensure that your pets receive the proper nutritional balance, so work closely with your veterinarian if you decide to go this route.
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Don’t Just Clean Your Pets – Green Your Pets!
Plenty of the bath and beauty products we use are loaded with common cosmetic toxins, so it should come as no surprise that many pet shampoos are as well. Many of the “Dirty Dozen” chemicals that tarnish our own personal care products can also be found in pet shampoos, including BHA and BHT, coal tar dyes, triclosan, and sodium laureth sulfate. These ingredients can cause itching and irritation, and even worse, they can contribute to toxic buildup in your pet’s system.
As in the case of pet food, you can elect to make your own homemade pet shampoos out of simple ingredients like castile soap and apple cider vinegar. These homeopathic remedies will clean your pet without harmful chemicals. You can also purchase all-natural, chemical free pet shampoos from trusted sources. Any product you use on your cat and dog may be full of dangerous toxins, but if you take some extra time to check the labels you’ll be sure to find products from insect repellant to odor removers that are chemical-free and safe for your pet. You wouldn’t want to bathe in chemicals: why would you subject anyone else to it, much less a loved one?
Image source: Vetdepot.com
Frankie Says Relax
We’ve talked a lot about the importance of protecting the physical health of your pets. But their emotional health is equally important. Pets are sensitive to the same stressors that trouble human beings, but they don’t have the same coping mechanisms or level of understanding that we do. Small changes may throw off a pet’s sense of emotional well-being: if, for instance, you go on a vacation and have a pet sitter come by for a few days, the change in routine can easily alarm an animal. And bigger events that stress people out like moving, bringing home a new baby, or losing a member of the household due to a death or a breakup can be completely overwhelming or catastrophic (no pun intended) to your pets.
These kinds of changes may result in some abnormal short-term behavior. Your cat may be clingier than usual, or may choose to give you the cold shoulder for a while. These reactions are typical and aren’t dangerous in the short-term. But high levels of stress that continue in the long-term have been shown to increase the risks of illness and disease, so it’s imperative that we, their owners, do everything in our power to create a safe and relaxing haven for them.
Just like people, pets sometimes need a place to themselves to relax and recharge. Pick an out-of-the-way corner of your home to set up a cozy nest that will give them a sense of safety and security. Laundry rooms are a great option for families who don’t have much square footage to spare, and they are such warm and snug places, your pet will be happy to retreat there. Create a cozy nest with a plush, eco-friendly dog bed that your pet pal can snuggle right into, and stock it full of sustainable pet toys so they have plenty of entertainment when they’re not napping. If you and your pet need to relocate to a new home or take a long car trip, bringing these items along can mitigate any stress your pet may feel.
Image source: Newswatch.nationalgeographic.com
You wouldn’t feed the rest of your family junky fillers and bathe them in toxins, so why would you do that to your pets? Properly caring for your pets by providing them with regular veterinary checkups, filler-free food, and a sanctuary within your home may seem too expensive, but it pays off in the long run. By investing in your pet’s health, you’ll be able to avoid costly medical treatments in the long run when you head diseases off at the pass. More importantly, you’ll have happier pet around in your life for a longer period of time. People can ask for what they want and need whereas animals cannot, but that’s no reason not to provide them with the best care possible: in fact, you’ll be a better owner and person when you give excellent care to a creature that can’t speak for itself.
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