Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (27 page)

For those products you keep, tighten lids and update fading labels. If possible, store them in a well-ventilated area away from living space. Even well-sealed containers can emit fumes, so don’t confine your pet in the same space—a garage, for example.

Make sure that all gas, oil, or wood furnaces and appliances are properly serviced and ventilated. This reduces levels of carbon monoxide and other combustion by-products. You can buy carbon monoxide detection units for about $30. They plug into an
electrical outlet and warn you if there is a leakage of this dangerous gas.

Seal boiler rooms from the rest of the house. When you replace units, buy electric models or choose gas furnaces with sealed combustion chambers and pilotless gas appliances.

ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICAL WARFARE ON YOUR PETS

There are many very effective, natural, and inexpensive ways to clean your home and its contents. Here are just a few ideas from the Center for Hazardous Materials Research:

A
LL
-P
URPOSE
C
LEANERS

• Oven cleaner: scrub with a paste of baking soda, salt, and water. Then leave ¼ cup lemon juice in the oven overnight and wipe away any remaining grease the next morning. Ventilate the kitchen and avoid breathing fumes.
  
• Oven spill remover: sprinkle salt on the spill immediately. Let the oven cool a few minutes, then scrape the spill away and wash the area clean with water.
  
• Window and glass cleaner: measure 3 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, and ¾ cup water into a clean spray bottle, which you can then spray on windows. Wipe clean and dry with a cotton cloth or paper towel.
  
• Scouring powder: use a solution of vinegar, salt, and water, or use baking soda and water. Apply with a sponge and wipe clean.
  
• Toilet bowl cleaner: pour ½ cup white vinegar and 3 tablespoons of baking soda into the toilet bowl, let stand for 30 minutes, then scrub and flush.
  
• Ceramic tile cleaner: mix ¼ cup white vinegar into a gallon of warm water. Apply with a sponge.
  
• Disinfectants: use ½ cup borax dissolved in hot water and apply with a sponge (store borax in a safe place; can be toxic if eaten). Use sodium carbonate (washing soda) in clothes washer in place of commercial detergents.
  

P
OLISHES

• Furniture polish: mix 2 parts vegetable or olive oil with one part lemon juice. Apply this mixture to the furniture with a soft cloth and wipe dry.
  
• Brass polish: polish with Worcestershire sauce.
  
• Copper polish: soak in vinegar and salt solution and wipe clean.
  
• Silver polish: soak in a quart of warm water containing 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and a piece of aluminum foil. Use a soft bristle toothbrush to remove stains.
  

S
POT
R
EMOVERS

• Set-stain removal: dab with white vinegar.
  
• Non-set stains: sponge up or scrape off as much as possible immediately. Rub with club soda followed by cold water.
  
• Butter, gravy, chocolate, or urine stains: dab with a cloth dampened with a solution of 1 teaspoon white vinegar and 1 quart cold water.
  
• Grease stains: rub with a damp cloth dipped in borax, or apply a paste of cornstarch and water. Let it dry and brush the mixture off.
  
• Ink stains: wet the fabric with cold water and apply a cream of tartar and lemon juice mix. Let it sit for an hour and then wash in the usual manner.
  
• Red wine stains: clean immediately with club soda, or dab out excess moisture with an absorbent cloth and sprinkle salt on the stain. Let stand seven hours, then brush or vacuum away.
  

D
EODORIZERS

• Air freshener and deodorizers: sprinkle baking soda in odor-producing areas. Set vinegar out in an open dish. Sprinkle borax in corners of the room (do not allow pets or children to eat the borax). Place an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb food odors. Pour baking soda down garbage disposal for drain odors. Sprinkle baking soda over entire carpet and vacuum after 30 minutes.
  

D
RAIN
AND
G
ARBAGE
D
ISPOSAL
C
LEANING

• Drain cleaners: pour boiling water down your drain weekly. To unclog drains, pour in ½ cup baking soda followed by ½ cup vinegar. Cover and wait for several minutes. Then flush with boiling water.
  

F
LOOR
, R
UG
,
AND
U
PHOLSTERY
C
LEANING

• Floor wax strippers and polishers: Mix laundry starch with water to make it thick, then bring it to a boil. Mix 1 part of this thick-boiled starch and 1 part soap suds; rub the mixture on the floor and polish with a dry cloth. To remove, pour a little club soda on the area, scrub well, let soak for 5 minutes, and wipe.
  
• Rug and upholstery cleaner: mix ½ cup mild dishwashing detergent with 1 pint boiling water. Let cool. Whip into a paste with mixer. Apply with a damp sponge. Wipe the suds. Rinse with 1 cup vinegar in 1 gallon of lukewarm water and let dry. Another rug cleaner is a shampoo made of 6 tablespoons soap flakes, 2 tablespoons borax, and 1 pint of boiling water. Let cool before applying.
  

A
LTERNATIVE
P
ESTICIDES

• Ants: remove accessible food and water (removing a water source not always easy). Pour a line of cream of tartar or chili powder where the ants enter the house. They won’t cross it. Outside, pour boiling water over their nests.
  
• Roaches: clean up food. Place bay leaves near cracks or caulk all cracks where accessible. Use sticky traps of boric acid powder and very little water. Set out a dish containing equal parts of oatmeal and plaster of Paris.
  
• Fleas and ticks: feed pets brewer’s yeast and garlic. Vacuum pet’s bedding regularly. Place eucalyptus seeds, leaves, and cedar chips near bedding.
  
• Moths: set cedar chips, cedar blocks, newspapers, or lavender flowers around closets. After it’s cleaned, wrap wool clothing in plastic bags during warm weather. A cedar closet is ideal for storing wool clothing.
  

PET POISONINGS

A lot of the chemicals that are bad for pets, including pesticides, enter through an eager mouth attached to a curious nose. Poisonings account for 1 to 2 percent of veterinary cases, with a greater risk for dogs. A prime danger is antifreeze poisoning, which we have already mentioned. Another risk is the consumption—usually by dogs—of poisons put out for snails, slugs, and rodents. Cats sometimes eat a poisoned mouse that is too sick to run away. The other frequent source of poisoning is insecticides and herbicides used in a yard. Realize that if you have sprayed chemicals in your garden or on the lawn that your animals should not walk there until those chemicals are no longer active. Think how sick we would be if we walked through a chemically treated lawn and then licked our feet when we got in the house.

Though it is rare, small animals have also been poisoned by eating parts of certain plants, including oleander, castor bean, dumb cane (dieffenbachia), chokecherry, jimsonweed, morning glory, and others. Provide your pet with fresh greens such as sprouts, parsley, or wheat grass to cut the temptation to nibble on toxic plants. Cats especially will eat plant material when they have digestive illness. In my experience, this is also a common symptom of chronic illness, which leads to eating both houseplants and outdoor plants that are not so good for them. If your cat does this, it does not suffice just to restrict them from getting to the plant—you have to correct the underlying disorder. Often, feeding a fresh food diet will take care of it.

O
THER
C
HEMICALS
TO
B
E
C
AREFUL
W
ITH

Paradichorobenzene
, a big word for the chemical that is commonly the active ingredient in moth repellents. It is known to cause cancer in animals. This chemical is also the key ingredient in many air fresheners.

Perchloroethylene
is widely used in dry cleaning. Again, studies have shown it causes cancer in animals. So if there is any odor in your dry cleaned goods, remove them from
their plastic bags and let them air outside for a few hours until the odor disappears. Don’t put them right in the closet in the plastic bag. Guess where the vapors leak to? A good dry cleaning service will return your clothes to you with very little odor.

Phenol and cresol
are found in many products that are used to disinfect, sanitize, and deodorize. Both are toxic, especially to cats that are particularly sensitive to any phenol compound and become terribly ill with any exposure.

Aluminum chlorhydrate and zirconium
are found in some deodorants and can cause skin inflammation and, if inhaled, cancer. The aluminum compound is considered a possible factor in Alzheimer’s disease. Be careful where you leave these.

Diethanolamine, selenium sulfide, and coal tar
are harmful chemicals found in many dandruff shampoos and hair conditioners. All three chemicals are suspected carcinogens. Keep containers up high where your dog can’t chew on them.

TOXIC CHEMICALS IN FOOD

Animals can develop subtler forms of poisoning just from eating what they’re supposed to eat. One survey showed that canned cat foods contain high amounts of lead, from 0.9 to 7.0 parts per million (ppm). A daily intake of six ounces of these foods (about what a cat or small dog eats) could contain as much as four times the amount of lead considered potentially toxic for children. (Read more about how unlikely your vet would be able to recognize this subtle poisoning in your pets in chapter 2.)

Pet foods containing fish and fish by-products may contain high levels of mercury, a risk for cats addicted to seafood. Excessive mercury intake can damage the nervous system, causing tremors, irritability, anxiety, loss of appetite, inflammation of gums and looseness of the teeth, and difficulty sleeping. It can also damage the kidneys.

Commonly added to public water supplies to prevent tooth decay, fluoride is considered safe at the level of 4 ppm in water or a maximum of 2.5 milligrams daily for children. But because of its accumulation in the food chain, 11 to 193 ppm have been found in leading pet foods (canned foods are worst). That means that a large dog could be consuming a whopping 21 to 368 milligrams daily.

Excessive exposure to fluoride may cause tiredness, mottling of the teeth, kidney and bladder disorders, arthritis, pain and crippling in the joints, stomach problems, hair loss, skin disorders, bronchitis, asthma, and numerous other conditions. It can also reduce blood vitamin C levels, weaken the immune system, and cause birth defects and genetic damage. Ten European countries have banned fluoridation of water.

Hundreds of other toxic chemicals accumulate in the food chain, and it is very difficult to protect yourself and your pets from such unseen dangers. You can, however, reduce
the risks by feeding a fresh, unprocessed diet that contains relatively little meat, especially liver and kidneys, which concentrate toxins. Many contaminants are stored in fats, so it’s better to go with low-fat dairy products or lean meats. Corn oil is preferable to either soy or cottonseed oil because it’s generally lower in pesticide content. When possible and practical, use organically grown foods and organic, non-genetically modified oils.

You can also help your pet cope with pollutants by including certain vitamins and minerals in the diet. Calcium, for instance, helps protect against some heavy metals and radiation. Vitamin A and selenium also help combat radiation. Vitamin E counters the effects of many smog pollutants, and kelp helps the body resist radioactive strontium. Lecithin is also useful. These nutrients are included in our recommended diet.

If you live in a particularly polluted area, give your pet vitamin C (for pollutants in general and especially for cadmium, lead, copper, and DDT) and zinc (for cadmium, lead, and copper). Depending on your pet’s size, use 100 milligrams for the small animal, up to 500 milligrams of vitamin C for the larger dogs. Vitamin C is safe to use, so don’t worry about being precise with the dose. In the same way, you can add zinc in the range of 5 to 20 milligrams. (For these vitamins, you can use regular supplements intended for human use; zinc tablets will have larger amounts than these and need to be cut down.)

CLEANING UP THE WATER

Fluoride is only one of the questionable ingredients in many public water supplies. All told, more than 2,100 toxic chemicals have been detected in U.S. water. Some of the most common contaminants are lead, cadmium, arsenic, insecticides, nitrates, fungicides, herbicides, benzene, toluene, and dioxin. Many of these pollutants are known to cause cancer or damage the kidneys, liver, brain, and cardiovascular system. Communities with particularly polluted sources of water have unusually high cancer rates of the gastrointestinal and urinary organs.

In spite of these hazards, most utilities test for less than 30 chemicals, and only a tiny fraction use modern technologies to remove them. That’s because most treatment plants were built decades ago simply to kill bacteria and reduce sediment. Though it has served well as a disinfectant, the chlorine added to most municipal water also combines with organic debris to create a number of carcinogenic compounds, such as chloroform. Also, chlorine itself can be irritating to the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, throat, airways, and lungs, especially in sensitive individuals. As a result, lifetime users of chlorinated water have an increased rate of bladder cancer and possibly of colon and rectal cancers. Scientists are currently investigating alternative means of disinfecting water.