Gulyas says that Follow Your Nose sells booties year-round now because of lawn chemicals. They’ve also been seeing more dogs and cats displaying symptoms of asthma and allergies. “I don’t remember ever seeing dogs with asthma 20 years ago. Now, there are a lot of homeopathic remedies for asthma and allergies. It’s a thing. It didn’t used to be a thing,” Gulyas said.
“When someone uses ChemLawn or other chemicals, and a dog rolls in or walks on their lawn, it causes allergies, flare ups of inflammation in the paws, and irritates the skin. Chemicals also put a heavy burden on an animal’s immune system thereby weakening it. The first thing to blame is the synthetic element, not the natural one. Chemicals are invisible and we tend not to believe what’s invisible to the eye,” said Dave Cozzolino, owner of Wilmette Pet Center.
The tide is turning against pesticides. The highly publicized trial where Monsanto was ordered to pay millions in the world’s first Roundup cancer trial made this crystal clear. We need to educate ourselves about what we are putting on our lawns or what our landscapers are applying to our gardens and lawns. The health of our environment, our kids, and our pets are counting on us to turn away from pesticides and move toward safe, organic solutions. We can all make a difference one lawn at a time.
If you don’t know us, Greenwise is an organic lawncare company that is 100% safe for our pets and families. We opened our doors in 2007 with the mission of using an organic approach to landscaping and to spread the word about organics and the risks of pesticides. When we first started, we owned one truck and had to convince people that organics actually worked. Fourteen years later, we’ve got more than 24 trucks and have established a clear demand for organic lawns.
Chemicals were commonly detected in grass residues from treated lawns, and from untreated lawns suggesting chemical drift from nearby treated areas. As a result, dogs could be exposed to chemicals through contact with their own lawn (treated or contaminated through drift) or through contact with other grassy areas on their walks.
4 Common Lawn Products Toxic to Pets
Many homeowners have a lawn care checklist that includes weeding, feeding, and pest control. Here are four common types of lawn care products that can be toxic to your pets.
Few pesticides or insecticides are 100% safe for pets. For example, disulfoton is a chemical found in many rose-protecting products, slug, and snail bait with metaldehyde is also highly toxic. Watch your labels for these in particular:
Warning signs of poisoning in dogs from pesticides or insecticides include diarrhea, weakness, shaking, tremors, trouble breathing, drooling excessively, vomiting, urinating, and constricted pupils.
Herbicides, including weed blockers and growth inhibitors, are everyday items in many garden sheds. But before you apply, read your labels, and check them twice. Like pesticides and insecticides, few chemical herbicides are safe for pets, including those that contain:
Warning signs of herbicide poisoning include diarrhea, lethargy, weakness, convulsions, chemical burns (on tongue, nose, or mouth), and difficulty breathing.
While common ingredients in fertilizers aren’t necessarily toxic, many organic and non-organic fertilizers frequently contain ingredients like fish meal and bone meal that appeal to dogs. When consumed, they can cause gastrointestinal distress or worse. In addition, you should always be mindful of these things:
Warning signs of fertilizer ingestion and toxic exposure include collapse, tremors, shaking, loss of appetite, yellowing of eyes, blood in stool, and lethargy.
You might not think of mulch as potentially harmful to your pet, but there’s one that is:
so what can we do to prevent these harmful health effects?
Due to the vast use of lawn chemicals, chances are that your dog may still be exposed despite all of your precaution. If you think that your pooch has rolled around in something, give them a bath right when you get home to prevent absorption through their skin. You may want to wipe their paws off when you get back from a walk as well, and weekly foot soaks never hurt either!
Alison has been with Dans Dog Walking and Pet Sitting since 2014 and has loved every second of it! She frequently hikes with her dog Maggie in the woods (click link to watch the awesome video!) and loves playing with her on the beach. Aly is a major advocate for the use of all natural pet products and specializes not only in giving animals the highest level of care, but also in creating educational material for our clients on how to best care for their pets with organic solutions.
