Dog owners get their pets almost daily or twice daily outside to enjoy the sunshine and lush greenery - or let the cat out of the house. However, according to a study published earlier this year in the journal Environmental Research, walking across the lawn might actually be dangerous to your pet's health (and maybe yours too).
The study, conducted over a six-year period at the Foster Hospital for Small Animals at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, showed that exposure to lawn pesticides – specifically those applied by professional lawn care companies – raised the risk of canine malignant lymphoma (CML) by as much as 70 percent!
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From the published study, dogs at highest risk for acquiring CML were:
- Over 50 pounds
- Living in homes where pesticides and herbicides were professionally applied
- Living in homes where owners - or neighbors - use lawn care products containing insect growth regulators (insect growth regulators are chemical killing agents)
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Dogs and Thick Green Lawns
People usually wear clothes and shoes outside – dogs don't. So whatever collects on their feet and fur outdoors stays there until the next time they get a bath - or until they lick their paws!
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Dog owners beware pets to be exposed to chemical lawn treatments!
- Don't apply pesticides to your yard, and if you use a lawn care service, don't allow them to use them, either.
- Avoid lawn care and other gardening products that contain insect growth regulators (IGRs). (And be aware that the chemical pyriproxyfen, an IGR, is used in certain flea/tick spot-on treatments.)
- Don't allow your dog access to any lawn unless you can confirm no pesticides have been used.
If you think your pet has rolled around on the chemically treated grass, my recommendation is to bathe him as soon as possible. If you've walked your dog in a suspect grassy area, giving him a foot soak as soon as you get home should flush away any chemical residue that may be clinging to his feet and lower legs.
Read more:
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/07/11/lawn-pesticides-on-canine-lymphoma.aspx
http://www.ewg.org/research/polluted-pets/chemical-exposures-and-pets-health#.WcrQc0rfrjI
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And as we are at it:
Chemical Flea/Tick Control Products contain pyriproxyfen as well!
The new Advantage® and K9 Advantix® are probably good examples of the direction these products are headed – Bayer added another pesticide into the formula.
With 44,000 reported adverse reactions including 600 deaths in 2008 – which represented almost a 60 percent increase over the prior year: the risks of these products are too great to warrant routine, monthly use.
In fact, there is no pesticide that doesn’t have the potential for side effects. It doesn’t matter whether the product is in pill form, in a dip, a shampoo or a collar, it’s not entirely safe.
Remember that what goes on your pet also gets inside the through absorption or ingestion.
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