Eddie's Blog
About Eddie: I'm a dog on a mission. With your help, I'm going to change legislation in the U.S. to make sure chemicals are safe before they're put on the market. Read more or contact Eddie.
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Welcome to Pets for the Environment!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. (My own website! Can't beat that, right?)
This is where I'll be posting tips and ideas for staying healthy. I'll also keep you posted on the latest pet health research, and what's going on in Congress to make sure our products are safe.
If we want to make the environment safer for pets and people, I'm going to need your help getting the human government to sit, stay, and pay attention. We've got a lot of work ahead of us! Here's how you can help right now:
- Spread the word: Tell your next-dog-neighbor, your cousin Fluffy, tell everypet you can think of! You can even upload your favorite photo of yourself and send them an eCard. Pretty neat, huh?
- Stay in touch: Make sure you sign up for my newsletter so I can keep you up to date on all the latest. You can also subscribe to the blog and get the posts I write sent straight to your email or feed reader.
- Be my buddy: Upload a picture of yourself to my Wall of Cute to show your support! And don't forget to be my friend: I'm on Facebook, Myspace and Dogster. (I know, it's a lot of places to be all at once. I'm good like that.)
- Start at home: There are lots of things you can start doing now to reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals. Get together with your human companion and go over these healthy pet tips. And make sure to let me know if you've got ideas!
If you've got a question or something to say, please please leave me a message in the comments, because I'm pretty excited to hear from pets all around the country, like Hawaii and Montana and Florida and all those other states I can't quite remember. But you get the picture.
I work in Lead Hazard for a local government. Lead is a serious issue for pets.
Below are three examples of my concerns.
The first issue is lead in dog toys. A representative from Niton Corporation (aka Thermo which is the company that manufacturers the equipment to test for lead in products) while demonstrating his product to my staff said that they are finding lead in dog toys. The very scary thing is that our dogs swallow pieces of the toys on a regular basis.
The second issue is cats sitting in window wells. Window wells of old windows which contain lead paint is are very dangerous not only for your cat but also your family. When your cat lays in the window well it is likely to get lead dust and paint chips in it's fur. When you cat cleans itself it is ingesting lead. Your cat can also track the lead dust throughout your home potenially poisoning your children.
The third issue is lead paint on porches, door casing, baseboards, window sills etc. I have witnessed first hand a front porch that had incredible amounts of lead paint chewed off the door casing and window sills by a young pitbull dog that was left on the porch.
The amount of paint to poison a child is about the size of a hole punch- lead is a neurotoxin and can poison your pets as well.
What a great blog spot! Thanks for letting me share!
Thanks for your comment, Jen! That's great information about pets' exposure to lead. I can already tell I'm going to learn a lot from people around here.
I am concerned for your request to demand that our government test our pet products. For over 15 years now I have banned all products that test on animals (except gasoline and a few others that are an unfortunate necessity). The only way our government can test our pet products is on other animals. You surely know this. I think that your request needs to be rethought. You should be more specific on your request or the government will only make things worse for animals. I think one of the best things to do is make it easier for people to research ingredients used in pet products. Demand that the government make it mandatory to label ingredients used in all pet products (including toys, beds, etc..) As well as restricting the use of already known harmful ingredients.
Joni, I am pretty sure they are calling for the government to test for chemicals that we already known to be toxic to animals and people, not testing new chemicals on animals. There is no need to experiment on children to find out if there is lead in their toys, and the same should hold true for pets.
Thanks for your comments, Joni and Jose. I'll have to think about that.
I was shocked when I saw Eddie.The similarity with my "Lucky" is scarey.Of what heritege are you Eddie?I was told by the Humane Scociety,that "Lucky"
was just some kind of terrier cross.They sure look related.I'm myself ,am chemically sensitive,and my dogs enjoy a scent and chemically free envoironment,when indoors.I can't control outside......
John, mom says I'm a mutt, but the vet said I'm probably some kind of terrier-poodle mix. Lucky's awfully lucky to live in such a fragrance-free house!
Hey Eddie - Can you recommend a great dry dog food for my owners to feed me? They already try to feed me all natural food, but just because the label says it is, they don't know for sure! If you have a dry cat food to recommend to my friend Moxie, that would be great too! Thanks for the Pawesome information! Isabelle
Hey Eddie, we LOVE to chew on Nylabones!!!! Are our favorite toys bad for us?? Our mom also gives us rope toys, but they don't last long with us.
I'm so glad I found your blog and website. I will referr people to your info and did a post for you here:
http://healthypets-robin.blogspot.com/2008/04/pets-for-environment.html
Robin
Isabelle: I wish I could recommend a good food for you! Until we actually test foods, I won't be able to say what's best for you and Moxie. What I can tell you is this: Choose pet food without the chemical preservatives BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin, vary cats’ diets to limit their exposure to mercury in seafood, and choose organic or free-range ingredients rather than “by-products.” (Check out more of my healthy pet tips here.)
Roxy and Jake, I've been known to chew a nylabone in my day too. I've given them up for the time being, until I know more about them. My scientist friends want to test pet toys, so as soon as I know what's what I'll tell you.
Robin, thanks for your help, I love when people spread the word!
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