An Introduction to Bioaccumulation: Living As An Informed Pet Parent
You are the loving pet parent of 4 dogs. You would do anything to keep your 4-Leggers safe. You faithfully take your fur family to the veterinarian for annual vaccines. You apply flea and tick medicine year around. You want your yard to be a beautiful lush green. You feed your dogs popular food that must be good since it is advertised on your TV all the time. You bathe them with high dollar organic dog shampoo.
At the age of 8, one of your dogs is diagnosed with cancer. He dies from cancer at the age of 11 after it recurs 3 times. He dies on the day you are diagnosed with breast cancer.
The second dog, after slowly losing her hair for years, having a spinal stroke and seizures, was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at the age of 9. She dies at the age of 14.
As I write this, my eyes fill with tears and I am overwhelmed with emotions that span the spectrum from sadness to anger.
Had I not been diagnosed with cancer at the same time, I may have never realized the hard fact that I contributed to the health issues and early death of the dogs I loved so dearly, as well as to my own cancer.
Oh, I know. I didn't do it intentionally. I did it all by trying to be the Best Dog Mom I could be to them!
When my third dog was recently diagnosed with Granulomatous meningoencephalitis, GME, an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system years after I had stopped her annual vaccines, switched to an organic lawn treatment, used only 4-Legger Certified Organic Dog Shampoo, cooked their human grade food each week in the crockpot, and made other lifestyle changes, I was devastated.
While genetics does play a role, the exposure and re-exposure to toxins builds up in our bodies and in our dog's bodies.
The problem is we don't see the slow day to day and year to year build-up of toxins until we're faced with a health issue - thyroid issues, GME, cancer, etc. Then, we're not making the connection between the lifetime exposure to toxins (bioaccumulation, also referred to as body burden, or bioconcentration) and the emerging health issue. We think we suddenly got sick but the reality is the sickness had been bubbling under the surface for a long time just waiting for a trigger to cause it to emerge.
Why is it so hard to see Cause & Effect?
It is because we lack studies that make these hard connections.
Our veterinarian said, "There are no studies that link the onset of GME within two weeks of a vaccination."
True enough. We've not vaccinated for years and yet we have a dog with GME.
We need to shift our thinking to look at the lifetime bioaccumulation and bioconcentration of these toxic chemicals as the culprits that are sending our dogs to an early death.
As pet parents, we must look at every ingredient and every chemical in every product before we risk exposing them to our fur families.
If you aren't familiar with an ingredient Google it or put it into www.ewg.org - a great resource!
A simple example:
Studies show that 1,4-dioxane, a contaminant in dog shampoo, is linked to cancer.
No one has tested dog shampoo to see how many products are contaminated with 1,4-dioxane.
The safest thing we can do to avoid our dog being exposed to 1,4-dioxane in dog shampoo is to use a product that contains zero possibility of exposure.
1,4-dioxane may be found in products that contain Sodium laureth sulfate, polysorbate-20, PEG-100, etc. So, don't buy products with those ingredients!
4-Legger's USDA certified organic dog shampoos are safe and non-toxic - using all natural ingredients with zero risk of containing 1,4-dioxane (or any other toxic ingredient).
While a simple example, the impact is significant. Start being an Informed Pet Parent today for both you and your dog!
