Dogs Absorb Lawn Chemicals

Greetings, ATS!

Just read a disturbing article on Discovery News concerning lawn chemicals and our four legged best friends.

Dogs are ingesting, inhaling and otherwise being exposed to garden and lawn chemicals that have been associated with bladder cancer, according to a new study.

"The routes of exposure that have been documented in experimental settings include ingestion, inhalation and transdermal exposures," lead author Deborah Knapp of Purdue University's Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, told Discovery News.

"In the case of dogs," she added, "they could directly ingest the chemicals from the plant, or they could lick their paws or fur and ingest chemicals that have been picked up on their feet, legs or body."

Apparently the dogs are becoming ill and the study directly links this illness to exposure to the lawn chemicals. The study goes on to suggest that, if you treat your lawn, to let the grass dry completely before letting your dog outside; to wash the feet of your dog each time they return from the lawn; and to alternate front and back yard fertilizing so the dog can play fairly safely in one section while the second section is treated.

I can't help but wonder....could these same fertilizers harm our children?

Take care of your pets and your children, ATS.

Absolutely. I can't see how it couldn't.

I'm glad we've never used any sort of poison or fertiliser on our lawns ever since I can remember. Which is largely why we always had those funky obsessed lawns. Wants to go where it wants to go. haha... double gees galore..

There's plenty of natural stuff anyway if people are genuinely into gardening and maintaining their lawns. Not just landscaping because it's the law and they risk a fine or other absurd things I've seen reported..

But 100% if it can register in any amount on your pets, then your kids can be exposed just as severely. I have no doubt.

If the dogs can pick it up so easily, this makes me wonder what these lawn chemicals are doing to the wildlife

I've never used chemicals on any plants of mine (never had a yard of my own) I'd never use them on a full fledged yard, either. For one, I don't want to be a part of futzing up the ground water. And two, I can't bring myself to use anything like that, I can't justify contaminating a habitat any further than we already have.

Walking around on, eating pieces of and rolling in a chemy lawn are bad?

You dont say.

Sometimes I think the only things these studies prove is how thoughtless so many people are for not seeing what's right in front of their faces.

There's a reason big ass warnings are on the bags of pesticides and fertilizers and when a company does your lawn they arent putting up those little skull and crossbones flags around the edges because they look cool.

I did'un know fire was hot.....durrr.....

Originally posted by winofiend
There's plenty of natural stuff anyway if people are genuinely into gardening and maintaining their lawns.

I use a gravity vacuum on the gravel in my fish tanks and put the old water on my lawn. Works great!

Thanks for posting this.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Really? I've never seen any "danger - Poison" flags on someones lawn and if I did I'd probably be concerned about why they are putting toxins on their lawn that are poisonous enough to warrant danger signs.

As opposed to old mrs doddery using the weed wand once a week.

I don't think we're talking industrial strength lawn remover... ??

oO

reply to post by smyleegrl


A few years back I lived with a guy I worked with and his girlfriend. They had a cute little doggy. Then she moved out after the break up and took the dog with her. My roommate got a rottweiler to ease the pain. He was so awesome, he even road skateboards haha. Anyway he went on a walk one day and then "kennel in." for the night. We both had to work the next day so I tried playing with him in the morning but he wouldn't come out of the kennel. He was all the way in the back just looking up at me.. Weird. Time to go cut some steaks I guess.

I get home that night and no one is home. Not the Dog, and not my roomie.

The next day he gets back with his dog who looks half dead.. My roommate told me the story of when he found him. Dead he thought, but he was breathing.. The Vet said that if he had come in 2 hours later the dog wouldn't be alive (He's alive 5 years later to this day) After his stomach was pumped, something about charcoal, some sort of medicine, and 2,000 dollars later that is..

We went in the same path they had walked earlier and found what my roommate had let the dog get into on the walk. Kind of looked like a pile of wet newspaper or something. Upon talking to the homeowner It turns out he was eating fertilizer.

reply to post by winofiend


Where ever you get these uppity neighborhoods of perfect lawns manicured by landscaping companies you see those little flags all around the borders and in commercial zones they appear all around the little flower islands in front of banks and shops.

I used to think they were invisible fence markers until I picked one up and read it.

They essentially say "this area is toxic as all hell so dont get near it and for god's sake dont put any of this grass in your mouth."

Just google search the images "lawn fertilizer flag" and "lawn pesticide flag"

Originally posted by NuclearPaul

Originally posted by winofiend
There's plenty of natural stuff anyway if people are genuinely into gardening and maintaining their lawns.

I use a gravity vacuum on the gravel in my fish tanks and put the old water on my lawn. Works great!

Thanks for posting this.

edit on 9/5/13 by NuclearPaul because: typo

That's how I fertilize my indoor plants at school as well. Good lesson for the kiddies!

I've read this years ago. I don't believe in using lawn chemicals save for enriching. My father, a science/math teacher, and a farmer, was not organic in the strict definition. Now they may have changed the definition over the years, but when he sold produce at his farmers market, in those years, if something was grown with fertilizer, it was not organic. If something was grown with manure but dipped in chemicals later, it was technically organic. Many people argued with me, but my father went through various hassles with the regulators and he knew what their rules were. That was up until the turn of the century.

Now when he was farming, he certainly applied the fertilizer, not agent orange derivatives, but the actual chemistry that the manure breaks down into and the plants literally need.

In any case, don't put bad chemicals on your lawn. And as to who previously did this, thats the hard part, for there is no control over that.

Use labor to rid yourself of dandelions.

I worked with dogs at a grooming shop and this is something that is getting to be a big problem. We had many dogs who had sensitivities to the pesticides sprayed on grass. They always licked their paws and would get red in between their toes.

Chemicals are harmful and when you walk your dog they are getting these on their paws and on their fur.

My dog has major allergies to almost everything including pesticides used on lawns. They say he has grass allergies but when he goes to my moms he doesn't act in the way he does at home. The difference is my mom doesn't treat her grass with ANY chemicals but the condo where I live does and they do it frequently. When I walk him I have to wipe his paws and legs with an alcohol free wipe otherwise he goes nuts and chews on them. I also wipe his body down because he is short and can get all up in the grass. His paws before we figured it out would get red and irritated and swollen in between his toes. He has allergies to pollen as well so wiping him down is very beneficial to him.

If you think your dog has these allergies or sensitivities wipe their paws after every walk! It really helps my little guy, yes it's extra work but it's worth it so he isn't chewing and uncomfortable. There are even shoes you can buy for as little as 20 bucks via Amazon or pet stores that will protect them when you walk them. I knew a dog who had to wear them for every walk because the chemicals ate up this poor dog.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Not every place puts these flags out.

I live where there is a condo association and we have perfectly manicured lawns and there are no signs. They do yard work here weekly. I wish there was another place to walk my little guy but everything around me is chemically treated and perfectly manicured.

RIght now I don't get to walk him being 8 mths pregnant so he has a bathroom station on the porch he uses. He gets exercise when we go to my moms and her yard is not treated and he is perfectly fine there.

There is one area by the bank that isn't treated but it's overgrown and taller than he is! They have mowed it once since I've lived here and that is almost a year. If that was mowed regularly he'd be doing his business in there!

I know some areas esp where we are moving back to have special dog walking areas at the complexes where the grass isn't treated! I hope we find a place that has this option. I feel so bad for my little guy but he is really good about letting me wipe him down after a walk. I think he lets me because he gets a biscuit afterwards lol

reply to post by mblahnikluver

I worked with dogs at a grooming shop and this is something that is getting to be a big problem. We had many dogs who had sensitivities to the pesticides sprayed on grass. They always licked their paws and would get red in between their toes.

Not just their paws. Some dogs, especially if they come indoors lots, clean themselves like cats. When they're outside they'll roll around all over the grass because it feels good to be out, then they come inside and wash themselves the same way cats do. Thoroughly.

Years ago, I was going over to visit a boyfriend (now an ex) for the weekend, and asked him to not fertilize before that because my dog was coming with me. He told me he didn't fertalize so that I would leave the dog outside. After my dog had a heart attack the next day, I found out from one of his neighbours that he did fertalize and had lied to me about it.

I lost a beautiful good dog, because of an ass and his weed n feed....

Great thread smelygril. A subject I am well versed on.

The lawn fertilizer may be one of the least of the problems.

Years ago, I was going thru some terrible cancer issues with my dogs. After much research and going thru all the mainstream vets recommendations and canine oncologists advice (very expensive and not effective, to say the least) I found out that about 90% of what we subject our animals to is lethal.

Take a walk thru a dogs day and see where you stand.

An indoor dog sleeps on a "dogbed" made of some sort of artificial ingredients..not grass.
They get up and walk around on carpet or hardwood floors that have chemicals in them and are made from artificial ingredients...not grass.

They run around outside in the fertilized yard looking for the perfect place to poo...not natural, wild grass.
They stop by the plastic water bowl on their way inside and decide to get a drink of good old fashioned clean water straight from the public water system, laced with all sorts of harmful chemicals...not fresh water from a stream.
They come inside and walk down the hall towards the kitchen and decide to scratch their ass on the paint covered sheetrock wall.

They are then fed food from a bag or can that has ingredients in it that if I told you what was really in there, it would make you throw up and you would never feed it to them again. (The research will make you cry if you are an animal lover)
They then decide to take a nice after breakfast snooze in the sun, on the carpet...not grass.

You let them out for a while to run around and they sniff everything in sight. Gas can, fert. bags. car tire, hose, other dogs rancid poop, they might eat some cat crap, maybe check out a dead animal in the yard. Needless to say, the old dog snout gets quite the workout. Unfortunately, their nose, which in some cases (dogs) can detect 1 in 3 million parts of substances, gets filled with a plethora of toxins and it goes straight to thier bloodstream where the lymph glands try and filter it out. This is usually seen as bumps and lumps in the neck, throat and hindleg area.

As you sit outside enjoying a wonderful evening, your beloved canine is right their by your side licking the bug spray off your leg. The kids throw him some fritos and maybe some leftover pizza as a treat and the dog seems happy as heck.
There is a war going on inside of his body as he lays down to go to sleep for the night......

Dogs are very interesting animals when studied closely. Their bodies are amazing machines that work in incredible ways, especially when they are closer to their wild origins. From what I have observed, their water and food are the cause of most of the canine cancer these days and all the other stuff just adds fuel to the fire.

I personally believe that by focusing on their ingestion of food and water, they are better able to stave off lots of the other toxins they are hit with. I lost 3 of mine to various cancers before I made massive changes and now I have 2 perfectly happy, healthy babes that will be with me for a long time. Taking the time and effort to make them happy makes me happy as well.

"May your nose always be cool and moist"...lol

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reply to post by just1question


I would love to know more....may I suggest you make a thread about it?

no need to really...You have started a great one...thanks again.

I'm too new here to do any threads and I would get bashed for being too controversial and I don't like
being lambasted with condescending tones telling me how wrong I am for something that I know personally works.

I did a couple years of research on all of it and it is stored away on another computer or flash drive somewhere.
It was over the course of 3 dogs lifespans..so that's a couple of years in people age, right?...hahaha

Here are some really good places to begin research though. (The ones about dog food ingredients is best read
after your dinner has settled because it is sickening.)

BTW, the last link is one to a food I have only recently found and highly approve as a supplement to the raw stuff and the dogs love it!!!


www.dogfoodadvisor.com...

www.naturalnews.com...

preymodelraw.com...

www.thehonestkitchen.com...


I continue to learn more everyday and still don't know enough to preach about it to the masses...lol

Heel... lol

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