Dog

It won’t surprise you to find we spend a lot of time talking to people about soap We are passionate about all our products (if we don’t believe in it, we won’t make it). We are especially passionate about our dog soaps and our new product, Fido Fresh.

The dog products are personal for us.  Why make dog soap is still a very easy question to answer and yet the most difficult to put into words. It is still in a lot of ways an open wound for both us.  We have told the story so much, you might think the hurt would be gone, but it is not. We may never recover from the belief that our actions killed our dog.

Franklyn

It began several years ago, and yet it was quite sometime before we really grasped the relevance. Here is our story: It begins with fleas. Yep, the common everyday flea. If you have a dog then you probably have faced the dreaded flea. We live in a warm climate (near Wilmington, NC) and fleas are our nemesis. We have always had dogs and therefore always been on the front line in the war on fleas. It seems like a simple matter. Go to the vet pick up the latest and greatest in flea treatment. Come home, put on rubber gloves and administer between your beloved’s shoulder blades. Only our dog Franklyn got sick each and every time we did this “treatment”.  Within a week, we would be at the vet and he would be diagnosed with pancreatitis. Home we would come a few hundred dollars lighter with antibiotics and a “special diet”. Later, after doing our own research we came to the conclusion that the flea treatments we were giving him to “help him” were poisoning him. In fact, we believe that it eventually killed him.

Topical Flea Treatments

The ingredients found in the topical flea treatments are long and difficult to pronounce. They include things like fipronil, ethonal, polyvinlpyrrolidone, butylhydroxytoluene and carbitol. The last four ingredients are listed on the packaging as “inert”. Makes them sound harmless, doesn’t it? However, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the inert ingredients on topical flea treatments seem to be MORE TOXIC than the active ingredients. The EPA highly regulates the active ingredients in a product, but there is barely any regulation of the inert ingredients.

This is allowed to happen because the inert ingredients are thought of as the “secret recipe” and are allowed to be kept hidden from other companies that might steal that recipe. What are some of the health effects seen from these pesticides that we so eagerly put on our pets? Well, fipronil can cause organ damage, thyroid cancer and damage to the nervous system. Ethanol can cause birth defects. Butylhydroxytoluene causes cancer, and carbitol can cause nerve and organ damage.

So, what is the alternative? Living with fleas is dangerous in its own right and, let’s face it, annoying for everyone. The safest way to keep pesticides off your pet and keep them flea free is to use a comprehensive approach including herbal supplements, cleaning with all natural soaps and essential oils that repel bugs, and other environmentally friendly pest control alternatives. So, we make all natural dog soap to keep our fur kids safe from harmful chemicals and also to hopefully keep others from having to go through the same agony that we endured.

Diatomaceous Earth is a Powder

We have adopted a three step process to keep our yard, house and kids (ie pups) free from fleas.   It is all natural, safe for everyone (except the fleas) and is relatively easy.  Our yard is treated with food grade diatomaceous earth.  Diatomaceous earth contains the fossilized remains of diatoms, which are a type of hard shelled algae.  When fleas come in contact with this fine powder, it dehydrates them and they die, but the food grade version is very safe for dogs, cats, children, etc.  It can be sprinkled all over the yard.

In the house, we use borax.  Borax will break down the cell walls of the fleas, killing them instantly.  It can be sprinkled on carpets, bedding and furniture.  Leave the borax for a few hours and then vacuum thoroughly.  Make sure you throw out the vacuum cleaner bag so any fleas that might have survived can’t get back out into the house.  This should be repeated every two weeks for 6-8 weeks as the gestational period for fleas is two weeks and the repeat treatment will take care of any fleas eggs that might have been left behind.

For the third step of the process, we wash our dog using Franklyn’s All Natural Dog Soap.  Because it contains eucalyptus and tea tree essential oils, it is the most effective at killing fleas and keeping them from returning*.  Between baths, you can spray Fido Fresh on your dog and anywhere they like to sleep.  Fido Fresh contains essential oils that will keep your dog smelling great between baths and also keep the fleas away*.

*The FDA has not evaluated statements regarding the uses of essential oils or other ingredients. Glynne’s Soaps makes no claims regarding the use of these essential oils.