Keep Pets Safe and Out of the Chemical Fog
Spring has finally sprung and we are impatiently waiting to get our flower gardens and vegetable gardens ready for a bountiful summer. Before we can get to the bountiful part we have to have healthy plants without parasites in good soil with plenty of nutrients which usually requires the use of insecticides and fertilizers. This blog will give a little more information on the dangers of mixing fun loving pets with the dangers of ingesting garden chemicals.
The first thought to any garden is to prepare the soil. Organic gardening is gaining favor over using fertilizers and can be very healthy for your family as well as your pets. Fertilizers that contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium can cause stomach upset as well some liver problems and blood issues. These products are usually listed as 10-10-10 which indicates there is 10% of each element in the product; it may be listed as iron, bone meal, or blood meal as well. Within one to ten hours of ingestion an owner may notice excessive drooling, anorexia, abdominal discomfort, dehydration, or possibly bloody diarrhea or vomit. Prognosis is generally very good and treatment is symptomatic by giving fluids and medications to calm the stomach and curb the nausea. If you are going to use fertilizers in your gardens just keep an eye on the critters and make sure they don’t feast on your prep work.
Once we get our greenery to start growing we always want to protect those tender shoot from pest and keep out flowers and produce plentiful. There are many products on the market for each and every pest alive and each product has a different make-up. Some are very dangerous where as others are fairly innocent. Products that contain pyrethroids (allerthin, bifenthrin, cyfluthirn, esfenvalerate, and permethrin) can cause vomiting, increased salivation, tremors and even seizures. Organophosphates and carbamates include acephate, carbaryl, and malathion. These chemicals can produce increased salivation, increased tearing of the eyes, urinary/fecal incontinence, pupil constriction, tremors, and excessive respiratory secretions (mucous, nasal discharge, coughing). Lastly, neonicotinoids (dinotefuran, fipronil, and imidacloprid) tend to do produce much reaction at all other than an upset stomach. Treatment for all of these chemicals is symptomatic including fluid therapy, anti-vomiting medication, muscle relaxers for tremors, and stomach aides. Ingestion of small amounts does not usually pose a threat. That being said abstinence is the best prevention.
These products are a sometimes necessary and helpful tool in most gardens and in no way is it implied to not use them at all for your pets’ safety sake. Please just take some extra time to ensure they are away from where you are working and that they don’t clean up for you when you are done working. Playing and working in the summer warmth is a great way to spend treasured time with family of the furry and non-furry variety, we just want to help keep them healthy for many years. It may be worthwhile to consider organic fertilizers and insecticides if your fur ball is insistent on being your little helper.
Please read the blog just before this one for helpful information and safety precautions of the plants you plant.