CNN is featuring a story today on keeping
your home and your family safe from toxins commonly found in homes. They
cite non-stick cookware, fast food packaging and microwave popcorn bags as dangerous
for emitting perfluorochemicals (PFCs). They discuss potential pollutants in
tap water that include lead and arsenic, though they do say tap is still less
polluted than bottled because it’s more regulated. They tell us that household
linens and furniture are full of flame retardant chemicals and that decks and outdoor
play sets, up till 2004, were treated with arsenic.

The article also offers some tips for keeping you and your
kids safe, but it fails to mention how to keep your pets safe. After all, it’s
a safe assumption that if the arsenic in the water you drink is going to give
you cancer, it can’t be great for your dog either. Back in April, MedHeadlines
posted an article claiming these every day household toxins are actually
more dangerous to our pets than they are to us. Flame retardant levels were 23
times higher in cats, PFCs were found 2.4 times more often in dogs, and mercury
levels in cats were found to be 5 times higher than humans.

So while CNN tells us to use a filter and to wash our feet
after walking on an older deck, we can take the same precautions with our pets.
Remember that they need filtered water too and that their paws will not only
pick up arsenic on the deck or pesticides on the lawn, but that they’ll come
inside and lick their paws, speeding up ingestion. 63% of American households
have at least one pet, so it seems like an important issue for any pet owner to
remember.