earthbath « The Bark

Posts Tagged ‘earthbath’

Tips on keeping pets safe during the holidays

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

These guys spell "trouble!" Keep your pets safe this holiday season!

With the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s easy to overlook your pets and how they might react to all of the new holiday decorations, food, and foliage. When it comes to the increased activity and tantalizing new decorations around the house, think like your pet. Some pets are unfazed by anything, or act about as curious as a bored teenager. If your pet is one of these, you probably don’t have much to worry about. On the other hand, if you’ve got a playful puppy, curious dog, or, let’s face it, any kind of a cat (after all, the saying “Curiosity killed the cat” came about for a reason), read on. From overly-curious cats to rambunctious dogs, consider these five tips to keep your furry kids out of trouble during the holidays.

Are your decorations pet-safe?

Pets often resemble human kids in a layer of fur when it comes to their curiosity level about holiday lights, decorations, wrapped presents, ribbons, and bows. Holiday decorations are meant to spark wonder, curiosity, and delight: which for pets, spells trouble. Before you hang your most precious glass ornaments within reach of your dog’s curious nose, or before you adorn all of your presents with fun-looking but dangerous ribbons, consider removing anything within reach of your dog or cat. Put tree decorations up higher. Skip the tinsel (which can be fatal to animals that ingest it). Consider putting out all of the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, reducing the amount of time they’re available for curious noses to be sniffing around. Make sure your Christmas lights are in good shape and aren’t accessible to be chewed.

Limit (or eliminate) human-food “treats”

We’ve all done it, and it’s okay. If we’re indulging over the holidays in a little bit extra, why shouldn’t we also indulge our dogs, who so obviously know what’s going on and want in on the pie? Sure, within reason, dishing up some holiday dinner for your pet is fine, but consider the following health hazards to your pet when you’re spooning out the leftovers: Bones that have been cooked are dangerous for dogs, and not just chicken bones. Cooking bones makes them brittle, which means it’s more likely that they can splinter and choke your dog as he’s chewing on them. As you probably already know, chocolate is toxic to dogs and should be completely out of reach and never given as a treat. And finally, if you serve your pooch something out of the ordinary and notice him acting strangely: scratching excessively, swollen tongue, throwing-up, call your vet right away. He is exhibiting signs of a severe food allergy.

The prettiest plants are the most poisonous

Well, this may not be a complete generalization, but when it comes to holiday plants, most of them, unfortunately, are poisonous to animals, including poinsettia, mistletoe and holly. Christmas trees are generally safe for pets, so even though you may notice your dog or cat annoyingly nibbling on the pine needles, they aren’t poisonous.

Don’t play with fire

It’s not often talked about but many animals are injured by fires during the holiday season. A lesser-known cause of animal injury during the holiday season is fire. The holiday spirit seems to inspire an increase in candle-burning and wood-burning fires, and both can be dangerous to overly curious pets. Candles are a favorite of cats, who don’t understand how dangerous it is to literally play with the fire. Many cats love to try to bat the dancing flame with their paws and it’s all too easy for a candle to be knocked over, or even light their whiskers on fire.

If you have a wood-burning fireplace, make sure that your fireplace has a sturdy screen, and ensure that any pets who love to take a nap in front of the warm fire stay out of the range of popping embers.

Extreme winter weather protection

Keeping your pet protected from the elements is a major priority no matter what else you have going on this holiday season. Check our recent blog post on pet safety tips for the winter, and be sure to always have the emergency number for your veterinarian and the emergency animal hospital in your area posted somewhere handy or stored in your cell phone, just in case you need it for your pet this holiday season.

Tags: christmas, earthbath, holiday, pet, pet health hazards, Pet Safety, Pets, winter
Posted in Cats, Dogs, earthbath, Holidays, Pet Owners, Pet Safety | No Comments »

Follow our guide to keep your pets safe and warm this winter!

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Don't let old man winter freeze out your dogs!

Old Man Winter is knocking on the door, or in some parts of the country, blowing it down!, and that means taking extra precautions to keep you and your family safe, dry, and warm – inside and out, driving and at home. Along with weather-proofing your pipes, cleaning your gutters, and firing up your home fires, your pets also need some extra-special attention to ensure they are comfortable and safe throughout the harsh winter ahead.

To be sure that your pets will ride out the winter warmly and safely, follow the winter weather pet prep tips we’ve compiled below!

Minimize outdoor time. Many people mistakenly believe that dogs are “fine” if left outside, and do so for hours at a time, even as weather conditions deteriorate into bone-chilling temperatures, freezing winds, and blowing snow. Even though dogs have fur, they are still uncomfortable and possibly in great danger in these conditions. All pets need shelter from the elements and insulation against cold weather and no animal should be left outside for long periods in freezing or inclement weather – just like humans, they can suffer from hypothermia and frostbite. Consider animals in the wild: all of them, even strong animals like bears with heavy double coats, burrow and bed down in dens and shelters they make, in which they can take refuge from inclement conditions. Dogs aren’t prepared to ride out winter conditions outside, and rely upon your help, as their caregiver, to keep them warm and protected. If you can’t keep your dog inside the house for some reason, then ensure your dog has its own shelter like a dog house or protected enclosure in an area protected from wind, rain, and snow with plenty of insulating materials like blankets, towels, and straw to help them maintain body heat.

Protect those paws! You wouldn’t want to walk miles through ice and snow without boots… and even though your dog’s paws are a bit tougher than the soles of your feet, dogs can get large ice balls between their pads, causing pain and limping. Make sure you examine their paws and remove ice from the fur between their pads. It can be hard to remove these ice balls, so for dogs that have a lot of hair that grows between the pads, keeping it clipped shorter will help curb the formation of ice balls. Also, salt and chemical de-icers on sidewalks are hugely irritating to paws. They can cause dry, chapped, and painful feet, not to mention stomach upset when your pet tries to lick the irritant off. Keep this in mind when you walk your dog on sidewalks that have been salted or de-iced and make sure to clean his paws with a warm washcloth – or, even better - earthbath wipes - when you come inside. If your dog will tolerate foot gear, dog boots are the best foot protection (as well as a floor-saver) in cold or rainy weather.

Cushion joints and ligaments! Just like their human companions, pets too can slip and fall on icy sidewalks and streets. Even if they don’t fall, dogs are prone to injuries such as sprains or tears in the cruciate ligament, behind the knee, if they “skate” and do the icy slip-and-slide! And just as in humans, arthritis and joint pain gets worse during cold and damp weather. Handle your pet gently, try to prevent your senior cat from jumping up to and down from high places, provide soft (and possibly heated) bedding, and consult your veterinarian if your pet seems like he is in pain or is moving with less agility.

Keep your dog on a short leash in the winter: Rather, ensure you keep a close eye on your pup if you let her off leash to frolic in the snow, or else never let her off leash if you can help it, unless she’s in the safety of your fenced-in yard. Dogs lose their sense of smell in extremely cold weather and can become lost. Unfortunately, winter is the season for most lost dogs!

Fresh water is a must at all times, even in snowy or rainy conditions! Pets are not able to get enough water from licking ice or eating snow, and it’s always best for your pets to drink clean, fresh (not puddle) water. Keep in mind that pets kept predominantly outside require additional food for energy and maintaining body heat during the winter, in harsh climates.

Remember to keep all poisons away from your dog, especially antifreeze. Antifreeze is fatally toxic to dogs – and apparently, delicious. Lock up any antifreeze containers and clean up spills immediately. Don’t let your dogs anywhere near antifreeze – in your house or parking lots. Be especially cautious when walking your dogs if they stop to lick anything on the street or in any driveways: just a few licks of antifreeze can be fatal.

Tags: dog walking, dogs, earthbath, holiday, pet, pet exercise, pet health hazards, Pet Safety, winter
Posted in Dogs, earthbath, Helpful Pet Hints, Pet Owners, Pet Safety | No Comments »

Winners of earthbath’s Facebook Halloween costume contest!

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

earthbath always treats pets for tricks!

Whether or not you are pro-costume or anti-costume for Halloween, we at earthbath love any excuse to have fun, and especially, any excuse to dole out our treats! Which means, of course, that we ran a Halloween costume contest on Facebook for all of our earthbath fans, and rewarded the top three most creative, cute, and fun costumes (as voted by total number of comments) with their choice of earthbath goodies!

Check out the winners of our latest contest below, and if you still aren’t chatting it up with us on our Facebook page, well, silly, why not? Make sure to like us to be the first to get notifications of upcoming promotions, contests, news, cute stuff, and overall good clean fun.

Our grand prize winner was Olivia, a Labrador Retriever, dressed up as Big Bird Dog. Her mom wrote: “It took some time to make this handmade costume, lots of feathers to glue, but it was worth it. Olivia is afterall a “bird dog”. When she is done trick or treating she can look forward to a Mango Tango bath!”

grand prize halloween costume contest winner

Olivia the "Big Bird" Dog!

Second Place went to Kahlua, posing as Yoshi:

Is it a dog? A dinosaur? It's a Dogosaurus!

Kahlua’s mom, Kayla, writes: “[Kahlua and Yoshi] have something in common…they eat everything!!!”

And our Third Place winner went to a hero dog, Sage, the German Shepherd, dressed as Batman:

Sage the Bat-dog! Heroism at its finest!

Brandi, Sage’s mom, writes: “Sage as Batman: happy to be your hero!”

Tags: dogs, earthbath, earthbath contest, holiday, Pets, Promotions
Posted in earthbath, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Promotions | No Comments »

Don’t let Halloween be a SCARY time for pets!

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

The Headless Dogman makes a SCARY Halloween appearance!

Halloween is full of frightful sugar-induced fun for kids and adults alike, but when it comes to pets, the same treats that we enjoy can cause severe illness, or worse. If you have kids, make sure that they understand that their candy is NOT to be shared with the family dog(s)! (It’s just more for them anyway). Stress the importance of keeping their Halloween haul safe, and in a high place or closed cupboard that nosy wet noses can’t sniff out. Dogs may love chocolate as much as we do, but they don’t know how bad it is for them: if they make off with too many treats, the effects can be downright lethal.

Petplan, a pet health insurance company, released data that shows candy-related pet health problems and emergencies increase by 284 percent in the week after Halloween. Granted, that number comes from their specific claims data, and doesn’t include data from other insurers or non-insured pets; but based on this number, just consider how many candy-related trips to the vet go unreported, due to the majority of people that don’t have pet health insurance.

For more tips on how to avoid the biggest health hazards to pets at Halloween, read on…

Chocolate: everyone knows the dangers of chocolate to dogs. But how dangerous? Just one ounce of dark chocolate can poison a 50-pound dog.
Raisins: While everyone knows the dangers of chocolate for dogs, the dangers of raisins are lesser known. They’re actually extremely poisonous to pets, especially dogs. Even in small doses, raisin consumption can cause kidney failure in four-legged family members, so treat these treats the same as you would sugary sweets.
Candy wrappers:Even if you’re careful to keep candy out of reach of your pet’s paws, keep fun, crinkly wrappers out of their reach too. They can lead to intestinal obstruction, which often requires surgery.
Keep pets calm: Pets can get seriously freaked out by the constant doorbell ringing, not to mention an overwhelming amount of small ghouls and goblins running around the neighborhood. Consider setting up a room with water, food, toys and a comfy pet bed where your pet can stay safe and sound. He’ll probably feel a lot calmer away from the Halloween fray anyway.
Safe and comfortable pet costumes: According to the National Retail Federation, 14.7 percent of pet parents will dress up their pets for Halloween. (And earthbath is a fan, as long as your pet is! We’re running a pet costume contest on Facebook – check it out!) If you costume your pet, make sure that your pet doesn’t mind the costume. Some find it very stressful, and for these anxious animals, we don’t advocate making them uncomfortable or unhappy. For those in costume, check to make sure that it’s costume safe and doesn’t constrict your pet’s movement or their ability to see or breathe freely. And even if you do dress your pet up, don’t leave the costume on for very long: pets in costumes can become overheated very quickly.

Tags: dog safety, dogs, earthbath, halloween, holiday, pet health hazards, Pet Safety, safety
Posted in Dogs, earthbath, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Pet Owners, Pet Safety | No Comments »

earthbath Fans Win Big in our “Puppy and Kitty Love” Facebook contest!

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Because we love spreading earthbath love, and we love seeing pics of all of our earthbath-ers, we are always having contests. Our latest contest on Facebook garnered a record amount of entries and a whole lotta love from the adorable pictures that our amazing fans posted.

We asked our fans to post photos of their puppies, kittens, dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, horses, and any combination of animals that are clearly best friends and show it. And boy, did you show us the love!

We were thrilled to present prizes to the top three photos that received the most votes by number of “Likes” at the end of the contest, and wanted to share their BFF stories of puppy and, in one case, dog-cat love, here.

Grand Prize Winner! April and Trudy share their cuteness

The Grand Prize Winning photo is from Mary McHenry of California with a whopping 98 votes for her two adorable Cavaliers! As the grand prize winner, Mary won a whole basketful of earthbath products!

Mary writes: “The tri-color cavalier is April, 5 months old at the time of the photo, and the Blenheim cavalier is Trudy, 7 months old at the time of photo. April and Trudy were purchased around the same time from reputable show breeders in Southern CA and have grown up together since April was just 10 weeks old and Trudy was 4 months old.

They’re clearly best friends; they do everything together: they play together, eat together and sleep together. Both of them are destined for the dog show ring and Trudy has already gotten off to a great start. We really like the earthbath wipes for between baths and the oatmeal and aloe shampoo to help with the changing weather (which results in dry skin) . We are fortunate to be all stocked up on Earthbath products , so we have donated our winnings to the American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Rescue Trust to be raffled soon at our local cavalier club meeting. All proceeds will go to the Trust to benefit Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in need.

What a great way to share your winnings, April and Trudy, and what a fantastic way to raise awareness about Cavalier rescue (and also earthbath)! We thank you!

Second Place Winners: These beautiful Danes share the best seat in the house!

In 2nd place, with 60 votes, Jon D. Atwood’s couch overtaken with sleeping Danes brought smiles to many faces, and thoughts of “Where do the humans sit?” are answered with “priorities of course: dogs first!” They chose to receive one of our newest formulations, Green Tea Leaf Shampoo as their prize, and about his Danes, Jon wrote:

“Bailey is the black and white harlequin, who will be 5 years old in November, Akasha is the blue brindle who will turn 3 years old next February and Zuri is the baby of the bunch. Zuri is the brindlequin, with white and brindle spots, who just turned a year in July.”

“Bailey is the “mama” of the pack! She licks faces, cleans ears, and is the leader of the pack. She is such a gentle girl, but so goofy. She loves her toys and knows them by name. She’s such a princess, who loves to snuggle us and the other girls. We got her from a breeder who had been breeding for 30 years and her litter was the last one before she retired her program.”

“Akasha is the joker of the bunch and makes us laugh on an hourly basis. She’s incredibly fast, agile, athletic and loves to run! Not a typical lazy, clumsy Dane like most you see. She definitely loves to play with the other girls. When it’s not play time, it’s snuggle time because she is a love bug. We got her from a “breeder” who had her living in deplorable conditions, and we just couldn’t leave her behind. Once we took her home, we called animal control on that woman and she is no longer in business!”

“Zuri is the baby of the bunch, and totally takes advantage of it. She’s as smart as a whip! She knows lots of cues and is always eager to learn something new. She loves to give hugs! She’s more quiet and reserved compared to the other girls, but when she gets going she’s bouncing off the walls! We got her from a breeder in Southern Colorado.”

earthbath asked: Where do the humans sit, seriously? :)

“We have three full sized couches in our living room just to have enough room for us all! They have 8 oversized, overstuffed dog beds all around the house, and a king sized bed for all of us to sleep on at night…they live a comfy lifestyle. We live on 6 acres of land, and purposely moved here for them to have plenty of land to run on. We take them pretty much anywhere we can: hikes, camping, out on the town! Its always fun to take them places for people to see and meet the Danes! They’re all fed a prey model raw diet and are thriving! They are the perfect picture of health. We have four full sized freezers just for all their food. We go through about 10 pounds of meat per day for all the girls. They get a variety of proteins, chicken, turkey, pork, beef, venison, elk, bison, fish, llama, lamb, emu, and rabbit. There’s no better way to feed a dog!”

Wow, Jon, that’s an amazing commitment to your Great Dane family. Congratulations!

Third Place Winner: Puppy love for a sweet kitty shows cats and dogs really can be best friends!

And in 3rd place, Victoria Antonyuk of North Carolina received our Mango Tango Shampoo for her photo showing that her weimaraner and cat really are Best Buds!

Victoria writes: “My 6 year old weimaraner Uno and my parents 15 year old cat Chloe have known each other since I adopted Uno 5 years ago and always had a mutual respect towards each other. Uno likes chasing other cats, but seems to respect Chloe and even secretly adores her. I always find them lounging next to each other and sometimes giving each other kisses. Chloe doesn’t get too many baths anymore because she’s old and cranky, but I use earthbath pretty regularly, especially the green tea and tea tree oil shampoo.”

That’s okay, Chloe, we respect older cats’ wishes to abstain from baths! It’s super sweet that she has a good friend in Uno!

Congratulations to all of our winners, and stay tuned for more earthbath contests to come!

Tags: earthbath, facebook, facebook contest, pet photos, Promotions
Posted in Cats, Dogs, earthbath, Fun Stuff, Promotions | No Comments »