Latest / The Natural Dog Mum / The Scented Secret: How Synthetic Fragrances Affect Your Dog’s Health with Integrative Vet Dr Edward Bassingthwaite

Transcript

The Scented Secret: How Synthetic Fragrances Affect Your Dog’s Health with Integrative Vet Dr Edward Bassingthwaite · The Natural Dog Mum

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  Dog mums and dads. We're back again with another
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  episode of The Natural Dog Mum, and today we're having a chat
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  with the Healing Vet, also known as Doctor Edward Bassingthwaite.
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  Today we're going to unpack the world of synthetic fragrances
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  and perfumes a little bit and talk about the risks,
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  essentially the health risks that you're taking with your
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  pets in using these, whether you're spraying them on the dog
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  coming out of the salon or in between baths and, and even the
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  toxins in products that you may be using in and around your
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  home. Stick around.
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  Hi and thanks for coming. Hey, you're welcome.
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  Thanks for having me. Important things we're talking
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  about today. Absolutely, absolutely.
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  It's coming. Coming I guess, from someone who
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  had grooming salons for years. It's certainly an issue that's
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  been on my mind for a very long time and something I I think
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  more pet owners could do well to learn a little more about.
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  I think fragrances, everyone wants their home and their dogs
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  to smell nice and I can understand that.
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  But the problem is that most of the products out there that help
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  you do that have artificial fragrances in them.
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  And most people don't know that artificial fragrances are
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  synthesised from fossil fuels, from oil, and they are
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  poisonous. They are carcinogenic.
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  A lot of them. They upset the hormone system.
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  They mimic hormones and things like that.
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  And there's something that I have not allowed in my home for
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  a lot of years now, mostly because I'm quite sensitive to
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  them and they make me feel sick and give me a headache.
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  But. I have the same problem.
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  So, and a lot of people also don't understand that if you
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  read the label on any kind of thing, whether it be laundry or
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  household products or women's perfumes or candles and those
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  things that have the sticks that stick out of them that
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  supposedly make your room smell nice.
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  If you'd see the word fragrance or parfum on and there's a
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  sneaky one nature identical fragrance is another way to try
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  and not tell you that there's something synthetic in there.
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  They these are nasty, nasty chemicals.
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  And your dogs, because they they are smaller than you and have a
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  larger surface area relative to their volume, your dogs and your
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  cats absorb a lot more proportionately of these types
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  of substances. So they have a bigger toxic
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  effect on your pets than they do on you.
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  And if there's one thing you can do to make your whole house
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  happier, it's to get rid of all fragrances, all artificial
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  fragrances out of your home. And now most women's perfumes,
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  including most of the really expensive ones, all have
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  artificials in them. Absolutely.
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  I mean we all love to to have a nice, soft, beautifully
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  conditioned and groomed dog when we picked them up from salon,
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  but I don't think people realise that there can be a cost to
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  having them smell super pretty coming out of the groomers.
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  Oh, yeah. And it's, it's an invisible
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  cost. You know, it's there in the
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  background. It's just degrading the immune
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  system, bleaching away a little bit of vitality here, a little
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  bit of vitality there. A lot of animals won't kind of
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  show you outwardly that it's causing harm, but it is.
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  Absolutely. And then you've got the added
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  risk. I mean, besides it being
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  absorbed into the bloodstream via the skin, a lot of dogs tend
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  to lick themselves. So you've got that added risk as
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  well of ingestion. Yeah, well, a lot of these are
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  actually volatile organic compounds that are absorbed
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  straight through the skin. They just go straight through
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  the skin like it's not even there.
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  So it goes straight in the body, upsets everything, and it's an
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  invisible thing and most people don't even think of it.
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  And I think too, the other thing that I've noticed is that people
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  get kind of used to how awful artificial fragrances are and
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  they don't notice how bad they are.
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  But I can promise you that if you clean out your home and have
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  no artificial fragrances in it for a month or two, you won't be
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  able to walk down the laundry liquid aisle in the supermarket.
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  You'll you'll suddenly go Oh my God, that is the red folk.
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  And considering that our pets have a sense of smell many more
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  times sensitive than ours, it's not just the the kind of
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  chemical toxicity, but it's also the stress of smelling these
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  things in their in their nose all the time.
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  I think is bad. Absolutely.
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  On top of that, you've got the build up over time as well which
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  whether you've got a dog that has a pre existing condition or
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  they're simply in an environment where these these products are
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  used regularly, it can lead to one liver and organ issues down
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  the track. Their bodies just are not able
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  to process that chemical load. Yeah.
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  So what do you need to do? You need to get really, really
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  good at reading the labels and you need to anytime you see
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  anything with fragrance, parfum, PARFUM, those two words mean
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  that there is anything from 20 to 50 plus different types of
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  artificial synthetic chemicals in there that are making that
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  particular smell. And I know that there was a
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  brand of shampoo that I used to use that then got put up by a
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  big company and reformulated and they had nature identical
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  fragrance on the label and it I couldn't it was obviously an
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  artificial fragrance. I could smell it and it made me
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  feel yucky. So you need to get really
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  curious about everything that you're getting for your pets.
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  Now, the other thing that just talking to Sherry before we came
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  on the show is that suddenly there's all these brands of dog
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  and cat perfumes, like perfumes for people.
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  I would avoid them like the plague.
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  I would absolutely not ever use any kind of perfume.
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  I mean, even if you're using essential oils, which is what I
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  would recommend to make your house smell nice.
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  So there are some that you have to be careful not to expose your
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  animals to you. You just there's no way putting
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  a perfume on your pets is good for them.
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  If you need to have, if you want to have an animal, just get them
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  clean and they'll smell like a clean dog or a clean cat.
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  And for me, that's a pretty lovely perfume all of its own.
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  I don't need to be putting anything else on them.
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  And if they do smell, get some other kind of smell going on,
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  it's nearly always a sign that there's some kind of health
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  issues that you need to deal with to make the smell go away,
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  rather than just masking it with a toxic compound that's not
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  going to help your animal's well being.
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  Absolutely. And I think the other people
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  rather the other thing that a lot of owners don't realise of
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  all of those different components within the word
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  parfum or fragrance, they're not listed because legally they're
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  not required to be listed actually.
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  So you can't even type them into Google or or ChatGPT and find
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  out how they may negatively impact your pet's health.
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  So. You can just assume that they're
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  bad and you shouldn't use them. Yeah, exactly.
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  If you see that word anywhere on an ingredients panel, put it
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  back on the shelf. Basically, stick to, stick to,
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  you know, hydrosols, essential oils.
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  But again, make sure you're doing homework because there are
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  some essential oils that can be triggering for dogs.
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  Using too much of them is often an issue.
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  And using them neat direct on the skin is, is a huge no no as
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  well. Always make sure that you're
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  doing your homework and make sure that you're using them
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  safely because even though something's natural, if it's
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  used in the wrong way, that can cause risks as well.
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  And I think I think the other thing that some sometimes people
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  forget is, you know, it's not just your pets that might be
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  affected by what you spray on them.
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  You're touching and cuddling and and passing that animal and any
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  children in the household are having direct physical contact
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  when they're passing or or snuggling with the dog as well.
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  If you've got any asthmatics in that household or anyone with
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  sensitive skin, which I have, you can end up with a secondary
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  reaction yourself or your child. Absolutely, it is not a good
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  thing. Definitely.
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  Look, I think really the main thing is just to be aware that
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  that this, this kind of stuff is something that makes a real
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  difference to your animals in a bad way.
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  And, and the more that you become aware of it, the more you
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  can actually start to do something about it.
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  You know, the more you can be aware of anything, the more you
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  get to make better choices that are going to support greater
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  vitality and less toxicity and and lot more longevity for your
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  pets so that they're happy and well.
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  And the good thing about getting rid of artificial fragrances for
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  your pets is that it is going to make a hell of a positive impact
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  for you too. Absolutely.
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  And I think the other thing to to maybe think about as well, I
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  mean it, it's not the case for all of these doggy perfume or
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  fragrance brands, but I have noticed that there are a couple
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  that claim to be vet approved or vet recommended.
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  Have a look at the ingredients and really have a good think
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  still about whether that's something that you're wanting to
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  use. Sometimes, unfortunately, just
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  because something is a bit recommended still doesn't mean
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  it's the best choice for your pets.
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  Yeah. And, you know, a lot of vets are
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  not terribly aware of this whole problem either, you know, or
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  think that it's not important or think that it's OK and, and that
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  animals are fine with it. And some vets are, you know, it
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  might, it might be that they're just that they're getting paid
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  for their opinion. That can happen too.
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  And you've got to be aware of all these things.
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  I mean, I felt quite a bit of my career, didn't realise that
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  artificial fragrances were a problem.
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  And now I do. And now I tell everyone about it
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  because it's a really, really important thing to to not get
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  yourself tangled up in having that sort of stuff going to your
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  system and into your pet system. Absolutely.
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  And the other, the other ingredient that is in, well,
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  pretty much everything, in addition to your synthetic
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  fragrances, these other synthetic ingredients like your
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  colours and your preservative systems.
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  Not knocking preservatives, they have a very important role to
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  keep products safe. But I don't think a lot of
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  people realise that even though there are preservative systems
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  out there that have been certified as natural or even
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  organic and are very safe and suitable for human use, dogs
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  have a different level of sensitivity, not just in terms
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  of their smell but their skin. They can be more sensitive to
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  certain compounds, and I found this even when I was early on
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  researching ingredients for my product line.
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  I actually don't use any preservatives.
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  All of my products are oil based, so I don't need to.
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  But my products are deliberately anhydrous, not just to reduce
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  the amount of water that's required when they're being
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  used, but also because of the fact in the research that I've
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  done over the last five years, I have yet to find a preservative
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  system that I feel comfortable using, especially when I'm
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  thinking about dogs that have reactive skin.
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  That's another issue as well. And generally when you've got
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  perfumes and especially when you've got water in a product,
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  you've got a preservative system in there.
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  Yeah, that is true. The basic thing is try and get
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  as much if if you must or need to have some kind of air
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  freshener or something to make your house smell nice, then it's
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  a really good idea to use natural things.
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  Get a oil diffuser, an ultrasonic oil diffuser.
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  Make sure that you got the right kind of oils that are not
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  harmful to your pets and it'll make a difference, it really
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  will. Absolutely.
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  And just be very careful what you use on them as well as in
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  the house, whether it's a, whether it's a spray on, whether
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  it's the shampoo and conditioner you're using, any kind of
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  topical products, not just perfumes and sprays.
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  Look out for those ingredients. And if you see something you
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  don't know, look it up. That's what ChatGPT is for more
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  so than Google these days. And have a look.
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  If you're not sure, ring the company and find out.
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  If you can't get answers, I'd avoid it.
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  I would just avoid it full stop. To be honest.
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  I would avoid perfumes for animals.
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  They're not necessary, and they're more than likely going
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  to be harmful. Absolutely.
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  Awesome, important thing to talk about.
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  Yeah, I'm hope, I'm hoping it'll it'll get through for some some
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  ease, I guess. We'll, I guess.
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  We will. Hey.
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  Yeah, definitely. But it definitely helps coming
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  from Someone Like You. So thank you very much for for
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  coming on and helping me get that message out there.
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  You're welcome. Amazing.