Friday, June 6, 2014

ONE DEVOTED PET PARENT'S STORY

It is always thrilling for me to work with really open-minded, devoted pet parents. I received this Facebook post from Christine Mooney. We did a phone consultation 2 weeks ago after she found out about me "by chance" while searching for help online. I am sharing this here with her (and "Mica's") permission.

"For all the devoted pet parents I know, I wanted to share something today.

As some may know, Tom and I find ourselves facing cancer in our third dog now in our 14 years of dog parenting together.

After drastically changing so many things, mainly how we feed them-- and ourselves--- with all we learned in our first cancer experience with our dog Terra, almost a decade ago, we're now going beyond food and the obvious things like not spraying chemicals on our lawn ....
We have now begun a process of cleaning our indoor air quality and environment up as best we can. As well as cleaning Mica's internal environment too!! But--- we're not doing this all by ourselves. I found some guidance! And this is what I want to share. ......Enter Nadine M. Rosin to the scene---------

After a phone consultation with this woman, author and certified holistic pets/ toxic free lifestyle consultant (and student of alternative healing for over 35 years), who practices out of the San Francisco area, we were given some very interesting facts that we've lived somewhat oblivious to about the environment we create in our homes now days......

I had already tweaked so many things over the years--- switched to using water and vinegar to clean all my floors with --- (since it's non-toxic if my little dog's paws soak up any residue-- before it's dry). And I'd already switched to stainless steel bowls instead of plastic--- and some other more commonly dispersed cautions we pet parents share with one another.... But boy did we have a lot to consider -- well beyond that once we got on the phone with her for our conference call. We all spoke for over 2 hours --- and we had several eye opening moments regarding what we had in our home and the chemicals we were all exposing ourselves to--- on a consistent basis.

So, since that consultation, this past week, I've been gradually purging every detergent, soap, household cleanser, cheap petrochemical decor product like cheap throw rugs as well as plastic ziplock baggies of all sizes that we stored food in - in the refrigerator... ( Nadine gives you great general guidelines for non-toxic, safe for the environment and effective replacements for everything too--- which takes so much off the burden of making the changes.) And the list goes on and on to include shampoos, conditioners, and cosmetics... Basically, anything that outgases any phthalates or other toxic chemical residues -- or lead is going to the hazardous waste dump.

This will mean new furniture too! ( Which we've been due for anyway for awhile-- so perfect timing!!.) And we're now researching non toxic furniture companies that manufacture their furniture free of flame retardants as well as many other things I never knew went into the furniture that we all plop ourselves down on every day--- and all that it outgases into the air....

Our world has changed so much since we were all kids.... So many chemicals surround us everyday in our homes --- that simply were not there 30 or 40 years ago. They're everywhere--- when one starts looking.

Should it be any surprise when other beings who share our encapsulated environments -- whose life spans aren't as long as ours--- and who therefore metabolize everything at a faster rate--- replacing their old cells with new cells much faster than we do--- begin developing allergies and cancer at rates never seen before in history? Why is a dog that lives to be 18 or 19 becoming more and more rare? ...Why are vets now labeling 8 year old dogs as entering their senior years?

Speaking to Nadine, she has a very chilling question and analogy that I'm going to share here. She has given me personal permission:

..... "Could it be that these innocent beings, our precious animal family members --- are becoming the canaries in the coal mine?""

 Please feel free to leave comments and/or questions here for me or Christine.