Are Air Freshener's Hurting Our Pets?

I walked into my house and was immediately greeted by a horrible stench.

I’d been out of town for a couple days visiting some family and when I got home, my apartment reeked of pet odors.

The musty smell of wet dog and sweaty old bathroom from my cat’s litter box hit my nostrils like a high-speed train.

And that’s when I had a sudden realization…my house always smells like this. To my disbelief, I had become nose-blind to even this harsh of smells!

At this point I wondered how many people came over and were too polite to say anything about it. Scary.

I know why though, it’s because I refuse to use any air fresheners or essential oils in the house with my pets.

Before you think I’m super gross, just let me explain to you why.

You see, air fresheners and essential oils carry some ingredients called VOC's that are extremely dangerous to our pets.

VOC's are a nasty chemical called volatile organic compounds because of the way they disrupt any organic life when sprayed into the air as a gas - which is exactly what air freshener's do.

The ones in air fresheners are dangerous to us as well but not even close to how much they affect other animals.

And they're in almost every brand out there - febreze, glade, airwick and many more!

Here are just a few of the side effects from the VOC’s on our pets:

• Eye, nose and throat irritation

• headaches, loss of coordination and nausea

• damage to their liver, kidney and central nervous system

• Known carcinogens (cancer-causing molecules) for pets like dogs and cats

So why don’t these companies just make these air fresheners without these chemicals in it? That’s the thing, when all the research came out – a few of the most well-known air freshener brands in the world told us they changed their “secret” formula.

That is until students from colombia university actually TESTED exactly what was in it and not only found the existence of the VOC’s but a ton of other crazy harmful chemicals that we had no idea were in there to begin with.

Some corporate fat cats decided that their companies’ profits were more important than the health and safety of our family – and that’s not something I’ll ever participate in.

Now I have a dilemma though. A house that’s nearly impossible to live-in, let alone have guests over, and no way to get rid of the smell without hurting my fur babies.

That is until I went to my vets and noticed something odd…

Even with all the animals that come through there every single day – the place didn’t smell at all. How is that even possible?

My Vet Rachel noticed me asking the front-desk assistant about it and what she told me was life-changing.

“Honestly the chemicals in those air fresheners are way worse than you could imagine. I’ve even had a pet pass away because an air freshener that was labeled “pet friendly” accidentally got sprayed onto his food. In my opinion, it’s criminal what those big air freshener companies are doing.”

“I know exactly how you feel though. Even as a vet, it can be embarrassing when your place of business or home smells like dirty animals, and for the most part it’s really tough to get rid of.”

“Since I couldn’t in good conscious use air fresheners, I used what I learned from my undergrad degree in molecular biology and started doing some research on alternatives since you can’t trust what the companies say anymore”.

“After a few research papers I stumbled upon something called Bamboo Charcoal Bags. The bamboo charcoal contains millions of little pores that act as a sort of magnetic sponge for odors, bacteria and moisture. The science was sound so I got a few for my office.”

“They’re completely natural and non-toxic so even if your pet decides to eat them they’ll be perfectly fine.”

“All you need to do is place 1 bag in every small room and recharge them once a month by putting them out in the sun then they should take care of your smell problems for up to 2 years.”

"You can honestly use these anywhere, I even have them for my laundry room, bathroom and car.”

It had been a week since Rachel told me that and I was procrastinating getting them until my friend Lily and her 6-year-old, Anastasia, came over.

Anastasia walked in and immediately made a face and said “ew, what’s that smell”.

Lily tried to hush her and was trying to be polite by saying “Anastasia is just extremely sensitive to any smell”, but I knew that Anastasia was just telling the truth.

If you have pets, it’s just a fact that they’re going to have gross pet odors - they’re animals and they don’t shower every day like us!

We know we need to get rid of them so we don’t become the laughing stock of our friend group and the only way to do that without contributing to the people who are poisoning our pets and hurting our little loved ones is by doing it naturally.

Wanting to do it the fast and easy way, I listened to my vet and immediately ordered myself a few of these charcoal bags and put one around my cat’s litter box, living room and a few other places around my house.

To my amazement, I came back from work and noticed a huge difference! I didn’t smell a thing except for a very light smell when I was standing right next to my cat’s litter box – but even that was a huge improvement.

And the next time Anastasia was over, she agreed!

I’m joining the thousands of other pet parents who no longer support companies who don’t care about our loved ones and saving my pets from pain at the same time. To join the movement and get your charcoal bags, you can click the button bellow.