Dog Shampoo, is it really natural?

Is it really natural? You’d be surprised that 9 times out of 10 when a label says “natural” you can bet it’s not! With the natural pet product industry growing every year, companies are finding new ways to hide ingredients and sneaky marketing tactics to make pet parents believe they're getting the most natural products.... Even when they're not! 

And with 95% of canine cancers attributed to environmental toxins it is clear dog parents need to start thinking about reduce their dog’s exposure to toxins.Everything from the food your pet eats, sun exposure, flea and tick treatments, over-vaccination and of course the products that you use on their bodies can contribute to their toxin exposure. 

Unless your dog has allergies or itchy skin, you may not see a dramatic change in the health of your dog's skin and coat from one bath to the next.

If you consider your dog's exposure to toxic ingredients over the long term it does add up- directly impacting the long term health of your dog we have to continue as a collective to make it the norm to dive deeper.

An honest and ethical company really won't mind you asking questions - in fact I would say they would most likely welcome it!

Some important points about your dogs skin

1. Your dog's skin is more sensitive and there is less epidermis to protect your dog's organs from environmental toxins (including toxic ingredients). Your dog's skin (the largest organ in your dog's body) is not as thick as yours. A dog's epidermis is 3-5 cells thick. A human's epidermis is at least 10-15 cells thick.

2. The main functions of the hair and coat are to protect the skin and to help regulate temperature.

3.Sebaceous (oil) glands within the skin lubricate the hair, keeping the coat shiny and water resistant. It is important to not block these glands with ingredients in your dog's shampoo.  

4.The ph of your dog's skin is 7.4 - 7.5  (more basic) while yours is 4.8 - 5.5 (more acidic). A shampoo that feels great on your skin may not feel very good on your dog's skin.

5.Hair growth and health is controlled by several factors including nutrition, grooming products, hormones, and time of year. 

Ingredients in grooming products to avoid

1.Proprietary blend - secret ingredients under lock and key by the manufacturer - an example of this is shown clearly with furminators deshedding shampoo label "Shampoo" and "Surfactant" super shady, not cool furminator.…. Not cool!

2.probably an obvious one - artificial fragrance - but less known to most people about artificial fragrances is that some synthetic fragrances have been linked to cancer and reproductive and developmental toxicity. 

3.Phthalates - they are a family of chemical compounds primarily used to make pvc, they have been linked to endocrine disruption, lower sperm counts, developmental toxicity and reproductive toxicity.

4.Artificial colours - linked to many issues like birth defects, organ damage etc.

5.Formaldehyde preservatives; bromopol, doazolidinyl urea, dmdm hy dantoin (often mis•typed on bottles as dhdh hydantoin), imidazolidinyl, urea, quaternium-7, -15, -31, -61, and sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, they are used in many personal care products,particularly in shampoos and liquid baby soaps, these chemicals, which help prevent microbes from growing in water-based products, can be absorbed through the skin and have been linked to cancer and allergic skin reactions.

6.Isothiazolinone preservatives - another chemical cosmetic preservative also known as methylisothiazolinoneand methyl chloroisothiazolinone all are known skin irritants.

7.Triethanolamine - may be listed as cocamide-tea, it's used as a surfactant and ph adjuster which has been identified as a human skin and respiratory toxin.

8.Paraben preservatives such as butylparaben, methylparaben, or propylparaben, they are fragrance ingredients/ preservative, these chemicals can be stored in the body and have a cumalitve effect posing many health risks to dogs and humans.

9.Cocamide-mea is a surfactant that is from a class of chemicals that are thought to be carcinogenic, have reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity and organ system toxicity. 

10.Mineral oils these keep the skin from releasing its own natural oils and eliminating toxins, it's a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons from crude oil, it's a possible toxin and allergy inducer.

11.Sd alcohol 40 or isopropyl or sd-40 is a fragrance ingredient and is very drying for the dogs coat and also increases the skins absorption so is likely to make toxin absorption easier.

12.Propylene glycol and polyethylene glycol is a skin conditioner, solvent and humectant - but they are also skin irritants and like sd 40 - make toxin absorption easier.

13.polysorbates (followed by a number); this ingredient starts out as sorbitol - a harmless sugar alcohol usually derived from corn syrup, it's then treated with ethylene oxide, depending on how much ethylene oxide is used, the polysorbate has a number behind its name, for example, polysorbate bo is treated with bo parts ethylene oxide. If the ethylene oxide isn't completely cleaned out of the final ingredient, it's contaminated with a known carcinogen.

14.Avoid all of these chemicals; sodium benzoatempreservative, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, polysorbates, cocamidopropyl betaine.

Important facts about grooming products

1.Dog grooming products are manufactured with a lot of different ingredients, some of which are known or suspected carcinogens, toxic, known to disrupt the endocrine system. Or cause skin irritation.

2.The pet grooming industry is not regulated very well, if at all.

3.There are no regulations in the pet grooming industry for purity of ingredients. Ingredients are not tested to determine if they are safe and free from contaminants that have known links to health issues. Your dog's skin has less layers than your skin.

4.There are no standards for integrity in the marketing of dog grooming products,it  is common to see products marketed as "All natural and organic" to find the manufacturer has mixed a few "Good" ingredients with "Bad" ingredients and marketed only the good ingredients.

5.Ranking individual ingredients is hard. An ingredient may not be "Bad" but may have

Contaminants from the manufacturing process.

What shampoo should you use?

The easiest and most simple thing to advise when looking for any product for your dog is to look for a product with limited ingredients, an all natural shampoo will have as little ingredients as they can, and remember, just because the label says "All natural" it doesn't necessarily mean it is. There are currently no regulations that hold manufacturers to standards for ingredient purity, verification of "Natural” claims or disclosure of manufacturing processes.

A good checklist to follow;

• Certified organic 

• No sulfate’s or harsh chemicals 

• Grain free 

You can check your dogs shampoo ingredients by using this handy database.

See below our recommended shampoo swaps; 

Here is a list of brands we recommend; 

Herbal dog co (UK) 

All natural pet (UK) 

Herbal pet supplies (UK) 

Melanie newman grooming (UK/aus)

Lucca pet shampoo (UK/europe/usa) (use code THCKCS15)

Kin + kind (usa/cad)

4legger (usa/UK/cad) (healthful pets stock in U.K.)

Dogwash (aus/USA)

Essential dog (aus)

Earthbath (usa/cad) 

Tropiclean (usa/UK/cad)

Important note for itchy dogs; 

The pet grooming market is saturated with “soothing” oatmeal shampoos however unfortunately oatmeal is the last thing you want to be bathing your dog with if they’re suffering from yeast. 

Yes, oatmeal can be soothing but most dogs have grain allergies or intolerances. Oatmeal is a grain, so if your dog is itchy it’s best to go grain-free in all products, as they can feed and contribute to yeast and itchiness.

Bottom line

The ingredients in the products that you use on your dog are as important as the hair and skin serve as the first barrier to keeping your dog safe. If you allow environmental toxins to disrupt that barrier, you risk exposing your dog to everything from ingredients that cause itchy skin, hormone disruption cancer and more. Using a safe and non-toxic grooming product for your dog is an easy step you can take to lower their exposure to environmental toxins. 

Many manufacturers would say that the amounts of an ingredient they are using are "So low that they pose no threat". Meanwhile, the increase of cancer, hormone disruption and other diseases in our dogs continues to rise. Believe what you want. Having lost a dog to cancer, we think any amount of these chemicals being exposed to our dogs when there are viable alternatives is too much.