subject: Ice Melt Products Safe For Pets - Or Are They? [print this page] Ice melt pet products have become increasingly popular the last few years as more and more people have discovered their benefits of making their driveway free of snow without much elbow grease and tears in the process. The main problem is that many homeowners have pets. They have dogs, they have cats who like to go outside for various obvious reasons. And particularly dogs like to eat snow and lick the ice. This can lead to even tragic results if the snow is mixed in with the ice melt salt. This is why recently manufacturers came up with products that claim to be pet safe. But are they really?
Basically the salt based pet products are the dangerous ones for pets, so if you have animals at home, you might want to use the one without salt. The reason is because if salt is ingested (the 4 types of salts: magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium chloride as well as sodium chloride), it can cause damages to the internal organs of the pet. However pets are just like people. They will not eat so much ice that will make them sick. And a lick or two will definitely not harm them. The issue which is more emergent here is the fact that, just as for humans, these salts will dry out the skin when coming into contact. And if the pets go out and step on the salty ice, eventually they will get dry skin - or paws.
The other alternative is laying down saltless ice melt products. These should be safer for the pet, but as luck would have it, they are quite bad for the environment, for the eco-system and this is why. They have various chemicals in them including glycoids and fertilizers (urea) that are not very good for our mother earth because they promote less oxygen in the waters and can lead to fish dying in vain. Also the fact that they contain no salt makes them not so effective when it comes to melting the ice and snow.
So basically each of these have their advantages and their drawbacks and you have to be the judge on which way you go. But you have to remember that your pet will often go to places that might have such kinds of products on them and there's no way of you knowing what has been used on it. Is it salt or is it urea? So when it's time to buy your ice melt supplies, be aware of these quirks for each and buy the one you think will harm or your pet and your environment less. In most cases you won't have to worry at all really.
When you have elderly at home, another good way to prevent accidental slips and falls in the homes is with the use of anti slip stair treads and braided stair treads. These will ensure that the senior citizen will not fall on slippery surfaces such as staircases or wet kitchen floor.
