Why We Do What We Do
When you go out to buy products for your pet you believe there is some government oversight into ensuring products are safe for you and your pet, however for many pet products there are no government regulations on what can be in those products and how they market and label them.
We want to bring light to the lack of regulations in our pets products and help people understand what is in their pets products.
Why Labels Matter
Labeling in the cosmetic industry must comply with FDA regulations to list and identify each chemical clearly on the ingredient list using standard ingredient nomenclature, however there are no FDA regulations or standards for cosmetics or grooming aids (shampoo, conditioner, skin care, fragrances, ear and eye care) in the pet industry. This can lead to misleading ingredient labels on products so there is no way to know what is actually in the product.
For example a manufacturer can list on their ingredient list coconut cleanser, which is a generic non-standard chemical name and could be a large number different cleansers derived from coconuts such as;
Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Coco Glucoside, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Coco-sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Cocamide DEA, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate and many more.
Some of these non-identified chemicals can be cancer causing, toxic or even cause serious health concerns to both you and your pet. Without proper labeling we cannot make an informed decision on what we are using on our pets.
Ingredients
Since there are no regulation or governing bodies regulating pet grooming aids there are no limits or regulation on what ingredients can or cannot be used in products. This also means there are no limits on carryover toxic byproducts from the ingredients used as well.
To help pet owners understand more about the ingredients used in their products we have developed our own ingredient database based upon toxicology and regulatory databases for both humans and pets. We use this database to compare with the ingredients found on the product labels to identify potentially hazardous ingredients as well as those ingredients that do not provide enough information to make an evaluation.
Quality
The quality of the products you buy is also heavily impacted by not having regulations as there are no requirements for quality management or even quality control over the products produced. Manufacturing facilities do not have to follow cGMP (current good manufacturing practice) the standard in cosmetics and drug manufacturing for humans that provides guidance on everything from the raw materials used in making the product to the equipment used and even the storage of the finished product after it is produced.