Are Dryer Sheets Safe to Use With Pets?
By Chris Baskind in Home & Garden
Well-meaning pet owners are using dryer sheets to control pet hair, and laundry companies are happy to encourage this secondary use of their products. But is it safe?
We love our pets — and they love us. Which is the main reason dog and cat dander seems to get everywhere: on the sofa, your clothes, and your carpet. Your furry companion loves to sit wherever you do.
There’s a tip making the rounds these days: use a dryer sheet to repel pet fur. And it seems to work. Dryer sheets cut down on static, which is what makes fur cling to fabric surfaces. Some owners even use dryer sheets directly on their animals to reduce the static buildup which accompanies thunderstorms and alarms jittery pets.
But is this safe?
First, hats off to Bounce for their truly generous support of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Last year, their Bounce Everywhere campaign donated $10,000 to the ASPCA. It’s part of a bid to promote dryer sheet usage by pet owners that goes by the slogan, “Share the love, not the hair!”
Dryer sheets repel static and smell so darn good because they’re full of chemicals. Formulas vary from product to product, but your favorite fabric softener or dryer sheet (not necessarily Bounce) might contain such unpleasant substances as benzyl acetate, camphor, or even chloroform.
Possible health risks
None of this stuff is good for humans, and the same is true for pets. The Merck Veterinary Manual warns that cationic detergents, which are present in fabric softeners and dryer sheets, can cause a variety of problems for animals ranging from minor irritation to widespread systemic distress and pulmonary edema. Bounce’s own product literature cautions pet owners to keep dryer sheets away from animals to avoid accidental ingestion.
Animals lick their fur and the areas on which they rest, so using dryer sheets to repel dander may needlessly expose Fluffy or Fido to health risks. The danger is increased when pets are allowed to use sheets as toys — and cats, in particular, just love them. Some owners have reported kidney failure in animals which have ingested dryer sheets.
A better way
Want to keep pet fur at bay — the safe and natural way? Brush your animal companion daily. A stiff brush or rubber squeegee will make quick work of any hair which gets on furniture. Use a lint brush or length of masking tape to remove danger from clothing.
A few minutes of extra work means fewer chemicals in the lives of you and your pet. Take a little extra time with your cat or dog — and show you care.
How do you beat pet hair in your home? Please share your best ideas in the Comments section below!
PDF7 Responses to “Are Dryer Sheets Safe to Use With Pets?”
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OMG!!! I would NEVER rub a dryer sheet on my cat! They lick their fur all day long so we can pet it's wonderful softeness and snuggle endlessly with them. You might as well FEED a dryer sheet to your cat! Anything on the floor or on their fur ends up in their bodies, DUH! I'm going to send this to all my friends so if they're doing this they'll stop.
I've heard of people using the sheets directly on pets. The company intends the sheets to repel fur from furniture. really, this has the same effect.
It's funny I was researching a reader's question on controlling cat hair and came across this post. It says right on the Bounce package that it contains cationic softeners and perfumes. Whether or not the perfumes are toxic to cats is a good question, but the cationic softeners are definitely bad, and have the same corrosive effect as drain cleaner.
You should brush your cat often. It helps with bonding, teaching the cat to be handled, and allows you to give a quick physical to your cat each time you do it. Check for tenderness and lumps under the skin, swelling, discharge from the eyes, and so on. Grooming more often reduces hair balls as well, which is the number one cause of constipation in cats.
You can buy a Furminator which removes large amounts of excess fur including the undercoat that most cats have better than standard brush products. You can also get self grooming products for the cat, including free-standing products that will brush the cat as he or she rubs it (like the Cat Hair Magnet), and ones that attach to the wall, like the Cat-A-Comb. You can often spot a house with a cat by looking for smudges at the corners of the walls where cats often scratch. Put a Cat-A-Comb there instead and it will remove a lot of the hair as the cat rubs against it.
That is so true.. what is not safe for us is not safe for our pets. Thank you for posting this great article!
That is so true.. what is not safe for us is not safe for our pets. Thank you for posting this great article!
I've seen some incoming visitors to this page from a discussion at Yahoo! Answers:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200...
The topic is cats and static electricity. Several Yahoo users recommend dryers sheets, and one goes so far as to say the level of chemicals to which a cat might be exposed by this practice is safe.
There are simply no established safe levels of these chemicals for felines. At the least, you are risking allergic reactions and discomfort for your pets. Dryer sheets are not intended for use on animals, whether directly or on their bedding. Period.
Frankly, I'm not convinced dryer sheets are even a good idea for humans. We're exposed to far too many chemicals without baking more into our clothing. In any event, dryer sheets should be kept well clear of pets.
I use a chemical free dryer sheet to get rid of the static - I have two cats (one long hair one short) and when I brush them I rub them down with one of the sheets and it gets rdi of the static but it's chemical free. It's safe but it actually works http://www.staticeliminator.ca