Healthy Paws . . . Initiative & Food

Dog Owners Reduce Pesticide Use to Support the Healthy Paws Initiative 

A growing number of people with outdoor pets are concerned about the impact of toxic substances, such as pesticides, on the health of their pets, themselves and the local ecosystem. Outdoor pets are vulnerable to lawn chemicals because they breathe closer to the ground, are small in size, lick their paws and coat, and are more likely to roll around in, crawl on, or even eat the grass that’s been treated with pesticides. Pet owners and children may also be exposed to pesticides when they handle their pets.

The City of Toronto is among more than 60 municipalities in Canada that have a pesticide by-law to limit the cosmetic (non-essential) use of residential pesticides. A critical step in ensuring compliance with pesticide by-laws is to educate residents on how to solve their pest problems without using the banned pesticides.

This spring, the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention (C2P2) launched the Healthy Paws Initiative, an educational outreach campaign, with the support of the Environmental Protection Office of Toronto Public Health. Rich Whate, Health Promotion Consultant with the Environmental Protection Office of Toronto Public Health explains, “Having community organizations use unique strategies such as the Healthy Paws Initiative helps reach a wide variety of Toronto residents.  Increasing awareness of the Pesticide By-Law and encouraging residents to make changes that will help protect the environment is good for animal and human health.”

C2P2 is coordinating outreach efforts at local dog parks in the communities of Etobicoke, Downsview, North York, and Scarborough to target dog owners directly. Volunteers are encouraging dog owners to reduce pesticide use by informing them about the benefits to dog and human health and the environment of reducing pesticide use on their lawns and gardens, providing natural gardening tips, and offering information about the City of Toronto’s pesticide by-law.  

“The outreach efforts were specially designed using community-based social marketing techniques” explains Kady Cowan, Coordinator of the Healthy Paws Initiative. Reflecting on the benefits of this approach, Cowan explains “Techniques such as prompts or reminders and making natural gardening
activities normal aid in achieving the behavioural changes required to reduce pesticide use, which is good for dog, human and ecosystem health, and supports the Toronto pesticide by-law.”

Many residents are thrilled with the results of natural gardening and are eager to protect their pets’ health. Carol Coiffe, Healthy Community Advisor with the Fairlawn Neighbourhood Centre in Toronto supports the need to pass on this message to neighbours, friends and local veterinarians. “I encourage
animal lovers to share the information and guidance provided by the Healthy Paws Initiative with others - to sustain the momentum of change.” Together we can limit unnecessary exposure to pesticides.

C2P2 is also looking for support from local veterinarians and other professionals working with dogs to help educate pet owners on the health benefits of reducing their pet’s exposure to lawn chemicals.  Opportunities to get involved include:  distributing outreach materials to clients and promoting the messages of the Healthy Paws initiative within client newsletters.  

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Healthy Paws for Healthy Pets

We humans eat a lot of processed and cooked foods, but many argue we’d do much better on a diet with more raw than cooked, and with more whole foods than processed. This applies even more to animals, so why do we feed our pets so much processed, cooked junk?

Dogs and cats have been around for millions of years and suffice to say, their teeth and digestive systems are not designed for the kibble and canned mush they’ve been eating for the last 50 years or so.

Jennifer Lennon had been feeding a raw food diet to her pets based on Dr. Ian Billinghurst’s Bones and Raw Food Diet, but she realized that if this way of feeding pets were to catch on, someone would have to start producing it. Today, her company Healthy Paws has grown from Lennon’s early sharing of recipes with friends to a company offering a variety of feline and canine raw food diets through retail pet supply stores across Ontario. Healthy Paws is manufactured in Toronto using government inspected meat, and human-grade vegetables, producing a product with as high standards as food for humans.

Healthy Paws products are made with raw beef, bison, chicken, goat, lamb, turkey, and venison, and include bones as well as vegetables and fruit. Some products come with organic kelp, alfalfa, or omega-3 fish oils as well.

Our editor, Julia, here at Vitality is a long-time user of Healthy Paws. She says when her dog Teddy was quite young she went overboard with his food preparation. She started cooking him organic meats every day. However, he ended up with bad rashes, inflamed skin, hot spots, and she didn’t know what
to do about it. Then she read The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat by Juliette de Bairacli Levy, a herbalist who raised dogs. The book said that dogs should only have raw meat. So she changed to Healthy Paws chicken version, which contains chicken, chicken bone, sweet potato and other veggies, chicken innards, apple cider vinegar, various fish oils, and vitamins A, D and E. Since switching to the Healthy Paws, Teddy’s skin completely cleared up, he had more energy, and a better disposition. Since then Teddy has always had raw meat mixed with vegetables and herbs as his regular diet and his skin continues to stay clear. Now the only time he gets hot spots is when he attends family dinners and people feed him lots of cooked meat.

Julia buys Healthy Paws frozen dinners at Annex Pet Supplies on Bathurst Street, then thaws them out in the refrigerator the day before serving. Then at point of serving, she adds some boiling water to warm it up to room temperature.