Things You Should Know

What makes Mad About Organics Products Safe, Natural and Effective?

What sets Mad About Organics products apart from the rest would have to be the unique and specialized formulas. Being animal lovers, we take every step to educate ourselves and others in regard to the safe levels of essential oils and in all the other ingredients we use in our products. All of the essential oils used to make our specific products are diluted far more than the standard safety level requirement, making them extremely safe for each animal to metabolize. Organic ingredients are those that are grown and derived from nature without the use of pesticides and chemicals. Since our products are used on the skin and can be absorbed and licked off, we feel that organic ingredients are healthier for our pets, ourselves and our environment.

Mad About Organics uses only the highest quality organic ingredients to produce our products making them as natural as possible. Organic essential oils are important since, artificial fragrances (fruit or perfume scents) dissipate quickly and can cause skin allergies in animals. Essential Oils, made by distilling plants and herbs, are rich in therapeutic benefits - soothing your animal's skin and coat and calming their senses. We are working every day to improve our environmental foot print and with your help hopefully someday organic products will be the only choice.

Through individual product testing Mad About Organics products are proving their effectiveness every day. It is our goal to make sure every pet parent is 100% satisfied, so if you have any comments or questions please let us know. Treat Your Pet and Home for Fleas Naturally and Effectively

The first step in natural flea control is a healthy diet; one that includes a good balance of nutrients which are free of chemical additives, colorings, artificial flavors and preservatives. A high quality diet assures a strong immune system for your pet.

Second step, is getting to the eggs before they hatch. This is done by regular cleaning of the environment in which the pet inhabits. Vacuum weekly, year round and if you see fleas or evidence of them vacuum daily. Discard the vacuum bag or garbage bag they are trapped in. Concentrate your cleaning efforts on the areas where your pet sleeps. Use an attachment on the vacuum to get into cracks and crevices where flea's eggs may roll and hatch. Roll up the pet bed (to keep eggs from falling off) & launder weekly in hot water, using a hot dryer afterward. Using a mineral salt such as sodium borate, or diatomaceous earth on the carpet will dry up fleas and their larvae for up to one year.

Third step, is where our products come into play. Bathe your animal with our Flea and Tick Shampoo. When the animal is almost dry apply our Flea and Tick Treatment every 5-7 days or 2-4 if fleas are really bad. We also recommend the use of our Flea and Tick Spray for your daily walks or camping trips. With the use of natural essential oils, fleas will want to stay away from your loving companion.

Finally and most importantly, clean up your yard and treat it with a natural product that is not harmful to humans, pets or earthworms. We recommend beneficial nematodes. They attack flea larvae as well as many other larvae which are pests in the garden. You can contact your local nursery for more information. And please don’t kill the ants, they are another form of natural pest control, including fleas. EPA warns of some flea, tick control products By Garner Roberts Special to the Reporter-News Friday, April 17, 2009

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week said it is intensifying its evaluation of flea and tick control products for pets that involve the use of spot-on pesticide treatments, sprays, collars and shampoos.

The federal agency reported "a recent sharp increase" in the number of incidents reported of adverse reactions, ranging from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, deaths of pets.

The EPA statement issued by Dale Kemery says the "spot-on products are generally sold in tubes or vials and are applied to one or more localized areas on the body of the pet, such as in between the shoulders or in a stripe along the back." The agency lists seven products on its Web site (www.epa.gov).

More than 44,000 "potential incidents" associated with spot-on products were reported to the EPA in 2008.

The EPA said "a cause and effect relationship between these products and any individual adverse reaction or incident has not been confirmed. EPA is carefully evaluating all available data."

How do Fleas Reproduce?

The flea's reproduction is highly centered around the availability of blood. The adult fleas feed off of the blood of the host animal. Adult fleas can only reproduce when they are full of blood. Fleas will typically flock towards the weaker host animals, such as sick animals, young animals that have just been born and even females during their heat cycle or pregnancy. Fleas are drawn to their scent since they know there will be more host animals to feed on. This is a crucial time for young animals and when they are most likely to catch a disease that could be fatal. It was a high priority for us to develop a formula that could be used on pregnant females and newborn animals.

Our flea and tick treatment can be used all the way through the pregnancy and started on young animals as early as four weeks. A main benefit of our flea and tick treatment has to be its ability to protect your animal in a fashion whereby fleas and ticks do not even want to come near them.

We feel that putting harsh chemicals on your animals is unnecessary. Another benefit of our treatment is the fact that you don't have to worry about getting the essential oils on you, or having to guard your children from touching the animals after a treatment of Frontline or Advantage.

In addition to our flea and tick treatment, we also recommend our pH balanced flea and tick shampoo for your animals' bathing needs. And if you want the best coverage, we have designed a quick flea, tick, fly and mosquito relief spray. This spray is great for when you take your dogs on their daily hike, knowing that there are fleas and ticks and other insects in the area. The spray is an extra assurance that our dogs our well protected and it also works as a natural sun screen.

What is a Hot Spot and how can you help your pet with them?

A hot spot is a localized area of skin inflammation and infection. The infection can be superficial or deep. Other common names for this condition include: moist dermatitis, pyotraumatic dermatitis, and acute moist dermatitis.

These common skin lesions are usually caused (and made worse) by biting, licking, or scratching. The important thing for successful long term treatment of a hot spot is to find the underlying cause to break the cycle of continued skin trauma and resulting inflammation.

Redness, oozing, pain, and itchiness are hallmark signs. Hair loss is commonly present. Sometimes hair can mat over the lesion, obscuring the size and degree of the problem. These lesions can appear suddenly, and grow rapidly in size. It is common for an owner to notice a small area of inflamed skin in the morning (perhaps an inch or couple centimeters in diameter) and come home from work to be met with a large area the size of the palm of a hand. The animal is usually highly agitated, and will not leave the area alone.

There is usually an inciting factor to initiate the extreme licking and scratching behavior. Look for fleas, mites, or other external parasites, an insect sting or bite, allergies (food, inhalant, contact), or injury (skin wound, scrape, etc.). Some animals have been known to "start" a hot spot out of boredom or stress-related psychological problems.

Now that you know what hot spots are, here is a solution that may help.

Mad About Organics have developed an amazing product called Skin Relief. Skin Relief is an incredible soothing treatment that helps heal and soothe many different types of skin irritations. With over a year and a half of testing, we have found that our Skin Relief formula works very well on hot spots, bug bites, stings, rashes and even sunburn. We have even tested these products on ourselves and have had pet owners use our Skin Relief treatment on themselves for many different irritated skin issues. The essential oils in this formula were specifically picked for their healing properties. We know with just one try you will be a believer. If the situation does not improve within a couple of days we recommend bringing your animal to their local vet for further evaluation.

What is the difference between the Cat, Dog and Human Shampoo?

Since we have started this business, we have run into quite a few individuals who are still using human grade shampoo on their pets. We feel this is a very important subject and it deserves some attention. We want to properly educate pet owners on the importance of using shampoos and conditioners that are specifically pH balanced for your animals skin type.

o Compare the pH levels below to see the difference between human, feline and canine skin.

o Human Skin 4.8 = acidic

o Feline Skin 6.4 = slightly acidic

o Neutral 7.0 = neutral

o Canine Skin 7.4 = alkaline

Making sure our shampoos are in their proper pH level is very important to us, since we only want the best for our animals as well as everyone else.

We take pride in producing pH balanced specific products for cats, dogs and horses. Each category of animal has a specific skin type that can be affected dramatically with the use of improper grooming supplies.

Just like us, our pets' skin and fur can be damaged quickly and become dry and brittle, or oily and breakout with acne. This leads us into the next question below.

What is DEA and SLS?

DEA is a commonly used foaming agent that gives a product big suds. It can be extremely drying to the skin (ever felt dried out after a bubble bath?) and we don't think pet product benefit from high suds agents. SLS or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, is a common natural detergent that can be on the drying side and harsh for pet shampoos.

What are Parabens?

These ingredients are food-based preservatives used to make a product shelf stable. They are used commonly in cosmetics and recently, parabens been observed in tissue studies of lab animals, spurring a concern about their safety. We use natural preservatives in our products, so that parabens are not necessary.

How often can you or should you bathe your animal?

Animals, like humans, need to keep their skin and fur clean to maintain good health. Every breed is a little different, but making sure that you are using a shampoo or conditioner that is safe on them and will not strip their natural oils is very important. All of our shampoos and conditioners are designed for the specific animal and will not strip any of their natural oils.

This is very important to us since we own pure bred miniature schnauzers, which can have a tendency to have skin issues. We would recommend bathing your animal at least once a month, if not twice a month, to help keep their skin and fur clean and healthy.

Just imagine how much oil and dirt build up you would have in a 2 week period of time if you had not bathed. Our animals are twice as bad if not more, since they go outside and lay in the dirt or roll in god knows what.

Our dogs love playing in the dirt or mud on the farm, and since they are white and the dirt is an orange color they make it difficult keeping them white. We usually have to bathe them multiple times a day while at the farm. With our pH balanced shampoos, you can rest assured that you are not going to damage their skin or fur.