Ice and snow can be fun to look at and play in for both you and your dog.  what fun to throw snowballs up in the air for your dog to catch or for your pet to roll around in just having fun.

The concern comes in when you take your dog for a walk on a salted road and what you have just put down on your driveway and walkway to prevent falls.  Lets look at some of the dangers.

Safe Paw ice melt

The most inexpensive method is salt, rock salt or a sand and salt mix.  Most towns and cities use a salt blend on their roads and parking lots.   Salt or a Salt blend is a natural product coming straight from the ground many times imported from around the world.    Salt removes the ice and snow by lowering the freezing point of the water.

The danger in salt or a salt blend is the way it drys out a dog’s paws and when your dog cleans him or herself they are ingesting salt.  Many times if a dog does not have its paws cleaned or protected from the salt and cold they will crack and can get infected.  Keep your dog’s paws clean and watch for any infection.

Other de-icers to watch for have a fertilizer base such as ammonia or urea these do not work at temperatures below 20 F and for those in areas it gets colder than 20 F these will not work.  The fertilizer based products have a higher concentration or Ammonia and Urea than what you would normally put down for fertilizer, the result being a burnt lawn and runoff in the spring. These create algae bloom in our waterways if there is too much fertilizer in the water.

One safer method is to use a product called Safe Paw it is made up of crystalline amide core infused with special glycols.  It also works by reducing the temperature for which the ice and snow will freeze. It is not a fertilizer base thus it will not create the alage bloom in a run off or over fertilize your lawn. Animals tend not to have any side effects from injestion. 

When taking your pet for a walk on the streets wash their paws off when returning or put boots on their paws to protect them from the salt and ice.  Have fun in the snow with your dog.