Signs Your Pet Is Irritated by Your Laundry Detergent

Allergies to a laundry detergent in humans isn’t rare. The chemicals and fragrances found in detergents can cause anything from mild irritations to contact dermatitis. And your pets can suffer from the same allergies--especially because of their sensitive skin and noses!

You use laundry detergent to wash pet products such as blankets, beds, collars, clothing, diapers, pads, and toys. These products come in contact with their skin and even may end up in their mouths, putting your pet at risk for experiencing irritations.

In this article, we’ll share signs your pet is experiencing allergies from your laundry detergent and what you can do about it.

Symptoms of Irritations or Allergies Caused by Laundry Detergent

Allergies or irritations result as a response to your pet’s immune system reacting to particular proteins in your detergent. The protein, which can be artificial or naturally occurring, causes your pet to produce histamine, which has an inflammatory effect.

Because allergies in pets are common, check with your veterinarian for a definitive diagnosis and treatment plan if you notice your pet having these symptoms.

Some common symptoms include:

What Causes Irritations for Your Pet

Laundry detergents contain surfactants or surface-acting ingredients. Surfactants help loosen dirt and oil particles, so that they can be rinsed away in the wash. Pet skin is up to 10 times thinner than our own. So, pets with sensitive skin may have adverse reactions to harsh surfactants or other chemicals found in laundry detergent.

The same is true for synthetic fragrances in your detergent. Our pets’ noses are up to 100,000 times better than our own, so fragrances can irritate not only their skin, but your furbaby’s respiratory system, as well.

Some other allergens that are found in laundry detergents include, but are not limited to:

How to Prevent Laundry Detergent Allergies for Your Pets

If you suspect your pet is suffering from irritations from laundry detergent, eliminate that specific detergent from your routine. You can also try one of these suggestions:

Run an Extra Rinse Cycle

Use hot water to run your wash through the rinse cycle a second time. This helps kill allergens, as well as keeps detergent residue from building up on clothes and blankets.

Use a Dye- and Fragrance-Free Detergent

Eliminate harsh chemicals and fragrances in your laundry by choosing a natural or hypoallergenic detergent. You can even use baking soda and vinegar in your wash (if your laundry is stain-free).

Many laundry detergents have ingredients that can irritate your pet’s skin or nose, or that can cause more serious allergies—but not PetTergent®. PetTergent® is a laundry detergent made specifically for pet stain, soils, and odors. It effectively removes pet-specific messes from laundry like pee, poop, blood, vomit, and more.

PetTergent® is a versatile laundry detergent that is perfect for cleaning pet laundry, breaking down odor-causing ammonia and sodium soils from pee and poop, eliminating staining oils, proteins, and fats from feces, blood, and urine, and brightening laundry. It is safe for sensitive pet skin and can be used on both pet and pet parent laundry, ensuring fresh pet laundry every time.

Instead of harsh chemicals that can irritate or be known as toxins to pets, this laundry detergent for pets has 90%+ bio-based and biodegradable ingredients, making it safer for pet skin.

Whether it is a soiled Pawtect® Pad, drool on their favorite soft toy, or that 'dog' smell on their softest blankie, PetTergent® may be used on all of your pet's laundry for fresh, clean laundry that is ready for many messes to come.