I have a problem...
Hello, everyone out there in chinchilla-land.
I come to you with a conundrum.
I have been unwell, off and on, for about nine years. I won't go into major detail about the symptoms - save for likening them to those related to Interstitial Cystitis.
The difference is that my trigger - rather than tomato, or caffeine, or any of the typical irritants - is aluminum.
One would hope that it'd be easy to cut out of daily life: stop using anti-perspirant, check to see if all cookware is stainless steel/teflon-coated, stop drinking soda from cans, etc...
But it's not that simple. ;_;
After shuffling and delving through the tubes of the interwebs, I've found that the dust my chinchillas currently use, as well as the other dusts we've tried/planned to try (Fuller's Earth, Blue Sparkle, Blue Cloud, Kaytee) contain variants of Aluminum (primarily Aluminum Silicate, or aluminum magnesium silicate).
So, I suppose the short version of this is...
Do any of you know of a dust bath product that does not contain Aluminum, or Aluminum derivatives/traces?
Any information that you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Sources:
Fuller's Earth, from Answers.com
Kaytee - A call to the number listed on their website informed us that their dust, while it is "all natural", is made from volcanic pumice, with naturally-ocurring Aluminum Silicate.
Blue Cloud / Blue Sparkle - Augh. Now I can't recall the site/ place I found the information. /sigh
All I recall is that it's produced by a mining company (Cer Tek Enterprises Inc). It's supposedly a byproduct of cement production, and contains a form of Aluminum something-or-other.
I come to you with a conundrum.
I have been unwell, off and on, for about nine years. I won't go into major detail about the symptoms - save for likening them to those related to Interstitial Cystitis.
The difference is that my trigger - rather than tomato, or caffeine, or any of the typical irritants - is aluminum.
One would hope that it'd be easy to cut out of daily life: stop using anti-perspirant, check to see if all cookware is stainless steel/teflon-coated, stop drinking soda from cans, etc...
But it's not that simple. ;_;
After shuffling and delving through the tubes of the interwebs, I've found that the dust my chinchillas currently use, as well as the other dusts we've tried/planned to try (Fuller's Earth, Blue Sparkle, Blue Cloud, Kaytee) contain variants of Aluminum (primarily Aluminum Silicate, or aluminum magnesium silicate).
So, I suppose the short version of this is...
Do any of you know of a dust bath product that does not contain Aluminum, or Aluminum derivatives/traces?
Any information that you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Sources:
Fuller's Earth, from Answers.com
Kaytee - A call to the number listed on their website informed us that their dust, while it is "all natural", is made from volcanic pumice, with naturally-ocurring Aluminum Silicate.
Blue Cloud / Blue Sparkle - Augh. Now I can't recall the site/ place I found the information. /sigh
All I recall is that it's produced by a mining company (Cer Tek Enterprises Inc). It's supposedly a byproduct of cement production, and contains a form of Aluminum something-or-other.