About.com Rating



I got tired of dealing with midwest winters, so I moved to the Sunshine State where I no longer have a need for ice melters. Most of the rest of my family stayed behind, so they still cope with long, cold, snowy winters. I recruited my sister-in-law to test Safe Paw Ice Melter for me this winter, and she gives it a thumbs-up.

A Green Product

Safe Paw Ice Melter has three big things going for it. First, "green" is in when it comes to pet supplies, whether you're talking about cat litter made from recycled paper or biodegradable dog waste disposal bags.

Safe Paw qualifies as a green product, both figuratively and literally. The product is blue-green in color so you can quickly tell that it's not regular ice-melting salt or a salt-based option. Second, it's safe for the environment and will not harm plants and shrubs or, most importantly, children and pets.

Third, Safe Paw is effective. It's made from modified crystalline amide core infused with special glycol admixture. What that translates to in simple language is that it melts ice due to its formulation, and it also attracts solar heat to work even better in the daylight hours. It works for up to three days.

Testing Safe Paw on Ice

This winter started out mild for my family, but eventually they got hit with a spell of bitter cold and icy, snowy weather. My sister-in-law spread Safe Paws on their sidewalk and on the driveway. She lives in a good neighborhood for a test run because there are plenty of outdoor cats and people walking their dogs on the busy residential street.

Safe Paw Ice Melter effectively dealt with the ice and caused no problems for any of the neighborhood animals who came in contact with it.

My sister-in-law confirmed that it did, indeed, work for several days.

Its inert qualities when it comes to pets are a good thing. Anyone who comes from a cold climate knows how badly salt damages cars, so think about what it can do to a living thing. Dogs in particular are vulnerable to those problems. They have to be walked regularly, even in the winter, and salt adheres to their paws and gets stuck in their fur. Then it burns once the animal gets inside, where the temperature is warmer. When I lived in a cold climate, I knew people who actually used booties on their dogs' feet to protect them from salt in the winter. Since it gets dark more quickly, some even use reflective leashes like Dog Wrappers for extra visibility.

You don't have to worry about any danger to felines if you have indoor cats, but cats who go outdoors face the same risk of injury as dogs. Both animals can have even worse problems if they lick their paws and ingest the salt, which triggers gastrointestinal upset.

Widely Available

Safe Paw Ice Melter is widely available, both online and at big chain stores like Petsmart, Sam's Club, and Costco. The only big downside I could see for Safe Paw is its cost as compared to regular ice-melting rock salt, since it's much more expensive. However, if you have kids who like to play outside or pets that go outdoors in the winter, its safety outweighs some of that cost. Also, it's a seasonal product, so you only need to buy and use it when the weather is icy and snowy.

Research by the American Pet Products Association shows that, despite the recession, pet owners spent more than $50 billion on their cats, dogs, and other pets. That number continues to rise almost every year, despite the state of the economy. Pet Safe is a way to splurge on a product that helps keep your dog or cat from burning its paws, and you protect other animals in the neighborhood that might come onto your property as well.



Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.