From 4-Legger® - Makers of 4-Legger USDA Certified Organic Dog Shampoo

Worried About Ingredients

In Grooming Products?

With no regulations for the words "natural" and "organic"
buying shampoo for your furry family can be really confusing

Our simple ingredient database can help you quickly identify if an ingredient is natural (or synthetic), safe (or linked to known health issues), and if it is even possible for the ingredient to be organic.
Grab your bottle and get started!
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Worried About Ingredients 
in Grooming Products? 
With no regulations for the words "natural" and "organic", buying shampoo for your furry family can be really confusing.

Our simple ingredient database can help you quickly identify if an ingredient is natural, if it is safe, and if it is even possible for the ingredient to be organic.

Grab your bottle and look up ingredients! 
Every Ingredient Matters & Ingredient Quality and Purity Is Crucial
to the Long Term Health of Your Furry Family

In the book, The Forever Dog, Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney Habib instruct pet parents to use a "chemical free pet shampoo". 

Unfortunately, with no regulations in the pet grooming industy and no regulations regulating the words "natural" and "organic" buying a pet shampoo without synthetic ingredients can be really confusing. 

In 2015, 4-Legger developed the first (and only) pet shampoo ingredient database to help you navigate the confusing world of ingredients found in dog shampoo. 

We've expanded our mission to include all pet shampoo. We don't want any pet parent to be duped like we were. Learn more about 4-Legger and why we've dedicated our lives to revolutionizing the pet grooming industry to make it more transparent and safer for our furry family. 

We've Made It Easy

Our simple guide will show you if ingredients are natural or synthetic, safe, and if they are organic.

Is it Natural or Synthetic?

We've used 2 symbols so you can quickly see if an ingredient is natural or a synthetic.

Want to learn how we decided?  Learn more
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Minimal to no processing
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Multiple chemical reactions for the ingredient

How Safe Is This Ingredient?

We use 4 symbols so you can quickly see the safety of an ingredient.
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Generally recognized as safe
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Not bad but may have contaminants or not be environmentally friendly
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Has links to healthy issues or contaminants linked to health issues
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Has linkages to serious health issues

Could It Be Organic?

With many products labeled as organic that aren't, we let you know if it is even possible for this ingredient to be USDA Certified Organic. 

Learn more about what organic means.
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May be organically grown, harvested, & processed
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It is not possible for this ingredient to be certified to organic

Grab Your Shampoo And Get Started!

Using the symbols, you can learn at a glance if an ingredient is something you want to put on your furry family. Give it a try!
Select a letter of the alphabet to browse ingredients by name or enter an ingredient name in the search field below.

Our Newest Blog Posts

Polysorbate, in its original form, is a harmless sorbitol (vegetable based sugar alcohol).  Polysorbates are used as fragrance ingredients, emulsifying agents, and as surfactants (nonionic detergen...

Terminology in dog shampoo ingredients can be very confusing if you don't know what the words mean. We've created simple definitions of each word to make it easy to understand (and of course if you ...

Fragrance can come from all natural or synthetic ingredients. When referenced as "fragrance" in dog shampoo, it is from synthetic ingredients. Synthetic fragrances are made a LOT of ingredients typi...

It may be hard to believe, but many manufactures still use formaldehyde based preservatives in dog shampoo.  Formaldehyde has ben linked to cancer, allergies and skin sensitivities.  You won't see...

Caprylhydroxamic Acid or CHA is a fairly new preservative and broad spectrum anti-fungal agent with strong chelating properties shown to lower mold growth. A 2017 study showed a strong link between ...

Artificial colors are synthetic dyes generally produced from petroleum. Are artificial colors in dog shampoo safe? There is a lot of conflicting information about artificial colors.  Studies cite...
Ingredient rankings are our opinions of the safety of ingredients based on a review of the literature and safety recommendations. We do not review products. We have no way of knowing the concentrations used by manufacturers or the quality and purity of the ingredients. In cases where purity may be a factor we have erred on the side of caution asking ourselves the question, "Would I use this on my dog?"  This database is always "in progress" as rankings may change as new information is available. We do manufacture and sell 4-Legger, a true all natural and organic dog shampoo (with options for cats, small animals, etc) that we recommend but we also feel pet parents should assess ingredients themselves and choose the products they are comfortable using on their furry family. 4-Legger assumes no responsibility for misuse of the information presented herein.