Why Every Pet Needs a Seasonal Detox (Plus That Time I Had to Detox Arsenic From My Own System 😳)

I recently did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time—I hired a functional nutritionist to run a set of functional medicine tests on me 🧪

And while I’m relieved there were no glaring red flags (thank goodness), one result stopped me in my tracks: elevated levels of arsenic.

Arsenic? 😳

I was surprised… and then not so surprised when I was told it was probably from rice.

You see, I eat a lot of rice. Like, lifelong comfort food, could-eat-it-every-day kind of love affair 😍

What I didn’t realize is that rice tends to absorb more arsenic than most grains, because of how it’s grown in water-flooded fields that draw arsenic from the soil.

Brown rice, organic rice, even rice milk… they’re all susceptible 😕

And takeout rice? It’s often not rinsed properly, or prepared in a way that reduces the arsenic content.

So here’s what I’m doing differently now 🍚✨👇

🍚 Soaking and rinsing my rice thoroughly before cooking

🍚 Using a 6:1 water ratio (and draining it like pasta)

🍚 Minimizing rice-heavy takeout

🍚 Supporting my detox pathways gently—with herbs, binders, and liver support

🍚 Retesting in 3 months to track how my body clears it

This experience has made me reflect deeply on the work we do with our pet patients 🐶

So many of the pets I’ve cared for, especially those dealing with chronic illness or cancer, have shown signs of toxic load in their test results.

Sometimes it’s heavy metals. Other times, it’s mold, pesticides like glyphosate, or plastic byproducts.

And often, it’s subtle—running quietly in the background, never screaming, just… whispering trouble.

It makes you wonder: how often is toxin burden the thing that tips our pets over into a full-on disease state? 🤔

The same pets who come to me with a heavy toxin load are often the ones with symptoms like difficulty breathing, low appetite, fatigue, depression, bloody stool, changes in behaviour, and sometimes even seizures or cancer.

These tiny toxins can cause a whole lot of trouble.

That’s why I truly believe a seasonal detox—every three months—even if it’s just a gentle, food-based reset, can be such a powerful tool for preventing illness.

Because we don’t have to wait for symptoms to appear.

We can test early. We can support their bodies. We can clear the noise from the system before it becomes a shout.

(And the truth is, it doesn’t have to be impossibly expensive. Preventative testing spread out over the year can come to around $200 a month, and the insights it brings are truly invaluable.)

It’s why I’ve made preventative care the heart of our Concierge Membership, because I’ve seen firsthand that the best outcomes come when we support pets before they get sick 🛎️

This is the work that lights me up. This is where my passion lies 💖

Your Unicorn Vet,
🦄 Dr. Lily Chen