If you give your cats and dogs tap water to drink every day, you might want to think again. Water may look the same, but it may contain all sorts of things that you and your pets may want to avoid.

Let me tell you a story about what happened to a friend of mine several years ago. She lived in a very big city and had minor skin problems - especially the skin of her fingertips, which was constantly peeling off. She didn't know what to do at first, but she must've heard from someone at some point that filtering tap water might help. I myself remember the tap water in this city tasted very bad.

She immediately bought a huge high-quality water filtration system for her entire house - the kind that professionals use. (I don't know how much money she spent!) She drank, cooked, bathed, and washed her clothes and so on every day with the filtered water. When I visited her later, she excitedly told me her skin conditions had improved. In fact, they improved so much that she said she didn't have to use moisturizing lotion on her face and body even at night. I actually saw her face and fingers with my own eyes, and I remember being surprised at the results. Needless to say, my consciousness about the importance of pure water skyrocketed.

My friend was lucky to find out that it was the tap water that was causing her problem. My husband and I drink filtered water, and take showers with filtered water also, and my pets are no exception. Tap water you and your pets drink and get in contact with may be more contaminated than you think. If you wouldn't drink it, why should your pets?