The era of environmental correctness is upon us—just in time, we hope. To that end, you should know that pet keeping isn’t always the greenest way to minimize your household’s carbon footprint. After all, pets often consume as much energy as you do—more in some cases. Nonetheless, there are ways to make sure you’re doing the best you can. Here are my top ten suggestions:
1) Eliminate all pet breeding except in the most responsible format. Ideally, that means that all dogs and cats in your care (and that means the outdoor cats you feed, too) should be spayed, neutered or kept in a mate-free environment—unless, that is, you have a purebred pet with superior genetic qualities and the know-how to produce healthy offspring.
2) Bring your cats indoors, if at all possible. Minimizing hunting of sensitive prey species is best for the environment. If you can’t keep them in at all times, be aware of migratory seasons and keep you cats indoors more often during these times of the year. At the very least, keep a loud bell on your kitty’s collar.
3) Utilize cat litter made of recycled materials produced nearby. Strips of newspaper or shredded paper works for many cats. Otherwise, make sure the brand of litter you buy isn’t hauled from across the country. Use wee-wee pads? Try newspaper training from the start, instead. It works just as well.
4) Trek your pets? Go for energy efficient car models and still meet their cargo needs. Check out PetConnection.com’s dogmobiles for best results on this front.
5) Keep breeds of pets that are appropriate to your environment. Heavy coated breeds are best in northern climes and short-coated in southern ones. Consider staying away from blunt-nosed breeds in hot locales where heavy AC use is needed to keep them most comfortable.
6) Make your own dog food or buy locally produced foods with locally grown ingredients, whenever possible. If you use commercial foods (as I do), consider supplementing with home-cooked leftovers as long as your pets don’t have major dietary restrictions. “Must-gos” from my fridge are the mainstay of my own dogs’ diet. It adds variety and premium-quality, locally grown ingredients to their diet while minimizing the load in my trash can.
7) Keep pets with agricultural uses to supplement your diet and minimize your shipped food intake. While this is definitely a major undertaking, it’s not as hard as you may think. Keeping chickens is fairly easy (and fun) and goats are the ultimate pleasure for those of you who value personality in your pets (and have the space to keep them).
8) Stay away from exotic, wild-caught pets. For each one of these who make the trip, several more die. Furthermore, their native environments suffer as a result of their removal.
9) Keep your pets lean—it reduces pet food waste and makes them healthier, too.
10) Consider using small, space-efficient animal hospitals and/or those who respect green ideals. New vet hospitals with green architecture and environmentally sound practices are starting to crop up all over the country. Consider that vets who share your concerns with respect to the environment are also more likely to click with your goals for your pet healthcare. Not always, of course, but it’s a sign of a progressive mind in my book.
Any more suggestions…?
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Regarding #3, this issue has been on my mind for a while, but I have a couple of questions that I hope you or someone else can help with.
1)We have a septic tank. I've been considering switching (gradually -- I have a moody cat who might not go for this idea!) to the wheat litter, but I'm not sure if it's flushable for a septic tank?
2)If the wheat litter is not disposable via the septic, what do you recommend as the best way to deal with the litter box? Right now I've been scooping into plastic bags and disposing in the trash, but I keep thinking there must be a better way. I've seen those recyclable cardboard boxes in the stores, but I'm afraid my cats would soak through them.
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide!
Debby February 6th, 2008 10:11:00 AM
Re: "Make your own dog food or buy locally produced foods with locally grown ingredients, whenever possible."
If anyone has trusted recipes and recipe sources to share, that would probably help people.
Stefani
Stefani February 6th, 2008 10:45:00 AM
#11 (maybe) - get a Doggie Dooley pet waste septic tank. It's basically a giant plastic box your put in the ground and deposit you pets' waste into (sans plastic bags... use a scooper). It also comes with digester powder that love apparently *loves* to eat dog waste. You put that in every so often and the container never fills up. (I guess it has holes in the bottom for liquidized pet goo to leak out). We use it so often at my house we've come to refer to pet waste as Dooley's!
http://www.doggiedooley.com/
I also suspend a fake rabbit from my treadmill and keep my do running 17 hours a day. Powers my whole kitchen I tell ya. Little buggers have to pull their weight somehow.
Larry February 6th, 2008 11:20:00 AM
Use all-natural and eco-friendly cleaning products... A solution of distilled white vinegar and filtered water can be used to clean windows and tile floors... Dr. Bronner's Castille Soap diluted in water is great for cleaning floors, laundry, and bathroom surfaces and only a few drops create lots of suds... I have lots!!! of French Bulldogs (6 in all and none of which have any allergies or skin problems) and I bathe them regularly in Tom's All-Natural Glycerine Soap... I think that being "green" and clean around the house goes a long way towards preventing allergy flare-ups for lots of dogs.
Tatiana February 6th, 2008 04:53:00 PM
I would love to keep a few goats or a mini-cow, but I can't commit to being here twice a day at the same time for milking. Maybe a few chickens for eggs. I think some of the heritage breeds would be fun.
Linda H February 6th, 2008 05:10:00 PM
If you don't want to purchase a dog waste composter, you can make your own -- http://www.cityfarmer.org/petwaste.html
You can also compost a great deal of other pet related things, most particularly herbivore feces. My yard will be lovely next year thanks to the constant eating of my pet rabbit. :)
Stephanie February 6th, 2008 07:02:00 PM
Wow, I think "Crap Away" is best product name I've ever heard.
p.s. I thought herbivore's were extinct? I could swear I saw an herbivore fossil at the Natural History Museum the other day.
Larry February 6th, 2008 07:26:00 PM
I hope you were kidding and forgot the smiley face.
"Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism known as an herbivore, consumes principally autotrophs[1] such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, some protists and a small number of parasitic plants can be considered herbivores. However, herbivory is generally restricted to animals eating plants. Fungi, bacteria and protists that feed on living plants are usually termed plant pathogens. Microbes that feed on dead plants are saprotrophs. Flowering plants that obtain nutrition from other living plants are usually termed parasitic plants. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in general are known as primary consumers"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbivore
AdoptedAPBTs February 6th, 2008 08:11:00 PM
Stefani~
I switched to the Honest Kitchen after the dog food scare. However, my dog has allergies and I've been troubleshooting them for the last year. I broke down and went to a Homeopath that does "Muscle Response Testing" for sources of the problem. At then end of the appointment, she wrote out very specific instructions and informations for canine diets and how to balance the calcium/phosphorus issue properly for optimum health. Though the actual "exam" was bizarre to me, it was the best $125 I've spent on her because I've been wanting to make my own dog food for a while, but was intimidated by not fully understanding what's required.
That being said, if you don't have a nutritionist near you, or if you don't have a dog with any food issues, you could probably pick up one of several book on making dog food. I have 2 that I'd be willing to part with if you want to email me privately! ;) afinlarc at yahoo dot com. They are nice, small books that discuss dog nutrition and have loads of recipes. Or, I could photo copy a few of the recipes.
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