How green are your habits when it comes to your cat? With Earth Day just hours away, our thoughts turn to how we can lessen our impact on the planet…not only for ourselves but for our pets.
petMD.com has just released a list of seven ways you can help the environment…and your pets, too!
- Reduce: Buying pet food and other pet products in bulk saves you extra trips to the store and avoids needless plastic packaging or cardboard boxes that end up in the local landfill. Reducing shouldn’t end there, though. Every year, millions of cats and dogs are euthanized around the world. This is the devastating reality, but it’s also avoidable. Be sure to spay and neuter your pets to avoid sending an unwanted puppy or kitten to the local shelter, many of which are never adopted.
- Reuse: It doesn’t take something with a $10 price tag to entertain an animal for hours. Try seeing what you have in the garage or in the attic. There may be a treasure trove of forgotten items your pets can play with — just make sure they are safe and don’t have parts that can accidentally get swallowed.
- Recycle: When shopping for your cat, look for items that use the most recycled materials. Many companies now offer products made from natural fibers, such as hemp or organic cotton, and some are even packaged in earth-friendly materials like biodegradable cardboard or recycled paper (the higher the percentage of “post-consumer” materials, the better). Buying these products supports environmentally aware manufacturers, encouraging more companies to move towards sustainable packaging and natural pet products.
- Get a ‘Green’ Lawn: Most of us know that plants and trees are great for absorbing the nasty (and destructive) carbon dioxide churned out into the atmosphere every day by our cars and power plants. What you may not know is that many of the plants and herbs you use for landscaping are pet-friendly and healthy for them to eat. [Note for fellow indoor-only cat households like ours: don’t forget that it’s important to have a chemical-free lawn so you don’t walk in products!]
- Donate Print Newspapers: For sanitary reasons, animal rescues and wildlife rehabilitation centers use discarded newspapers to line their cages. This is both cheap and efficient. Contact the Humane Society, ASPCA, or SPCA International to see if there are shelters or rehabilitation centers in your area in need of old newspapers.
- Be ‘Green’ When You Clean: Club soda and baking soda are excellent alternatives to many toxic cleaning products that can both pollute the air and harm your pets. Pet owners should also consider odor neutralizing plants such as bamboo palms, Brazilian orchids, cape marigolds, and duffii ferns that can filter the air.
- Adopt a Pet: This may be a strange way of looking at it, but cat or dog adoption is the ultimate way to recycle. Not only will you get a loveable best friend that cares for you, but you save at least one animal from being euthanized. Find a reputable animal shelter in your area and save a life.
Founder at CatTipper
Paris Permenter is an award-winning author of 35+ pet and travel books. Along with her husband John Bigley, Paris is the founder and publisher of CatTipper & DogTipper. Paris and John share their home with three cats and two dogs.
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