I have had my pet cat for over 5 years. (This past December was 5 years!) Although I have not been living an intentionally sustainable lifestyle that long, I have a good amount of experience in both areas. Today I am going to give some tips to make owning a pet a bit more sustainable. If we are being totally honest, owning any living thing will increase your carbon footprint. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the luxury of owning a pet. I am going to cover common pets and a few ways you can make owning any pet more eco-friendly.
Food: Pet food can tend to be very unsustainable. Not only does food packaging make lot’s of waste, but the food itself has an even higher footprint. Cats for example, are carnivores. If you didn’t know, that means they are obligated to survive off meat. Although vegan cat food is a thing, I do not feed it to my cat because I do not think it would give her the nutrients she needs. Their food unfortunately takes lots of land and energy to produce. If you talk to their vet beforehand and they approve of a vegan or vegetarian diet for your pet, I’d say go for it. I however, simply have chosen a pescetarian diet for my cat. She still gets the nutrients she needs from meat, however fish has a much smaller environmental impact than many other meats. Aside from the contents themselves, you should keep an eye out for preservatives in your pet’s food. Lastly, paying attention to the amount of packaging your pet’s food comes in is important. Cans which are infinitely more recyclable than plastic containers. Choosing cans, as well as buying dry food from a compostable bag, are excellent ways to help. Some people even go as far as making their pet’s food to make it zero waste.
Poop: (Wow I never thought this would be a category in a blog post.) Contaminated animal waste needs to be disposed of properly. At my house, we are actually able to compost my cat’s poop because we use compostable litter and paper bags for her litter box. This can be done for any pet. Similarly, you can purchase compostable poop bags for when you take your dog on a walk. The most important thing to keep in mind however when composting pet poop is to keep it away from food crops or water runoff. It also might be a good idea to dig a hole and bury the waste. I have heard of people flushing pet poop down the toilet, but have never tried this nor plan to, especially with a cat. Her litter (as any pet litter should be) is natural and comes in a cardboard box with no other packaging.
Aquatic Animals: I decided all of my favorite fish needed their own category. They sure are special! Fish, specifically vegan goldfish are considered the most sustainable pet possible. Vegan fish food is not hard to find so this is simple. Unfortunately, no one knows how to appreciate a good old goldfish and they often are more a part of the food chain. I myself have an aquatic frog. One tip I have for anyone with an aquatic pet is to install a filter onto their tank. We have done this with my frog and it simplifies my life because we rarely need to clean his tank (though we do a deep clean maybe twice a year). This saves a lot of water as people often dump all of the water every few days just to clean the tank. Lastly, use natural plants as tank decoration. I unfortunately have plastic plants because that is what we bought when I was in third grade and didn’t know any better, but using natural plants will reduce the amount of micro plastics in your fish’s water.
Beds/accessories- This category includes bedding, bathing, clothing, and toys. The best choice here is to stay as minimal as possible. Your pet probably doesn’t need a full wardrobe of cute outfits. If you already have some, you are all set! If you still want to buy accessories for your pet look second-hand first, as always. If you can’t find anything, try a DIY for your pet, if that doesn’t work, then consider the fact that your pet probably doesn’t even need it. My cat doesn’t do much so she has had no need to replace any toys or beds or anything. Buy high quality things for your pets if needed. This will reduce the amount of ripping and ruining. You can also repurpose tough climbing ropes. If your pet needs a bath (they don’t if they can clean themselves) then make sure you clean them with fully natural, plant-based, and biodegradable soap (as you should yourself… but who am I to tell you how to shower?) FInally, use natural flea repellant if they need it.
So best vs. worse pets for Earth?- Although cats and dogs are cute, they are definitely not the most green. Other non-eco-friendly pets include anything exotic. This could include parrots, pythons, and monkeys (unfortunately). While they are overpopulated, ecosystems can’t keep up and really their whole species is at jeopardy here. The most ecologically friendly pets include chickens, rabbits, ducks, and goats. These pets have valuable fertilizer and eat a mainly plant based diet. I will still let you know though, it is still unethical and somewhat uneco-friemdly to eat backyard chicken eggs.
I hope you enjoyed the article and learned something from it as always. Until next time, peace.
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