As a pet owner, you have taken on the responsibility of caring for your furry friend, and of course, you want the best for them. The good news is that there doesn’t have to be a trade-off between quality and maintenance!
Some of the best pet supplies are made by people who care about all animals, including both pets and wildlife. That motivates them to make their products of high quality and eco-friendly — plus, switching will save you up to $180 over 10 years.
You’ll also have way, way less waste to manage. Eco-friendly pet care techniques can keep tons of waste out of landfills and reduce carbon pollution by 180 pounds per year, creating a cleaner, healthier environment for you and to your pet.
Switch to natural pet food
While most commercial pet food brands rely on beef, pork, or chicken as a base, a potentially better option is emerging: insect protein. It’s a good idea to check with your vet about diet changes, too, of course.
Pet food made from clean, farm-raised crickets or grubs has more protein, vitamins, and fiber, is less likely to trigger allergies in your pet, and they ingest it too. Meanwhile, less water and land is needed to produce the same amount of protein from insects than from farmed and ranched animals, and pound for pound, bugs can lay 80 times less heat-trap. which is methane gas in the atmosphere.
🗣️ When you buy pet food, which of these factors is most important to you?
🔘 Price 💰
🔘 Quality and taste 🍗
🔘 Healthy ingredients 🥗
🔘 Eco-friendly ingredients 🌎
🗳️ Click on your choice to see the results and speak your mind
If you’re unsure about insect protein, there’s also a wide range of top-rated pet foods with more traditional ingredients that still pack a nutritional punch while working to limit their impact on the environment.
For example, Pezzy Pets relies on invasive fish for protein instead of beef and pork, and Beco uses wild-caught and free-range meats.
Feeding your pet sustainably doesn’t have to break the bank. Most owners can find eco-friendly options in the same price range as regular pet food. Meanwhile, if the brand you choose produces even 10% less air pollution than the standard formula, you can eliminate 1,800 pounds of heat-trapping carbon pollution over 10 years; that’s almost a whole ton.
Switch to eco-friendly kitty litter and poop bags
Pet waste is as big an issue as pet food, especially for cats, who can use up to 400 pounds of waste each year. That’s over a pound per day, a ridiculous amount of waste to send to the landfill if we could avoid it.
Even worse, clay cat litter — the most common type — is bad for the environment because of the way it’s made. While the material itself occurs naturally, it is collected through strip mining, which destroys trees and plants, and leaves total destruction.
Eco-friendly alternatives to clay cat litter are biodegradable litters that actually break down after use instead of sitting in a landfill.
These include litters made from corn (like World’s Best Cat Litter), wood (like Feline Pine), recycled paper (like Fresh News), walnut shells (like Naturally Fresh), and grass (like SmartCat from Pioneer Pet). Compostable waste is more expensive than traditional waste, but only about $15 per month.
Buy healthy, long-lasting pet toys
The cheap toys you see on pet store shelves are usually made of plastic or plastic-based fibers such as polyester. They are cheap to make but brittle and break easily, so you have to keep buying new ones.
Those costs add up — and all the little pieces of plastic that come off the toys end up in the environment or in your pet’s stomach. Meanwhile, the hard material can damage your pet’s teeth, potentially leading to vet bills later on.
Durable, eco-friendly pet toys are more expensive, but they pay for themselves in the long run, potentially saving you around $180 over 10 years. Look for wool or hemp chew toys, which last for years and can be washed to refresh them. You can even make your own from old clothes!
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