Editor’s Note: Each Wednesday My Green Side brings Simple Tips for Green Living to The Christopher Gabriel Program. We also highlight a favorite green site each week. You can stream the segment at approximately 1220pm (central) every Wednesday at WDAY.com or, if you’re in North Dakota or western Minnesota, listen on your radio at AM970 WDAY.
GREEN TIP: Giving your pet a greener life will keep them healthier and benefit our planet. It’s the least you can do when they’re working hard to make you happy and healthy. And, something to think about, the percent of pet owning heart patients who survived serious heart attacks is 28%, compared with only 6% of patients without pets.
Here are some great tips on How to Green Your Pet from Treehugger.com:
- Get your pet from a shelter.
There are 5,500 puppies and kittens born every hour in the United States.
- Spay or neuter your pet.
Spaying and neutering helps dogs and cats live longer, healthier lives by eliminating the possibility of uterine, ovarian, and testicular cancer, and decreasing the incidence of prostate disease. And, as I mentioned above, there are 5,500 puppies and kittens born every hour in the United States.
- Keep your kitty inside.
Two out of every three vets, according to the Humane Society of America, recommend keeping cats indoors, because of the dangers of cars, predators, disease, and other hazards. The estimated average life span of a free-roaming cat is less than three years; an indoors-only cat gets to live an average of 15 to 18 years.
Another reason to keep kitty inside: There are 39 million birds killed annually by domestic cats – in Wisconsin alone (The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).
- Give your pets the best food possible.
Most conventional pet-food brands you find at the supermarket consist of reconstituted animal by-products, otherwise known as low-grade wastes from the beef and poultry industries. In fact, the animals used to make many pet foods are classified as “4-D,” which means they are “Dead, Dying, Diseased, or Down (Disabled)” when they line up at the slaughterhouse. Unless the pet food explicitly states that it contains FDA-certified, food-grade meat, you should know that its contents are considered unfit for human consumption–but apparently good enough for your cat or pooch.
Since nutrition is one of the key determinants of health and resistance to disease, ideally you’ll want your pet’s food to be comparable in quality with what you would eat.
Natural and organic pet foods use meats that are raised in sustainable, humane ways without added drugs or hormones, minimally processed, and preserved with natural substances, such as vitamins C and E. Certified-organic pet foods must meet strict USDA standards that spell out how ingredients are produced and processed, which means no pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, artificial preservatives, artificial ingredients or genetically engineered ingredients.
- Clean up their poop.
Pick up your doggie doo in biodegradable bags.
Cat owners should avoid clumping clay litter. Not only is clay strip-mined (bad for the planet), but the clay sediment is also contains carcinogenic silica dust that can coat little kitty lungs (bad for the cat). Plus, the sodium bentonite that acts as the clumping agent can poison your cat through chronic ingestion through their fastidious need to groom. Because sodium bentonite acts like expanding cement–it’s also used as a grouting, sealing, and plugging material–it can swell up to 15 to 18 times their dry size and clog up your cat’s insides. Eco-friendly cat litters avoid these problems.
Here’s more information on how to avoid clumping clay litter: www.thelighthouseonline.com
- Give them sustainable stuff.
There are toys made from recycled materials or sustainable fibers (without herbicides or pesticides) such as hemp. A hemp collar (with matching leash) is a great sustainable accessory for your dog. You can even get pet beds made with organic cotton or even recycled PET bottles.
- Use natural pet-care and cleaning products.
Don’t use toxic-chemical-laced shampoos on your pet instead look for natural pet-care products. And, clean up their messes with non-toxic cleaning products that are gentle on the planet and your pet.
- Use pet-safe products to melt the ice.
Use a child- and pet-safe deicer such as Safe Paw’s environmentally friendly Ice Melter. Rock salt and salt-based ice-melting products, which kids and animals might accidentally ingest, can cause health problems, while contaminating wells and drinking supplies.
For more tips on How to Green Your Pet, visit Treehugger.com.
My Green Side’s web pick of the week:
Great Green Pet is a shopping blog devoted to the green, eco-friendly, pet owner. We comb the web and find environmentally friendly products for you and your pet.