Reduce your pet’s carbon paw print
I’ve been into recycling for years. I also try to buy organic or at least unprocessed food. I often cook for my three dogs, and I use as few chemicals as possible in my home. And I’m always looking for new ways to lessen damage to our planet. So this week I took a look at how pets are getting into the green movement in my Pet Dish column. And I asked Corbett Marshall and Jim Deskevich, the authors of “Eco Dog: Healthy Living For Your Pet,” to offer some tips.
Here are ten:
1. Read the labels on commercial dog foods. Avoid artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. If the list of ingredients sounds like items in a chemistry class then you and your dog probably don’t need it. So-called premium dog foods are not always the best — it pays to read the ingredients.
2. Find a great vet who balances a holistic approach to pet care with solid conventional veterinary medicine.
3. Make your own dog treats, it’s easy. Mix 1 cup of organic wheat germ with 2 small jars organic baby food. Roll mixture into a ball and flatten on a greased baking sheet. Bake treats for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
4. Choose biodegradable “poop” bags. Or, try to re-use the plastic bag from your local grocery store.
5. Clean “green.” If your dog eats anything that falls on the floor or drinks from the toilet when, then it pays to be conscious of the cleaners you use in your home. Mop with vinegar and water. It’s a safe and effective way to clean and disinfect. Baking soda and vinegar will also clean the toilet bowl without leaving any harmful residue.
6. Upcycle an old t-shirt. Cut it into strips and braid them into a fun chew toy.
7. Try lavender instead of moth balls as an insect repellant.
8. Use tap water. You reduce the impact of recycling (or simply throwing away) the bottles, reduce your exposure to the plastics in that bottle and reduce the energy impact involved in shipping the water. If in doubt about the quality of your local water, buy a tap filter.
9. Buy local whenever possible and support the small businesses in your community.
10. Make choices that limit your impact on the environment.
You can also check out the “Live Green” website on ajc.com.
So what are your tips for making your pet more earth friendly? Send them in, the one we like best will get a copy of “the organic dog biscuit cookbook,” from the Bubba Roses Biscuit Company (it has more than 100 “tail wagging” recipes).
And it’s Friday, which means it’s time for:
• Atlanta’s Smiling Pets photos. Send in your pet pictures today!
• Pet Vent: We ran a story about foreclosure pets, and Atlantans who couldn’t afford to keep their animals. The Behaviorist commented: I could never turn my animals over to a shelter. They’d have to pry them from my cold, dead hands!!!!
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You have got to be friggin kidding me!!! My dog eats crap piles out of the kittie liter box.
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Ride0617,
At least you know where the dog gets dinner. Mine eats pretty much every stick, pine cone, pile of whatever, bugs, and anything else in the yard.
She would love to eat from the Kitty box buffet in the basement, but we keep the door closed now.
Yea, I think the dog can handle tap water!
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Oh my two dogs love to dine at the kitty box buffet too (we have two locations, upstairs and downstairs). On one hand it’s gross, but on the other hand, I haven’t had to scoop poop in months!!!!
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For those whose dogs are eating out of the cat box, it is a form of recycling
Just be sure you’re not using clumping litter. If you are, the litter stuck to the kitty pellets can swell in your dogs’ intestines (it’s meant to swell up and clump, remember?) and can cause blockages. I know people who have had to spend thousands on surgery to save their dogs from this.
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JJ!! I also call it dining at “the litter box cafe”
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We don’t have a litterbox. My dog eats his own poo. Oh well - he seems to like it, and I have to pick up after him less often. LOL
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I think this whole column is a little too much for me to handle.Worry about my dog’s carbon footprint?Not this week.
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I live in a country where technological advances have been amazing. From ring dial phones to blackberries, from record players to Ipods. Some how technology has been void as for gas mileage of production auto engines. 20 mpg, 30 years ago. 20 mpg today. The technology is there. The auto, and oil lobby along with our elected won’t let it reach us. It would derail their money train. What a scam on the American people. My dogs carbon footprint? Give me a break, I have real issues to deal with.
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This is the dumbest article I’ve ever read. Reduce my pet’s carbon footprint? Give me a break. I wish people would wake up to the fact that the people that are telling you to do this are somehow making money off of you.
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An article on your pet’s carbon footprint? No wonder Newspaper sails are tanking. Can’t wait until Al Gore adds this to his movie and book full of lies. Probably will get another Nobel Peace prize because of it.
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It seems to me that the best way to reduce your pet’s carbon paw-print is to stop it’s breathing, i.e., terminate it.
In fact, you can then recycle your deceased pet’s now-useless plastic poop-bag by putting it over your head and terminating yourself, reducing your own carbon footprint.
Voila … no worry about more global warming!
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What a waste of space. I’m glad you have all this free time to make dog cookies. Tap water? If you buy plastic bottle water for your dog, you are an idiot.
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sorry, i have to agree, this is totally ridiculous.
are you really concerned about your dog’s carbon footprint?
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Why not let your pet reduce the carbon foot print of other animals. Let your cat out to eat birds and other wildlife. Then a coyote can eat the cat, further reducing carbon ‘footprints’. Finally, we can shoot the coyote. Better yet, let’s just shoot the people think this article has merit. We would have less carbon PLUS less stupidity!
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One treat that I make for my dogs is VERY simple. I slice a sweet potato into thin chips, bake in 150 oven for two hours and leave in the closed oven overnight. In the morning, they should be crisp, if not, bake an additional hour or so.
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As a human you consume a lot more than your pet and travel a lot more. Our habits are much more important to focus on.
Food additives are not always bad things and they’re present in such small quantities. This isn’t really a big carbon footprint issue.
I would also say that using vinegar to clean without any soap isn’t the best way to kill germs. It might help loosen grime but it won’t kill all germs. Higher concentration and temperature will help but a little soap and/or dilute bleach would smell less and do the job right. I would also say that this is not a carbon footprint issue.
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/pharmacy_qa/can_vinegar_disinfect_counters.php
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I actually found this article interesting, as it shows that even in the smallest ways, we can all work to improve our environment and make this world a better place. Sure, there are always bigger issues at hand, but every effort (small or large) is important.
I am shocked by the level of comments made about this article. It seems that it is much easier to make low level and mean spirited comments rather than smart ones.
It truly makes me saddened, as it proves that this world is working hard and fast on becoming a self important, non-caring place, full of people that would rather tear something positive down, rather than help it to succeed.
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I agree with Jason. This was interesting information and the things we do CAN make a difference. Thanks for your efforts in writing this - some of us really appreciate it. I’m surprised that people who don’t have time for any of this can find the time to log on and make these unpleasant comments.
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I think what everyone is laughing at is the thought of giving your dog bottled water. At least that made me giggle.
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But if you read the tips, it says use tap water. So not sure where the bottled water thing came from. And Patrick is right. Humans do a lot more damage than our pets. This just addresses small ways we can help the earth and our pets at the same time. For me, that’s a win-win situation. After researching this article, I’m looking for a pest control company that uses plant-based sprays instead of synthetic chemicals. And I’m going to try to clean with less chemicals — I just hope Nature’s Miracle is green. Because it’s what keeps my house from smelling with all these pets!
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Nature’s Miracle is a safe and natural product to use. It has always been a staple in our house of pets. There is even a Nature’s Miracle cat litter on the market too. The main thing is not to use an ammonia based cleaner on urine as it will continue to attract your dog to the same place.
Some people do give their pets, their children and themselves nothing but bottled water. In this day and age of environmental concerns, people often think this is the safest and “greenest” way to drink their water. However, I think the point the authors were trying to make was that a tap filter and tap water are in fact better than buying bottles of water again and again, and having to then recycle the containers. While some think it is absurd to give pets bottled water, others do not.
Since humans are doing more damage to the planet than our pets are, it is even more important for us to make sure that we are more conscious than ever before, which means making sure that the choices we are making for our pets coincides with the choices we are making for ourselves and the environment as a whole. It is all connected, and every little bit helps.
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