It's time for your pets to go green, too
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BY GINA KIM / McClatchy Newspapers
You reduce. You recycle. You reuse. Why shouldn’t Fido and Felix do the same? With a burgeoning pet product industry, here are some ways your pets can go green, too.
POOP BAGS
It seems like a good idea to reuse those grocery-store bags to pick up Fido’s feces. But you’re also preserving poop for generations to come.
Dog poop bags and cat pan liners by BioBag are 100 percent compostable and biodegradable, made from cornstarch and renewable resources.
Where to fetch it: www.poopbags.com, $18.45 for 100 dog waste bags; $18.40 for 10 cat pan liners.
WILD BIRD FEEDER
Plastic soda bottles take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills, so why not find another use for them and feed birds in the process?
Watch the birds come when you hang the TerraCycle Wild Bird Feeder, made from a used soda bottle and a recycled plastic feeding pan. The feeder comes with birdseed and can be refilled.
Where to fetch it: Select Wal-Mart stores or www.terracycle.net, $4.88
DOG BALL AND BONE
Fido always needs a new toy. The preservation of your shoes and couch depend on it.
The Orbee-Tuff RecycleBALL and RecycleBONE are made from leftover material that would otherwise be thrown away. And if your dog chews through one of the non-toxic and minty toys, you can send the bits back to the company and they can recycle it into future toys.
Where to fetch it: www.planetdog.com, $9.95 per toy
CATNIP MOUSE
Felix likes his toys so much, he’s practically eating the plastic cheese and cotton fishie. That means he’s ingesting toxic plasticizers and cotton treated with pesticides, defoliants and dye chemicals.
Purrfectplay sells a line of dog and pet toys created from organic dye-free cotton. The catnip is organic too.
Where to fetch it: www.purrfectplay.com, $7.50
DOG LEASH
Leashes by Krebs Recycle are made from old climbing rope. Climbing gyms retire rope after three months and climbing guide services retire it after a season for safety reasons. These high-quality ropes are hand-sewn into long-lasting leashes.
Where to fetch it: www.krebsrecycle.com, $15 for a six-foot leash; $13 for a two-foot heeler leash.
CAT LITTER
Most of the cat litter on the market is made from strip-mined clay. In addition, there are some who believe that clay dust can be harmful to Felix’s respiratory system.
There are a number of eco-friendly cat litters on the market made from newspaper or plant bases such as corncob, wheat grass or oat hulls. Next Gen Pet Products manufactures a litter made from industrial construction scrap wood and green tea leaves, which are naturally deodorizing.
Where to fetch it: www.nextgenpet.com, $14.99 a bag. Some grocery and other stores carry clay-alternative litters.
DOG BED
Worldwise makes beds filled with fiber created from recycled plastic bottles. The plastic is cut into small pieces and then heated and formed into pea-sized pellets.
Where to fetch it: Target, $24.99 for the 29x36 PoochPlanet bed; or $19.99 for the SmartyKat LoveBucket cat bed.
DOG TOWEL
A chamois towel by Planet Dog is made from viscose containing recycled wood chips and absorbs 10 times its weight.
Where to fetch it: www.planetdog.com, $19.95
DOG HARNESS
You don’t walk Fido; Fido walks you. Take back your alpha status with a harness, which takes the pressure off Fido’s throat (those choking sounds when he’s trying to chase a cat mean he’s really choking).
Planet Dog makes a 100 percent hemp fleece-lined adjustable harness. Hemp is durable and eco-friendly. Plus, the harness doubles as a doggie seatbelt.
Where to fetch it: www.planetdog.com, $26.95
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woof wrote on December 2, 2007 9:49 am: