Eco pets~ How far will you go to make your pet green?

The news has been full of environmental issues this week. After Lord Stern's affirmation of what most vegetarians and nearly ALL vegans already knew (That meat and dairy consumption are main culprits of global warming) the media often turn to lash out at other "damaging" lifestyle choices.
In this case the owning of pets.

A new book out at the moment , "Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living.". In it the author advocate the keeping of pets that are useful to man, IE chickens and rabbits..because..well..you can eat them.


Hmmm...

The keeping of a pet is the first time many children will be required to be responsible for another living being. They will learn the importance of practical care like exercise and feeding as well as the emotional care like cuddles.
What exactly do we teach our children by wrenching their "pet" rabbit from their arms and cooking it up for dinner?
Do we teach them that to love another being is futile because they always leave and break your heart?

Guess what THIS vegan thinks ;)

He lays the keeping of a dog with the crime of driving an SUV with one child in it.
There are many facts and figures but really these are taken in a worse case scenario with a pet owner being horrendously wasteful.

So with this in mind I thought I would draw up a guide for keeping your pet as green as can be!

Dogs
Mans best friend. Defender of the home and playmate of the kids right? The thing is dogs really can be far from green when you take several things into account.
A meat eating dog causes as much carbon as a meat eating human. They are still contributing to global warming through factory farming. If you want to keep your dog eating meat, you could switch to an organic or natural brand (one that uses organic meat that hasn't been processed).

If you want to go a step further you could offer your dog a pre-packed vegan dog food . Another option (and one we at The (almost car-less family practice) is doing away with traditional dog food all together and getting reacquainted with feeding your dog real food.
Its only in the last sixty years or so that people have routinely fed commercial dog food. Before this they would feed their dog kitchen scraps.
Now if your going to feed your dog scraps you have to remember that their is a big difference between feeding your dog left over McDonald's and feeding them a good meal of left over veggie stew and rice.
In fact Stanley Coren, author of How dogs think advocate a diet rich in vegetables and fruit for your dog to help stave of "doggie Alzheimer's".

What goes in must come out.
How many millions of plastic pooper scoop bags are used EVERY day by ONE dog owner?
Bio-degradable poop in a toxic bag that will take in excess of 100 years to break down. Using bio-degradable bags will mean that Fido gets an instantly better green paw print.

Cats
Of course not everyone is a fan of dogs and cats are well up there on the list of favourite pets to keep us company.
Many of the rules applied to dogs can be easily adapted to cat owning, for example you can buy bio-degradable cat litter tray liners for your feline buddy. When my cat needs a litter tray in the winter I clean it out into a small compost bin I have stationed under two trees. The trees get all the benefit from the litter and poop, but as the compost is not used on the veggie garden there is no risk of catching any nasties from it.

On the subject of cat litter there are many brands available to you that are eco friendly.
As a general rule cheap, mineral litters that are often produced from open cast mining are to be avoided.
What to feed your cat is a tricky one.
Unlike dogs, cats are obligate carnivores. This is because cats are unable to produce certain nutrients, such as Taurine, within their body which they normally find within the meat they eat.
Interestingly enough though, many commercial meat based cat foods have to add synthetic taurine because natural taurine is destroyed in the processing of the food!!
There are vegan cat foods on the market that many people swear by and even supplements to add to your home made cat food. Its well worth doing some research if you consider turning your cat veggie.

Other pets
Of course you can own natural herbivores as pets, rabbits, rodents, Guinea pigs etc make excellent green pets. You can compost their litter for your veggie patch and feed them the thinnings and left overs form your garden. This is true whether you you own a dwarf rabbit or a shire horse!



Where you get your pet also has an impact.
The best pet is a rescue pet from all angles.
The pet breeding industry can be as bad as the factory farming industry with as much pollution and cruelty as the latter.
Out of a litter of puppies one would be lucky to land in a loving home for life.
A few years ago (before I knew better) my dog had a litter of puppies. The mother and father were fantastic, family, friendly pets. The puppies where outgoing and healthy. I picked their owners with care, turning down people I thought unable to offer them the home they deserved.
Out of the seven puppies within a year all but one had been re-homed.
Now imagine what happens when the breeder only sees pound (or dollar!) signs.

There are re-homing centres for all pets from the smallest mouse to the biggest horse. There is simply no excuse for contributing to the "farming" of companion animals.

So yes, your pet can be a green part of your life, and can contribute to the health and emotional wellbeing of your family without the risk of ending up on your plate.

Oh and by the way..all of the animals you see here belong to me...pity I didn't write enough to put in pictures of all of them ;)