Natural Living Part 1: Pets

I was having a conversation with a friend last night about sustainability and he made some excellent points about opening the flood gates and literally driving yourself crazy with all the things you need to change to lead a green lifestyle. It's true: being environmentally conscious means being conscious of every decision you make. Every cleaning product you use, laundry detergent, makeup you wear, the food you eat, etc. This even affects our pets: what kitty litter to buy, are doggie waste bags wasteful?, the food they eat, etc.

So I did a little research into pet products and found the following:

Kitty Litter. It's a must...obviously. Also obvious is that cats are pretty finicky about their litter. Sheba, for example, has to have a clean box with clay litter. She insists on it and in fact does some pretty passive aggressive things if she doesn't get her way. I've tried natural litters from time-to-time but without much luck because she simply prefers clay. But clay is a non-renewable resource that won't break down in landfills. After not having success with wheat and pine litters and doing a bit of research I am considering the World's Best Cat Litter. It's made out of corn and is clumping. However, it is expensive and according to some reviews is not very hard clumping. If that's the case then it's similar to wheat and pine and those are much more affordable. So perhaps I will try them again. Sheba needs to stop being so picky.

Cat Food / Dog Food. Wink and Sheba are both on a dry food diet. They both generally eat Iams, Max, or Science Diet. I read some articles in support of feeding your pets a raw diet. The idea is that pet foods today are overprocessed and unhealthy and a raw diet that more closely resembles what your pet's wild cousins eat is better for your pet. Interesting, but some studies show that it is incredibly unhealthy for pets...and I am not buying a chicken every other day for Wink and Sheba. I think that a natural dry food offers what I am looking for. Natural Balance pet food is sold in stores here and Sheba actually tried a bag once and seemed to like it.

Doggie Waste Bags. Cleaning up after your pet is part of being a responsible pet owner, and courteous to your neighbors. I already use biodegradable bags for Wink's waste but I discovered that I can do more: Wink's waste is 100% biodegradable and the bags are 100% biodegradable...but I throw them away with regular garbage and they may end up in an airlocked landfill, where the lack of air will diminish their ability to biodegrade. I discovered that these bags can be thrown in your compost pile, buried in your yard, or thrown out with yard debris. I further learned that:

If they are placed in an “open” or “turned” landfill they will decompose at a rate similar to other biodegradable materials in the same setting. If they are placed in an anaerobic (air-locked) landfill and deprived of oxygen and the existence of the micro-organisms that “eat” naturally biodegradable materials, their ability to decompose will be severely restricted. This is true of all biodegradable materials placed in this setting, including paper, yard waste and food waste.

So, it really depends on what kind off landfills there are in Portland. I briefly researched this but did not find an answer, but I trust that they are the good kind. This is Portland after all.