Zero Waste Animals

We have two furry companions living with us. We adopted Luna the week after we moved into our house and even though she doesn't get along with a lot of other dogs (or humans), she is the sweetest pup to us and our kitty. We adopted Kit (Kitty Harington, Lord Snow, the Queen in the North) from a friend who needed to find her a home a few years ago and she is my best girl, the softest and sweetest little marshmallow there ever was.  We love our animals so much and I can't imagine life without either of them!

3 sweet animals.

Controlling waste with animals is a little different than controlling waste for yourself. We had to change our animals' habits too in order for our entire household to become zero waste. I wanted to share what we do with our animals in order to keep them as low waste as possible!

Dog Food
We try to feed Luna "people food" (otherwise known as "food") to supplement her doggie food diet at about a 70/30 ratio of kibble/food. When we're at the grocery store, we just pick up extra stuff that she likes and are good for her.  She shares a banana with Austin every day. Other things she eats in addition to kibble: Carrots, lima beans, black beans, quinoa, sweet potatoes, apple, lentils, pumpkin.
Remember that dogs are omnivores - they should eat both meat and plants. Most studies show that dogs should NOT eat a 100% vegetarian diet because their digestives systems simply aren't set up for it (unlike humans, who can eat a plant-based diet and be 100% healthy! :)) Some people make their dogs meals from entirely raw ingredients (no kibble), but we don't like to handle meat so we use grain-free kibble as her meat serving and supplement with fresh fruit or cooked veggies.
The dog food that we use is Nutro grain free with salmon or chicken. We don't buy dog foods that contain mammals (cow, pig, or lamb) because even though our animals need meat, we can't in good conscience contribute to the cruel and wasteful mammal agriculture industry.

Cat Food
Cats are NOT omnivores - they are carnivores! Kitty only eats cat kibble because she can't digest fruits and vegetables well. Again, though, we only feed her fish or chicken based meals. Cats generally do well with the added benefit of eggs and small amounts of cheese. If you do supplement your cat's diet with table food, it shouldn't make up more than 15% of her diet.

Dog Poop
We use biodegradeable poop bags on walks and put them in our yard trash.


Cat Poop
Kitty uses the porcelain throne to do her business. We trained her with this kit and it took her awhile, but she uses the toilet on her own. The reason we initially decided to do this was because the fumes from her clay litter gave me migraines and having a litter box is just so messy and wasteful. Clay cat litter is not decompostable and contains lots of toxic chemicals that are bad for us and our cats.  It has been linked to cancer and respiratory diseases in cats, primarily due to the inhalation and ingestion of silica, a known carcinogen. (Remember that since your cat bathes herself, she is licking and consuming all of the chemicals that are present in the kitty litter where she sits to do her business.) When we were training her to use the toilet, we used a corn-based litter that is flushable. It's really cool that now we never have to clean a litter box. We just flush her toilet once a day. It is super low maintenance, and we can take her anywhere there is a toilet. If you're interested, try toilet training! If you want to switch to a more environmentally friendly and non-toxic alternative, check out some alternative brands made from wheat, corn, and even walnut.

Dog Skin & Coat Care
We use coconut oil with Luna, both as a topical treatment and as a dietary supplement. We rub it on her belly and thighs when she gets chafed (which is often, since she has sensitive skin), and serve her about a tablespoon in her food a couple of times a week to keep her skin moist and her coat shiny. She has had problems with dry skin in the past and adding coconut oil to her diet has really helped.

Dog and Cat Treats
With treats and other non-essential items, it's pretty simple - we just don't buy stuff that comes in wasteful packaging. Find treats that come in paper or cardboard boxes rather than plastic. Find toys that are durable and made to last and not packaged wastefully. The one thing we are struggling with is Luna's bones - she has a nylabone right now, but I have read bad things about nylabones. We then wondered if we should get her a real rawhide bone, but I've also done research and found pretty scary stuff about bone fragments lodging themselves in doggy throats and even puncturing organs. I'm at a loss as to the safest option for bones, so if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears!

We love our animals and try to do everything we can to keep them healthy for many, many years! Thankfully, many of the ways we try to keep them healthy also have a low environmental impact, and we've made some strides during our zero waste year to try to improve in that regard.

Cheers to happy and healthy animals! :)