A Vegan Pet?

27 year old Bramble

Vegan pet food is now emerging in the commercial pet food market. It is a very controversial topic because most pet owners believe that dogs or cats cannot obtain their nutritional requirements without eating meat. Some of the oldest dogs that lived were even on vegetarian diets! Australian Sandy Anderson has developed the only nutritionally balanced vegan pet food on the market. Watch the video below to hear her talk about it and decide for yourself!

Sandy Anderson on Vegan Pet Food

Its Now Possible To Compost Your Pets Waste!

Shift Pet Waste System uses efficient microbes in crushed grain with an added absorbent material. Add Shift! to any type of dog or cat waste, and the beneficial microbes will go to work to consume the waste. All the organic material including the nutrients are returned to the soil, all without odour or flies. Just shovel or rake droppings into a shallow trench in garden soil, and sprinkle with a handful of Shift! Then cover with soil or mulch (just a couple of inches thick) and now the microbes in Shift! will go to work to accelerate the decomposition of the droppings in the soil.

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Desexing

Desexing your pet is extremely important for population control. Some pet owners think it is cruel to do this but its the best thing for your pet and the environment. If you have an unruly dog you may find it even will calm him down. One pet has enough of an environmental impact let alone a litter of puppies! Desexing your pet will take the stress off animal shelters and reduce the number of animals that have to be euthanased every year. The City of Sydney has a great desexing information page and is even currently offering reduced desexing costs for concession card holders.
Check the page out here.

Kennel Shopping? Go Green!

Outdoor dogs require shelter to protect them from the elements. Los Angeles based company Sustainable Pet Design make dog houses that use non-toxic paint, beez wax waterproofing and recycled wood. Use their ideas for inspiration for your own pets house.

Dog vs. Cat

Who is worse for the environment? A recent article by Green Pages "Make Your Pet Eco-Friendly" estimates that the average dog creates 1.92 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year while a cat produces half a tonnes worth. Though cats are responsible for the deaths of native animals. Dogs produce more waste than cats but cats use litter that even when made from recycled paper still adds to landfill. A small dog is probably the best choice provided that waste is flushed and not put in the bin.

Time to Eat the Dog?

'Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living' is a controversial book by  New Zealand based scientists Robert Vale and Brenda Vale. The Vales' believe that if we are to examine all of our lifestyle choices and their environmental impacts then we must include our pets as part of the discussion. We know the impacts of the human food chain in regards to the environment but what about our pets? According to the Vales' research a medium sizes dog costs the earth twice that of a Toyota Land Cruiser driven 16,000km including the environmental cost of building the vehicle. Further research claims that it takes 2.07 acres of land to keep a medium sized dog fed. The Vales have also brought cats into the equation claiming a cat has the environmental impact of a Volkswagon golf. This is quite alarming when you consider that in 2004 the average Vietnamese citizen had an ecological footprint of only 1.88 acres.

The New Scientist, in a recent editorial entitled "Cute, Fluffy and Horribly Greedy", largely agreed with the Vales' findings, "In a world where scarce resources are already hogged by the rich, can we really justify keeping pets that take more than some people?"
Robert Vale says he was surprised when calculating quite how large the environmental impact was of some of our most popular pet species. "Of all the areas we researched for the book, the subject of pets was by far the biggest surprise for us. But all we are arguing in the book is that we should be making sensible, informed choices. For example, it's not really going to be that much of a problem if you have a big dog but also take the bus everywhere, never fly and live in a small home. It's when everyone starts to have a big car, big house, big family and a big dog that the problems start."

While many pet owners have taken this information as an attack on them personally I think it is quite the opposite. This information can only empower pet owners to make informed decisions. Perhaps when deciding to add a pet to your family a Great Dane is probably not the right choice instead consider a smaller breed such as a terrier. Owning a pet is not a right but instead it is a luxury and I think this is the mind set that needs to change.

Click here to listen to Robert and Brenda Vale answering questions about their book on ABC radio.

The Power of Dog Poo!

The City of San Francisco loves its dogs and city officials claim that dog poo makes up 4% of residential waste sent to landfill each year – the same amount as used nappies. So the community got together and created a way to use dog poo as a renewable energy source and it now helps power a park.

San Francisco's Unique Dog Park