Pet Home Design | Interior Design Portland and Los Angeles | Pet Friendly Interior Design | Pet Parties | Pet Friendly Homes in Oregon + California

Eco Friendly Pet Tips 101
by Colleen Paige

Don’t Shop – Adopt!
Puppy & Kitten Mills are the number one reason that the shelters are overrun with unwanted pets. Also, their only goal is to make a profit off breeding animals to sell to pet stores. It’s also well known that they over breed, inbreed, force animals to live in squalor with horrible injuries and deformities and kill animals that become too old to sell. Estimates reveal that over 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every daily in the United States. For every puppy or kitten that you buy from a pet store, thousands more die in the shelter. Shelters are also filled with pure breeds, as are pure breed rescues, so there’s no reason to buy from a pet store. Remember to spay or neuter your pets to prevent more unwanted live

Biodegradable Poop Bags
Nowadays it’s easy to find and inexpensive to buy, biodegradable poop bags that won’t sit in a landfill for hundreds of years. Your dog recycles his food…the least you can do is recycle it too!

Recycle Pet Food Cans and Paper Food Bags
Just about anything you can throw away today; you can find a recycling center that will take it. Pet food cans, food bags, old plastic and rubber toys, pet bedding, pet clothing, even the paper scraps from the backing of a packaged pet product can be recycled. Many waste management companies that pick up your garbage will give you recycling containers for free and pick up your recycled goods once a week or every two weeks. You’re really helping the environment by recycling and teaching your children, family and friends to care about it as well.

Eco Friendly Cat Litter
Just because it says it’s natural, doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Clay litter is stripped mined, which is bad for the planet because it and leaves a giant depression in the earth, the machinery used to strip mine generates pollutants and it strips away the topsoil, creating a lot of rubble, leaving the land basically useless. The other horrible thing many don’t know about clumping cat litter, is that not only is the sodium bentonite which creates the clumping effect toxic to your furry feline, the sediment is permeated with carcinogenic silica dust that can coat the lungs and cause a gamut of health problems for both your cat, your kids and yourself. Try brands like Swheat Scoop®, Feline Pine® or World's Best Cat Litter® - which are eco friendly, non-toxic and dust free.

Buy Planet Friendly Sustainable Products
Gone are the days of having to pay a fortune for planet friendly pet products. Now you can affordably find eco friendly food bowls, toys, furniture made from sustainable woods and other materials, bedding, clothing and accessories of all kinds which are safe and healthy for your pet and friendly to the planet. Why buy anything that isn’t – especially if it comes in an eco friendly version?

Natural Pet Care and Home Cleaning
The respiratory and nervous systems of your pets are just as sensitive as a child’s. If you wouldn’t use chemical soaps and shampoos on yourself or your child, why use them on your pets? Organic and all natural soaps and shampoos are great because they don’t irritate sensitive skin and have no chemicals to be absorbed into the blood stream. Clean your home with products like Method® which is my personal favorite because they get the job done and have some great fragrances. For an even more natural clean, use vinegar and water or baking soda. These products clean and disinfect just as well and don’t leave a toxic residue. For tough odors that a potty training puppy might leave behind, include some lavender or orange oil.

Make Your Own Pet Toys
If you like to sew, take old scraps of fabric and make dog and cat toys stuffed with catnip, hemp or organic cotton, rather than buying new.