Green Daily

Every week we pick a theme to explore in more depth, and this week that theme is eco-friendly pets. To read all our posts related to this theme, click here.

I once bought a bag of cat food that touted its all-natural, all-organic ingredients. It had raisins and bananas and other items I had never seen in a list of ingredients for cat food. My cats refused to eat it. And I thank them for it.

Cats and raisins don't agree. Raisins cause kidney damage in cats, though at the time I didn't know it.

Advertisements told me my boys would love Greenies. You may recall the 2006 news stories of dogs dying from indigestible Greenies. The cat treats are supposedly very different. Nonetheless, my cats refuse to eat them.

So I've done a little digging for natural pet treats. I can't testify that these treats will clean your dog's teeth or that your cat will even want to eat them. I can't promise anything. You could stick with tins of tuna or sardines, but be careful of the mercury.

This is what I found:

• Only Natural Pet Store sells its own variety of cat and dog treats. They include Poultry Crispies, oven-baked chicken crackers. The chicken is cage-free organic.
• Whole Life Pet Products sell freeze dried meat treats. Cod, lamb, venison, salmon, chicken and beef. The treats are made with just one ingredient, the meat or fish, it's human grade food made from free range animals.
  
• Sojourner's Farm features a wide range of natural dog treats, including the doggie fortune cookie. Most of the treats are wheat and corn free. Chicken pot pie and blueberry cobbler are a couple of the flavors.
• Cherbey's All Natural Pet Treats are for cats and dogs. The only difference is the size of the treat. A couple of chefs make these free-range, antibiotic-free tilapia jerky treats.