Green Daily

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I know you're busy, and I don't want to add to anyone's daily burden of stuff to do, but if you're a pet owner, it's important to ask: Have you considered your pet's Carbon Paw Print?

Yes, I'm serious, but no, it doesn't have to be a difficult, expensive, or painful process to make your pet as green as you are! In fact, it might even make your life better.

No Need to Breed
There are a few simple things you can do from the start: always adopt, and remember to spay or neuter your pet. With so many more animals than homes, these two steps are the most sustainable and responsible things a pet owner can do.

Take to Your Kitchen
The next most practical and simple thing you can do is make your own pet food. There are some great dog food recipes here, and cat food recipes here. You may balk at the hassle-factor, but you must admit it makes sense. Just like with human food, you avoid unnecessary processing, you know exactly what's in it, and you can buy ingredients in bulk to save money in the long run.

Green the Poop
And then there is the poop factor.

For dogs, you need to deal with picking it up. A plastic bag takes forever to decompose. A plastic bag full of poop takes forever to compose, and smells that much worse. Use a biodegradeable or compostable bag, like the Mutt Mitt or the BioBags made from corn. Or you can use some of that cool TerraCycle All Natural Stool Destroyer!

I also learned lately that traditional clay cat litter is terrible on every level, so a green cat lover looks at alternatives there, too. You can use newspaper, or you can cut to the chase and get The World's Best Cat Litter, made of corn.

When a Toy Isn't a Game
The final thing to think about? Toys. Chew toys, chasing toys, that feather on the end of a string that drives Mr. Whiskers out of his mind. Before you buy, consider how and where they are made. Would you personally chew on a squeekie toy made in China? If not, maybe you should be buying your sweet puppy a nice hemp rope toy instead.

Of course, I firmly believe that Catnip is the greenest cat toy solution, and btw should be legalized asap. Hey man, it's a plant. It's natural. And I'm pretty sure Woody Harrelson's cat totally agrees with me.

Do you have a genius green pet owner tip? Drop it in the comments -- this is an equal opportunity poop problem solving community!