how green are your cats/ dogs

[Berti]

it's not easy being green.
especially not when you have cats/ dogs....

or, am I wrong? tell me :) how green are you, regarding your cats/ dogs.

I have two maine coon neuters, and they are kept inside (dangerous traffic outside plus a risk getting them stolen).
so, they produce their share of stuff for the bin (litterbox) and cost me a lot on good quality food. (dry)
talking 40 euros a month. I'd like to bring the costs down, without their health suffering.

I am wondering how you all keep your cats/ dogs and how you keep the costs down.
with dogs, you have another problem, when having to clear their droppings when taking them for a walk (at least, you have to do that here in netherlands .....argh).

berti

[barefootlinzi]

Our cat is not very green at all unfortunatly. We use the spot on flea treatment to keep fleas away, which I hate doing as I don't use chemicals anywhere else in our house, but after a recent flea outbreak I am worried about trying anything greener! Any tips appreciated!

And her food is nasty processed cat food. She is very fussy and I have been wondering about a natural diet (BARF - bones and raw food) but it is a commitment to get the nutritional balance right and not sure if my fussy puss would turn her nose up!

I am interested in other replies to this thread.

[starchild]

WE have a green cat :D

Non vaxed
treated with home remedies if she gets ill (which is rarely, maybe that's because she's non vaxed??)
Fed on chicken, liver and fish plus anything she hunts
poos outside, so no litter to clean
I use daily combing, garlic in her food and essential oils for fleas (which she doesn't because she sleeps outside now. When she was an indoor kitty, she had fleas all the time)
Only thing I don't know about is worms - ie whether she has them or not.........

I used to give my dog pumpkin seeds and raw garlic for worms - that worked a treat and I used to let his poo rot in the garden by training him to only poo in the garden rather than dumping his load when out and about.
You could take the dog poo home and put it in a dog loo in the garden I guess.

[MKG]

Not green at all, I think - but then we chose to have a poodle and I think we owe it as good a life as possible. That means regular vet bills (if only for the regular health checks) and high food bills (have you seen the price of pig's ears lately? But the dog just wouldn't forgive us if they disappeared from his diet).

All of that means , I suspect, 40 euros a week rather than a month - but the sheer joy of seeing that animal get up to full speed in the garden, not to mention numerous licks and hugs (believe me, a standard poodle can hug - they can turn in their paws to produce a perfect rugby tackle) make it all worthwhile.

[red]

our cat is half green (well he is black and white really)

not green: we feed him sachets. yes we grow our own veg, and keep hens for eggs, and are raising livestock for meat.. and what we dont produce ourselves we buy locally and cook ourselves.. no ready meals for us here - apart from the damn cat!! hes a fuss arse, likes his food fresh,and quite honestly, life is too short to argue with a cat.
We also use flea treatment - as i regard that preferable to a house jumping with fleas and beiing bitten by them myself. Cats always get fleas.. particularly those that hunt. We also take him to the vet if he needs it.

greener: he is a great ratter and mouser, and usually eats his kills (though I take rats off him in case they have eaten poison from somewhere) and this has to be the greenest pest control. and if he eats his kills, then thats less cat ready meals for him.
He also gives us a lot of pleasure, and thats a greener than other things that give other people pleasure... like buying stuff you just dont need.

[starchild]

He also gives us a lot of pleasure, and thats a greener than other things that give other people pleasure... like buying stuff you just dont need.

LOVE that

[contadina]

Ours eat homemade food (a third each of meat, carbs and veg) but we have to give them nasty chemicals to protect them against leishmaniosis. This is carried by sandflies and is really common in the Mediterranean. We know several people whose dogs have died really painful deaths after contracting leishmaniosis, so ours get regular doses of Advantix throughout the summer. If anyone knew of a kinder option I'd be very grateful.

[Russian Doll]

we have three and id say there semi green...they go toilet outside so thankfully no litter trays

we dont use flea treatment as i bath them once a week..(they love baths as i have been doing them since kittens)..with tea tree shampoo

i do use tinned foods but i recycle the tins...and there food bowls are recycled pie tins

[mrsflibble]

no cats or dogs, and our fish are totally un-green. Ok, they are tropical ones so there's the cost of running the heaters in the tank BUT they were all bred in captivity by a loca l breeder so no shipping the poor little buggers from nice homes in warm rivers in the wild. all these guys have ever known are tanks.

guineapigs are sort of green, they get guineapig food produced by a local producer, sourced through an equally local petshop. this is supplimented by weeds and grass.
they get carrots as a treat.

[Masco&Bongo]

high food bills (have you seen the price of pig's ears lately? But the dog just wouldn't forgive us if they disappeared from his diet).

OMG!! Tell me about it! They have gone sky high recently, as has everything else. We buy boxes of 50 every month for our 2 boys, they would be very upset if they couldn't have them!

[Berti]

dunno about dogs but for cats you can use teatree oil as flea treatment. ok,. make that ANTI flea :)
berti

[Silver Ether]

Well ours ... mischief that is uses outside to poop and what ever, she does have a tray but never uses it ..

Eats sachet food but If I am not careful she will steal the sardines of my plate...

I also use the spot on stuff for fleas and ticks... she has garlic oil ... that was donated to us by a friend.

I know she has been spayed but I don't know about anything else because she adopted us
so I suppose she is not classed as very green... and I feel the same as red... not enough hours to argue with a cat...

she also has a bad habit but I indulge her because I love her so much ... she watches TV



She is watching a bird ID vid

[the.fee.fairy]

dunno about dogs but for cats you can use teatree oil as flea treatment. ok,. make that ANTI flea :)
berti

Not for dogs. Tea Tree can kill them...

Finlay's not too green... he only 'goes' in the garden, but i do take poop bags out just in case. I am not green in the aspect...i do use actual poop bags because i have a fear of my fingers going through any others...

He eats tinned food and biscuits and we recycle the tins and compost he biscuit bags. He does go for walks though, and they're green. He also finished up scraps from plates, so he recycles them before they reach the other end!

Oooh...his bed's green! He's got blankie - made out of scraps of fleece. He kept stealing Nik's fleece throw fo her bed, so i bought him a dog blanket with paws on it and cut up a couple of my old tops and made him a patchwork blankie. He also has an old sleeping bag and some old blankets and jumpers in there. And his teddies are second hand too (don't tell him that...) he's got one that i bought at a boot sale for 50p, froggie, who used to be mine until the dog claimed him, and Monkey, who is a mcD*****s toy that he also claimed.

However,..right now, he's working on claiming a crocheted blanket that i bought the other week in a charity shop. he's quite taken with it...but its MINE!!

[Berti]

wow feefairy, your dog is a real character!!! :)
never heard of a dog claiming things meant for others.......

berti

[Millymollymandy]

My cat has stolen MY blankie and since I came back from holiday it (red stuart tartan) has turned a shade of grey from his hairs. I think my husband left it on the sofa and Smokey, who has put on as much weight as I did during that two weeks, probably only budged from it to eat and poo.

He's not very green either but the chooks and ducks make up for it. All the wild birds in my neighbourhood have lovely duck down lined nests, from magpies to swallows (I've seen them collecting the feathers)!