Attention, cat people: this one’s for you. There are almost 96 million feline friends in the U.S., which gives us 96 million opportunities to take small steps for big, paw-sitive change.🐱
Like our sustainable dog edit, we’ve researched some easy swaps for better pet and planetary health. (But they’re still not gonna make your kitten okay with sitting, staying, or rolling over because: CAT.)
EAT
Unlike dogs, cats aren’t scavengers, and they DO need meat to survive. You can ensure their diet makes a smaller impact by repurposing your fish, chicken, and beef food scraps for your cat, instead of tossing them into a landfill. (You can also check out this guide to eco-friendly cat food, but if you can’t spend extra $$$ on more niche brands, it’s okay—we all do what we can!)
PLAY
There are millions of plastic cat toys out there, and you don’t need any of them! Instead, save money and the planet by shredding old t-shirts and using them as “feather” wands, or repurpose regular cardboard boxes into hide-and-seek mazes.
LOVE
There are 29% fewer birds in the atmosphere than years prior, even though we need them, along with pollinators like bees, for healthy crops and soil. Help them thrive by keeping your cat indoors or on a leash so they don’t disrupt your neighborhood’s native biodiversity.
LITTER
So no, don’t, like, actually litter. But if you can swap regular kitty litter—which uses a type of clay called bentonite, which is harvested through strip mining—for wheat litter or recycled wood litter and see if your cat will go for it. (If they won’t? Chill. We’re all just doing our best.) You might also find some compostable disposal bags.
