Eco-Friendly Cat

One problem with owning any pet is how expensive they can be, especially if you spoil them. But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my two rescue cats (Bernie and Spalding), who I love dearly, it’s that they will always prefer the box something comes in rather than the item itself. They’ve also taught me that no matter how much I try to feed them a healthy diet, they’re both fussy buggers. It doesn’t help that being as old as they are they both have health issues meaning they have special diets limiting what I’m able to buy for them. I’ve always tried to live an environmentally responsible lifestyle, but that’s even more true these days with the current climate crisis. I wondered if it was possible to have an eco-friendly cat, and if so, how?

Please note there are some affiliate links included in the article below, which means I could earn a small amount of commission at no extra cost to you.

How to have an eco-friendly cat

Let’s start with the most important thing, for my cats anyway… food.

Eco-friendly cat food

Natural / Organic Cat Food

More people are eating organic food these days, because even though it’s a bit more expensive the lack of pesticides and herbicides is much better for the soil, the environment and us. It’s possible to buy organic cat food too, but it also tends to be more expensive.

Spalding has bad allergies, so for her I really do try to buy organic cat food to be sure there’s nothing nasty in it that she could react to. Of course she would prefer the cheapest cat food you can buy, full of artificial ingredients… (She loves the gravy, doesn’t really eat the meat chunks!).

There are several different companies that make organic cat food, my advice is to see which one your cat prefers. Spalding (my itchy cat), will eat some flavours of Lily’s Kitchen cat food. They use water based or vegetable based inks for printing on the packaging to help minimise waste and toxicity. Lily’s Kitchen are recognised by the Good Shopping Guide as the UK’s Most Ethical Pet Food Company. They’re also made in the EU helping to reduce their carbon footprint.

Another organic cat food you could try is Yarrah. They also have both dry and wet food available, I can’t offer any personal opinion on Yarrah as neither of my cats has tried this one.

*Not all Lily’s Kitchen cat food is made from 100% certified organic ingredients, but all of them are made from natural ingredients.

Vegan Cat Food

A vegan diet is good for the planet, and I think all humans should be eating far fewer meat based meals. But what about cats? Personally I wouldn’t feed my cats a vegan diet, not least because they’re both over 17 and I think it would be too much of an adjustment. But if you believe a vegan cat diet is healthy enough for your fur baby it is possible to find dry and wet vegan cat food from Benevo which is made in the UK. But have a word with your vet before making a change to your cats diet which is this drastic.

Homemade Cat Food

You could make your own cat food, but I’m not sure this is something I’d recommend. Talk to your vet before deciding to make all your cat food at home because there are essential vitamins and minerals that a homemade diet might not include. For example you might need to buy Taurine supplements.

Tip: Cats are notoriously fussy about their food so if you’re going to change their diet it’s probably best to introduce any new food gradually by mixing some of the new food in with their current food bit by bit over a week.

Packaging

When it comes to cat food, it’s all very well looking for cat food which doesn’t contain loads of artificial ingredients but the packaging is just as important. The cat biscuits I have to buy Bernie, who’s diabetic, come in non-recyclable packaging, and that’s very frustrating for me. His well-being will always come first though, so until companies start providing better packaging there’s not much I can do. This will always be a problem for cats on strict diets due to their health needs.

Cat food tins can obviously be recycled. Cat food pouches can also be recycled but not through your normal household recycling scheme, it’s done through Terracycle. Check to see where your local drop-off point for pet food pouches.

Pet Food Bowls

I don’t think it will be much of a surprise that I’m going to say to avoid plastic cat food bowls. First thing I’m going to point out is that although the classic plastic cat food bowl is a combined dish with two compartments, one for water and one for food, most cats don’t like their water to be where they can smell food, so they’re not that great an idea anyway, even ignoring the fact they’re made from plastic. But what are the alternatives?

To be truly eco-friendly you should just be using something you own anyway. Got a side plate you don’t use very often? Use that!

Beco Cat Bowl

Repurposing aside you can buy Beco Cat Bowls. Bernie eats his food out of Beco cat bowls and the reason I like them so much is that they have a very low lip and they’re quite wide. They’re dishwasher safe too. They’re made from bamboo fibre and rice husk, bound with resin.

“The composition of the BecoBowl is around 80% bamboo fibres and rice husks. Both these materials are mixed with a resin that bonds all the fibres together and also importantly allows the mix to break down once your scoop ends up in landfill or a compost environment. Your BecoBowl will take from between 3-5 years to biodegrade after it has been thrown away.”

This comes from the Amazon listing by Beco Pets. My only problem with this is that it’s not clear where the resin has come from. Since learning about how bad bamboo coffee cups are I really want to know more about what resin has been used to bind the bamboo and rice husks. However the company also donates 5% of profits to local community, animal and environmental causes, so that’s a plus!

Ceramic Cat Bowl

Ceramic is not totally eco-friendly (what is?), but it’s more eco-friendly than many other materials. It’s made of clay and permanently hardened by heat. It’s the heating process that could be considered bad for the environment although some factories reuse the heat. Water being wasted during the process is also not great, however… “Italian ceramics industries consume less than their normal water requirements because waste water is reused in the production process, thereby limiting pollution. The Italian ceramic tile industry is also able to recycle most of the waste it produces.” – Floor Nature

Unless you drop the ceramic bowl, it will last for years. Being made from natural materials is also a bonus. You can buy some lovely ceramic pet bowls for your cat, Pets at Home normally has a good range of them.

Cat Litter & Trays

In an ideal world you wouldn’t need a cat litter tray and your cat would just use the great outdoors. Spalding has never been much of an outdoor cat. She’ll stay outside just by the back door on a sunny day, but she doesn’t really wander. Bernie mostly stays indoors these days and being diabetic he pees all the time (I should buy shares in a cat litter company!). So for me cat litter trays and enormous amounts of cat litter are essential.

Eco-friendly cat litter

As I go through so much cat litter, cost is a big factor for me to consider. Fortunately the cheap cat litter from my local supermarket comes in a paper bag which can be recycled. The litter itself is not so great if I’m honest. It’s certainly not absorbent and it’s very dusty, however my cats don’t like the other eco-friendly options listed below, so rather than having to clean up little accidents on the carpet I’ll be sticking with it for now.

Buying cat litter from natural materials should be the priority, and you can choose from wood, kernel, hemp or paper based litter, amongst others. Some are more absorbent than others, some are more eco-friendly than others. This is a good summary on the different types of eco-friendly cat litter available.

Eco-friendly cat litter trays

Finding an alternative to a plastic cat litter tray is very difficult. But you can buy a Becothings Becotray which is biodegradable, like the cat bowls mentioned earlier.

Cat Beds

I’ve bought several cat beds for my cats over the years, often they’ll use them for a few nights then get bored of them and never use them again. Bernie is currently using a bed that I bought 7 years ago and which he totally ignored for the first 5 years it was in the house. So it might not be worth the expense. Spalding is much happier perched on the back of the sofa than she is in her expensive cat bed. She has also been known to spend weeks at a time sleeping in a cardboard box.

To be really eco-friendly buying something that may or may not be used is probably best avoided. Give your cat an old blanket or towel that you don’t use anymore, or put a cushion in a cardboard box. You can even decorate the outside of the box if you feel like it looks a bit boring.

If you do want to purchase one then you could buy a felt cat bed, or why not consider a wicker or seagrass one?

Eco-Friendly Toys for Cats

Neither of my cats have ever been massive fans of toys. I’ll buy some and they love them for 30 minutes and then show absolutely no interest beyond that. However I know lots of cats love toys and toys help to keep your cats moving and healthy.

One kind of toy almost all cats love are the wands, where a toy of some description is attached to string on a wand so you can tease your cat. This cat toy wand also has catnip which your furry one is sure to love. Of course you could just buy a catnip mouse (I’ll be honest, it looks more like an elephant to me!)

There you have it, having an eco-friendly cat has never been easier! Have I forgotten anything? Let me know in the comments.

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