You may recall I discussed my thoughts on the newspaper article about how your pet can be more environmentally un-friendly than a 4x4.
After careful consideration I am getting 2 cats. I still have some issues to work through. When they come to me they will still be kittens (i know i know, why not recycle a rescue cat? I was going to, and then these ones needed homes, so they are all cats aren't they, they all need homes? Maybe I should have left the kittens to someone who would never get a rescue cat? Well, I haven't. I am having kittens) so many of these questions don't need answering just yet.
The biggest question for me was should they be allowed outside? My dearest Mr Organik believes it is wrong to keep cats indoors. I believe it's OK especially if they have never been outside and you provide them with adequate facilities. My garden is very meadow like (where is this going? Hang on in there, I come back round to topic!) and attracts all sorts of wildlife. We had a "pet" fox one year, we have 2 squirrels regularly although I have only seen 1 recently, bees, birds, butterflies, and my favourite of all slugs, sometimes they even decide to join us in the house for a party. Had to nip that one in the bud! So anyway, we are a bit lazy and this is why the garden is as it is, but I am not a fan of the heavily manicured garden anyway, and a happy coincidence is the wildlife we support. So it seems a shame that my cats will lay that to rest. So I have decided they will be in at night, and certainly at dawn and dusk when cats do most of their killing. So, point one compromise with me and the mr reached, compromise with the environment reached.
Next point is cat litter... If I keep them in at night they have to have a litter tray. Most traditional cat litter is mined exclusively for the purpose of making cat litter. Hmmm. Not sure about this. So I looked into more environmentally friendly option, biodegradable pellets, shredded paper (my bills maybe?!!) but apparently they don't like this as much. There are complex environmentally friendly litter tray solutions, but these are all made of plastic, plus I am being given a litter tray and do not wish to create additional waste. I am considering training them to use the toilet. Everyone seems to think this is a crazy idea, but surely this is the most environmentally friendly option?
Next food... I am vegetarian. I do not intend to raise my cat as vegetarian. I think this is wrong. Everything I have read says cats, unlike dogs, need a meat based diet. But again, many cat food brands are either subsidiaries of evil companies, and/or they source meat as purely for cat food that would have been fit for human consumption, whereas there is meat left over from the human meat industry which could make cat food. I need to read more about this to decide.
I am trying to get natural cat toys and bedding and things too. Not things made of plastic and man-made materials. There is a brand at Pets at Home called Willow, where it all looks natural, but as it makes no claims to be organic or anything on it I am suspecting it is trying to cash in on the organic market without being that at all. Of course I can see it is made from sisal and hessian and things and not plastic so I can see with my own eyes it is less artificial than some of the toys.
So many questions, what are the answers?!
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I read, and got incredibly annoyed, at that 4x4 article too. Grrr.
ReplyDeleteRe: the inside/outside debate. I've always had free-range cats and don't think I'd keep them inside all the time unless there was a compelling reason to (such as FIV or living in an unsafe area - I only got cats once I was living somewhere safe, and have always moved with them in mind after that). Perhaps I'd feel differently if my cats (as opposed to those at my mum and dad's house) were savage hunters but they're not (in 10 years, with four of them for most of that time, we've had perhaps 20 mice type things, five birds, a magpie which I'm pretty sure had frozen to death before the cat found it, a chipolta sausage and a piece of KFC), so I feel they gain a lot more from being outside than they take from it. Tbh, I wouldn't worry too much about the squirrels - they're fast and can fend for themselves but your night-time inside policy sounds like a good idea. And don't forget that a bell on their collars (if they have them) also cuts down their stealthiness/murdering capacity.
Re: litter. They might not need it as much in the long run as you think - our boys were so used to going outside during the day that they wouldn't even consider using the tray during the night/on rainy days. It seems litter in a plastic box doesn't compare to the freedom of an open air poop into soil. If you do need litter though, we did a post on recycling used cat litter on Recycle This a few years ago and a few people made green litter suggestions in the comments section - http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20071130/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-cat-litter . I'm very interested in the toilet idea too - these guys are too old to learn it now but if we get kittens in the future, I'll definitely try with them.
Re: cat food. A tricky area. A friend of mine tried buying rabbit on the idea that it was close to what cats would eat in the wild but I was uncomfortable with the idea of one set of cute furry animals being raised solely to feed another set. I much prefer the waste meat idea but apparently cheap, standard cat meat is below waste meat - really vile, mechanically recovered then left to rot meat. There is also the issue of packaging to consider. Up until recently, we could recycle all the cans and cardboard boxes from the cats' food but since we lost one cat to cancer last year and our greedy one suddenly to a thrombosis in March, the remaining pair can't eat as much, so to avoid food waste/give them a better diet, they eat more pouches/foil packs - which are far harder to recycle. I've looked into making my own cat food and time/money allowing, one day I'd like to be able to do that more - they love it when I cook up ox heart or chicken livers for them - not sure I could have stomached cooking them in my veggie days though! Please blog about whatever you decide about the cat food as I'd love to hear it.
ReplyDeleteRe: bedding and toys etc. When I first got our cats, I made them a bed from an old fruit box and a blanket. They slept in it for exactly one night before discovering our bed and have slept there ever since - I don't think it was a problem with the make-shift bed, I just think our bed was warmer ;) As for toys, I do indulge in shop bought toys from time to time but often regret it - their most favourite toy ever is a piece of chain from my old work id badge, their current favourite is a dried fungus ball - they like batting things around the floor, they don't care what it is. We've used old reclaimed-as-a-neighbour-was-binning-it sisal matting to make scratching posts/areas and I'm growing cat nip this year for them to indulge in the garden/fill handmade toys. Another Recycle This post reference - making cat toys from old junk around the home - http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20081104/how-can-i-make-a-cat-toy-reusing-and-recycling-stuff
Oh wow, this got so much longer than I'd intended (hence having to split it over two comments!) and more link heavy too! Sorry about that ;)
When do your felines arrive btw? And will you post pics on the blog? :D
Thanks so much for the info... I am off to read now :)
ReplyDeleteKittens in 2 weeks, and pics will surely follow, yay!