Sustainable pet husbandry

Sustainable pet husbandry - is that even possible?

Sustainability plays an increasingly important role in our lives, but we rarely want to do without our four-legged companions. Avoiding plastic in everyday life, producing less waste and eating a vegan or vegetarian diet are the first steps in a more sustainable direction: When we look at our four-legged friends, we quickly realize that sustainable everyday life is more difficult to design, than thought.

Do you already forego driving, eating meat and do not use fossil fuels in your everyday life? Then your CO2 consumption drops from approx. 11 tons to approx. 5 tons per year - in an industrialized country, however, it is hardly possible to bring your own CO2 consumption to zero.

With animal husbandry, your CO2 consumption will increase again: Transport routes, factory farming for dog food, packaging waste and more - with your pet, your CO2 consumption will increase again. With around 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, global animal husbandry is one of the most important causes of global warming.

Sustainability with pets: how it works!

As you can see: you will always have CO2 consumption. With a few tips & tricks, you can also make your animal husbandry more sustainable. Forced, the CO2 consumption with a pet is significantly higher and is difficult to influence due to fewer design options - one more reason why you should make a difference in food. Because there it is up to you whether you choose CO2-positive, CO2-neutral feed or a feed with a high CO2 balance.

1. Find an alternative to conventional manure bags for sustainable dog keeping

To avoid unnecessary plastic waste, but still dispose of your dog's remains, use practical cardboard bags or biodegradable manure bags. With these cardboard bags you shovel the remains into the cardboard container and then throw them in the trash as normal. The biodegradable manure bags degrade themselves in a short time - you can easily use them like normal manure bags.

2. Buy used & make yourself

Your dog and cat don't care what season the toy is from. Linen, beds, caves and the like can either be bought second-hand in sustainable animal husbandry or simply made by yourself. For example, you can design a cat house from an old box - in our FairCat trial package you will find a cat house made of FSC cardboard that you can customize and your cats will love!

Our stuffed bear Rüdiger is ideal for your dog - it is made from recycled natural materials and is particularly robust and insensitive. The best prerequisite for long and sustainable fun!

3. Change the feed to reduce CO2 emissions

The common animal feed contains meat from factory farming. This creates countless tons of CO2 every year, which of course also affect your CO2 balance. A sustainable alternative for your dog is dog food made from insect proteins or our vegetarian dog food. While cattle consume around 8 kg of feed per kg in meat production, it is only 2 kg for insects. By using alternative protein sources and regional suppliers, the CO2 emissions are kept as low as possible before the actual manufacturing process.

Good news - there is also insect protein food for our velvet paws! We also offset our remaining emissions with Carbon Tanzania's Ntakata Mountains climate protection project. Because we cannot stop our CO2 emissions entirely, but of course we can do something in return for forest conservation and climate protection!

4. Balance your CO2 emissions!

Of course, you can also use this type of compensation alone. Even if you buy our CO2 neutral & CO2 positive products, your CO2 balance will still not be at zero. Of course you can also choose a sustainable project and pay your CO2 compensation. Important here: CO2 compensation is not an excuse for your own behavior. Despite everything, sustainability is important and recommendable in everyday life - however, since CO2 emissions cannot be completely avoided, this type is a good way to protect the environment and to fight climate change.

You have certainly noticed: Sustainable animal husbandry requires a lot of research and preparatory work. But it is possible! In the industrialized countries you will never live completely sustainable and emission-free. Nevertheless, always try to look for alternatives in everyday life, to rely on CO2 neutral and CO2 positive products for animal feed and to buy a lot of used or do it yourself for the play and sleeping options of your four-legged friends. As in all areas of your life, sustainability must also be integrated bit by bit into your everyday life in your animal husbandry - but we are certain that you are already well on the way to sustainable animal husbandry.