Skip to Main Content
Living Green: The Missing Manual
book

Living Green: The Missing Manual

by Nancy Conner
August 2009
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
320 pages
11h 56m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Living Green: The Missing Manual

Pets

Ask anyone who has them—pets are part of the family. And they can go green, too. Pets rely on you to take care of them, so make sure you do that in a way that protects their health and treads lightly on the earth. Here are some suggestions for earth-loving pet owners:

  • Spay or neuter your pet. According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), between six and eight million cats and dogs go into American animal shelters each year. About half of those get adopted, but the other half—three to four million animals—are euthanized. Clearly, pet overpopulation is a problem, one that's unfair to the animals because there aren't enough homes to go around. HSUS estimates that a healthy, fertile cat can give birth to three litters (of four to six kittens each) per year and a dog can give have up to two litters (of six to 10 puppies each) every year. So help minimize pet overpopulation by getting yours spayed or neutered.

    Tip

    Spaying or neutering your pet gets rid of the possibility of uterine, ovarian, and testicular cancer, and may also reduce the risk of illnesses like prostate disease.

  • Choose healthy pet food. Just like people, pets need nutritious food for good health. But many commercial options are packed with preservatives, fillers, and low-quality ingredients like meat that isn't fit for human consumption. When you buy Fido's food, read labels and watch out for these ingredients:

    • Animal byproducts. This means that the food's protein comes from meat products that are unfit ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Lifescale

Lifescale

Brian Solis
Green Energy to Sustainability: Strategies for Global Industries

Green Energy to Sustainability: Strategies for Global Industries

Alain A. Vertes, Nasib Qureshi, Hans P. Blaschek, Hideaki Yukawa
Step into the Metaverse

Step into the Metaverse

Mark van Rijmenam

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780596806460Errata Page