Waste Not, Want Not

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There is a topic in the pet industry that no one likes to talk about, yet it is the one thing every pet has in common. That’s right, waste management. When nature calls, pets and owners need products that will answer that call.

The best way to take care of a pet’s business is with natural products. These are litters, bedding and bags that are made with all-natural ingredients and materials to help make customer’s lives easier and also reduce the carbon footprint.

Less Litter Cat Litter

Take World’s Best Cat Litter for instance. It’s made from renewable ingredients and is completely free of silica dust. It’s the only litter made from whole-kernel corn. It has naturally absorbent structures that help keep smells inside the litter box. Available in 7-, 8-, 15- and 28-pound bags, there is a bag size to fit any cat household.

Even the Lavender Scented Multiple Cat Clumping litter is completely free of chemicals, clays and perfumes. The Forest Scented Clumping litter adds natural wood fibers to the whole-kernel formula to create a gentle fragrance of a forest.

Advanced Natural Scent Clumping is made from a special blend of naturally absorbent plant fibers that promise odor control and smaller tighter clumps for easier clean up. It actually has double the odor control.

Advanced Natural Pine Clumping litter adds real pine to the plant fibers to deliver a clean pine scent. Both of these are perfect for multiple cat homes.

Swheat Scoop is also a naturally clumping litter made of wheat. It’s earth friendly and 100-percent biodegradable. Unlike other clumping litters, Swheat Scoop contains no silica dust, sodium bentonite or chemicals of any kind.

Swheat Scoop digs through the misconception that natural litter isn’t as effective at eliminating odors as clay litters. It completely eliminates odors using two natural materials: starch and an enzyme. It’s a great way to end cat litter odors the natural way.

Swheat Scoop is available in three formulas: Original, Multi-Cat and Lightly Scented. All contain 100-percent natural wheat with Lightly Scented also containing natural aspen. With a recent update to the packaging rolling out this month, it is easier to pour and store than ever before and cat customers will easily be enticed.

Okocat litter by Healthy Pet also carries litter made from natural ingredients. Okocat offers four varieties: natural wood clumping, longhair breed formula, natural pine and natural dust-free paper.

All varieties are biodegradable for easy flushing as well. The pellets have been lab-tested and proven to hold five times their weight in liquid.

The natural Dust Free formula works great on cats with respiratory ailments and even helps cat owners who suffer from allergies. With a contemporary product design and a fun mascot, customers will show interest in the product immediately.

Bag It

Dog owners are following the natural trend in all their products and that even includes waste products.

PoopBags have been around since 2005. It’s a made in the U.S.A., compostable product made of corn, vegetable oil and other renewable resources. It’s extremely eco-friendly.

In fact, PoopBags has its own eco-meter using a paw rating system.

“The more paws you have, the more eco-friendly,” said Paul Cannella, president and founder of PoopBags LLC.

While five paws is the best and most natural formula of the bags they are also the fastest to break down. But the three and four paw products are still all certified USDA Biobased.

“We are the only manufacturer to have that classification,” said Cannella.

The five paw Poop Bags start breaking down in as little as 40-90 days at a commercial compost facility.

“They basically turn back into the equivalent of dirt,” said Cannella.

The exact ingredients for the bags vary depending on the time of the year and where the materials are sourced.

“But it is all natural by-products,” said Cannella. “It could be sugar cane, wheat, at times they have used tapioca or different kinds of plants oils.”

Using these ingredients and materials offers a huge benefit to the environment. Customers don’t like the effects plastic bags have on the environment.

“People estimate that plastic is going to be around for hundreds to thousands of years,” said Cannella. “But the sad part is that none of us really know because plastic hasn’t even been around 100 years so who knows how long we are going to be dealing with the effects of that?”

Think Small

Small animals need litter too and Marshall Pet Products is happy to provide a natural solution. The company’s Premium Ferret Litter is completely dust-free and non-allergenic.  It comes in 18- and 50-pound bags and is biodegradable for easy flushing. It’s made of 100-percent recycled paper for 400 times more absorbency than clay litters.

With natural products sneaking into the waste management category, it is clear that the natural trend is here to stay and will keep expanding into different categories.