How many of you have ever considered whether the way we live with our pets is sustainable or not? We might not even realise that many things we do with our furry friends are harming the environment. The environment that they enjoy and love to explore everyday themselves. Let’s dive into how you can become a sustainable pet owner! We’re highlighting two amazing brands that promote a healthy and sustainable lifestyle for us and our fur babies.
So let’s first talk about shampoo. When we use shampoo we’re always looking for ones that make our hair shiny, clean and soft, right? Well why aren’t we looking for the same things for our dogs. Yes, we can buy generic ones that get rid of obvious dirt. But what about the runoff, the soapy suds of chemicals? All the cheap nasties going down the drain and into our oceans? It’s the big picture we’re all often forgetting. It’s not just one person’s fault. Collectively we can try to make changes in our lives to improve the world around us.
Eco-friendly pet brands
Doggie ‘Poo Shampoo Bars
Doggie ‘Poo Shampoo were lovely enough to send us one of their Shampoo Bars to try out and give you guys our review! They are lovingly handmade on Lamb Island, which is off the coast of Redland Bay in Brisbane, Australia.
One of the biggest draw cards for us was the plastic free packaging. I can’t tell you the amount of soaps I’ve bought not only for pets, but for myself. With the bar of soap wrapped in tight plastic, to be packaged inside another box. Seems like a waste of resources to me and just creates… waste!
Founder of Doggie ‘Poo Shampoo, Kat, has been making natural soap and body products for humans for the last 6 years, and has since formulated ‘Doggie ‘Poo Shampoo’ because she couldn’t find a product for dogs that met her needs. She uses only products that contain the highest quality natural ingredients and plant extracts for her gorgeous rescue pup Tilly. Don’t worry, of course they’re ethically sourced. As a result, she offers an effective and non-toxic shampoo bar without the plastic packaging. Hooray!!
Doggie ‘Poo Neem Oil Shampoo Bar
Each bar of Doggie ‘Poo Shampoo is hand cut and stamped so you can know true love and passion from a small business has gone into every product purchased.
They don’t contain palm oil, or any cheap nasty ingredients, in fact the ingredients are; Organic extra-virgin coconut oil, purified water, beef tallow, olive oil, sodium hydroxide, neem seed oil, castor oil, oatmeal, lavender essential oil, atlas cedarwood essential oil, lemongrass essential oil.
They’re plastic free and made with biodegradable materials. Depending on the size of your dog they’re good for 6-12 washes. In case you need more convincing.. Apart from being an effective and gentle cleanser of oil, dirt and odours, their shampoo bars are naturally antibacterial and antifungal. This makes them suitable for sensitive skin. They leave your dog feeling soft and looking shiny without stripping it’s natural skin oils.
This bar also contains a large percentage of Neem Seed oil to naturally deter and repel fleas, ticks and mites. It makes your dogs skin and fur looking healthy.
Okay so now that your doggo/ pup/ furry friends are nice and clean, fluffy and rid of any fleas or ticks, let us help you – help them, look their best. Why should we leave our dogs out of the fashion parade?!
Olive and Maggie
Olive and Maggie are a bandana brand for your dog, based on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, they are a brand that has seriously thought of everything from packaging to comfort, creativity, easy care instructions and even what to do when you no longer need it. This makes it really easy to become a more sustainable pet owner!
One of our lovely staff members was lucky enough to have had the below bandana sent to us to try out.
Rainbow Bandana
Some of the main perks and stand out points for us to note was the complimentary personalization! Don’t think it is just a special offer for us. It’s for anyone and everyone! A common name or.. not so common name – Snickerdoodle, Fluffy, Sarah and Baz – can all print their name with eco friendly non toxic inks.
Our second notable point is that they’re reversible. 2 outfits in one – who could say no to that? Plastic free packaging, earth friendly fabric that is plain woven, 100% unbleached cotton and not fully processed (which just means you may see some of the unseparated husks). Not only we love this, our dogs are happy too.
Remember when I said they’d thought of everything? Well, they make their brand labels with fabric off cuts to minimise textile waste and produce them in small batches. Besides, they’re ethically manufactured and the final product is sent to you in 100% compostable, zero waste bags. What’s more? When you no longer need the bandana – whether your pooch has grown out of it or doesn’t think the colour suits them anymore, you can send it back to ‘Olive and Maggie’ and they’ll upcycle it into their project called ‘Care Moments’.
Conscious living
When I hear of companies making things this way and still being of an affordable price range, it simply confuses me as to why all brands aren’t more conscious and making these efforts for our environment as well. By choosing these brands you can become a more sustainable pet owner.
Now, I can certainly understand that many of these things might not matter to everyone, but what should matter to everyone is the quality of life we live and let live on this planet. We can these make small changes and choosing to do more research into the brands we support with our money. Maybe then we can actually make a difference to this world for your future generations, human and fur alike.
