These days, people are watching their gas consumption, using cloth bags instead of plastic, cutting back on bottled water…and changing the way they care for their pet rabbits? Well, yes, it is possible to “go green” with your bunny and become more environmentally conscious in your care for your pet.
One fun way to be environmentally friendly with your bunny is to allow them to chew on old phone books. They love the chewing and the challenge, especially with big phone books, and this is a great toy for supervised play time, though you may not want to give them the phone book to keep in their cage; like many toys, it should probably be a supervised activity.
The most obvious area for improvement, for most bunny owners, is the litter in your pet’s pan, under the hutch or cage. If you are using wood shavings for litter, you may feel that the trees are already cut down and you’re using the byproduct, which is good for the environment; you may feel you need to use another type of litter because of the wood consumption. If you want to change your litter from wood shavings, you can find litter made of recycled newspaper. Not only is this type of litter “greener,” but it is also helpful if your animal is allergic to cedar shavings, as many small animals are.
Whatever type of litter you use, you can make a huge difference in your “green level” with your bunny by changing the way you dispose of used litter. If you’re been dumping the litter and rabbit droppings in your trash, you may not think about the cost of transporting your trash in a garbage truck and dumping it in a landfill. You can save the environment this burden by composting. If you already have a compost pile, simply add your bunny litter to it. If you’re interested in starting a compost pile, your local garden center can help you get off on the right foot. You can then add the compost to your lawn or garden, and improve your own environment, as well.
If you have old pieces of carpet, your bunnies will love these in their cages as a corner platform to rest their feet and get off the wire, and this is a great way to recycle old carpet, which can be hard to dispose of. And of course if you get rid of rabbit supplies, try to find ways to recycle them or pass them on to people who might use them with their own bunnies or in school projects.
Being environmentally friendly with your bunny, her byproducts and her old gear is mainly a matter of using some common sense and taking care to recycle and keep as much out of the landfills as possible. There are many ways that you can accomplish these goals, and if your bunny knew what you are doing, she’d thank you for being so green with her care.
