Green Week: Pet project

You reduce. You recycle. You reuse. Why shouldn't Fido and Felix do the same? With a burgeoning pet product industry, here are some ways your pets can go green, too.

DOG HARNESS

• Why you should sit up: You don't walk Fido; Fido walks you. Take back your alpha status with a harness, which takes the pressure off Fido's throat (those choking sounds when he's trying to chase a cat mean he's really choking).

• Why you should roll over: Planet Dog makes a 100 percent hemp fleece-lined adjustable harness. Hemp is durable and eco-friendly. Plus, the harness doubles as a doggie seat belt.

• Why you should play dead: Fido already has a collection of very fashionable collars. When do you say when?

• Where to fetch it: www.planetdog.com

• How much you'll have to beg: $26.95

DOG TOWEL

• Why you should sit up: Fido loves rivers. He loves lakes. He even likes the kiddie pool at the dog park. But your car already smells like dog; does it need to smell like wet dog?

• Why you should roll over: This chamois towel by Planet Dog is made from viscose containing recycled wood chips and absorbs 10 times its weight.

• Why you should play dead: This isn't your Goodwill towel.

• Where to fetch it: www.planetdog.com

• How much you'll have to beg: $19.95

SMALL-ANIMAL BEDDING

• Why you should sit up: Hoppy the rabbit and Gerry the gerbil want to be environmentally conscious, too. And these small pets, along with hamsters, rats, guinea pigs and birds, want healthy homes.

• Why you should roll over: This bedding, by FiberCore, is made from 100 percent post-consumer waste -- recycled paper that is then shredded and crinkled.

• Why you should play dead: You can make your own from all that printer paper you toss into the recycling. Send it through the shredder and get crinkling.

• Where to fetch it: www.fibercorellc.com

• How much you'll have to beg: $5.99-$6.99 for 1 1/2 pounds

DOG BED

• Why you should sit up: Fido and Felix need a place to rest their furry heads and tired paws.

• Why you should roll over: Worldwise makes beds filled with fiber created from recycled plastic bottles. The plastic is cut into small pieces and then heated and formed into pea-size pellets.

• Why you should play dead: Fido's no bouquet of roses, and at some point, the bed will need to be thrown away.

• Where to fetch it: Raley's and Target

• How much you'll have to beg: $24.99 for the 29-by-36-inch PoochPlanet bed; or $19.99 for the SmartyKat LoveBucket cat bed

CLEANUP BAGS

• Why you should sit up: It seems like a good idea to reuse those grocery-store bags to clean up after Fido. But you're also preserving poop for generations to come.

• Why you should roll over: These dog poop bags and cat pan liners, by BioBag, are 100 percent compostable and biodegradable, made from cornstarch and renewable resources.

• Why you should play dead: Although it's better for the environment, you're paying to package poop.

• Where to fetch it: www.poopbags.com

• How much you'll have to beg: $18.45 for 100 dog waste bags; $18.40 for 10 cat pan liners

WILD BIRD FEEDER

• Why you should sit up: Plastic soda bottles take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills, so why not find another use for them and feed birds in the process?

• Why you should roll over: Watch the birds come when you hang the TerraCycle Wild Bird Feeder, made from a used soda bottle and a recycled plastic feeding pan. The feeder comes with birdseed and can be refilled.

• Why you should play dead: Even though green is the new black, you'll still have a 2-liter plastic bottle hanging in your yard.

• Where to fetch it: Select Wal-Mart stores or www.terracycle.net

• How much you'll have to beg: $4.88

CATNIP MOUSE

• Why you should sit up: Felix likes his toys so much, he's practically eating the plastic cheese and cotton fishie. That means he's ingesting toxic plasticizers and cotton treated with pesticides, defoliants and dye chemicals.

About the writer:

• The Bee's Gina Kim can be reached at gkim@sacbee.com.