How can I reduce my cat’s impact on the environment?

UK cats catch up to 100 million small animals over spring and summer, of which 27 million are birds. This number is only how many animals we know that cats catch, it is likely that cats catch many more but don’t bring them home, or they catch more which escape but die later. 

Your cat's litter may also be having a negative impact on the environment. Litter made from bentonite clay is unrecyclable and sourced using open-cast strip mining, which removes trees and soils to get the clay. 

The carbon footprint of an average-size cat is 310kg of CO2e per year. The biggest contributor to this footprint is what your cat eats.  

To reduce your cat’s environmental impact, you can: 

• Keep your cat inside at dusk and dawn to protect nocturnal animals such as bats. 
• Consider keeping an indoor cat, especially if your cat is known to hunt. 
• If you do let your cat outside in the day, attach a bell to their collar so that it is more difficult for them to sneak up on other animals. However, clever cats can learn to move without sounding the bell. 
• Choose biodegradable cat litter, such as sawdust, wood shavings or recycled newspaper. 
• Do not flush cat litter down the toilet or drain. There are toxins in cat waste which cannot be removed at water processing plants and these toxins harm wildlife in rivers and the sea. 
• Buy more environmentally friendly cat food, such as chicken instead of beef, and avoid ‘posh’ human-grade food. Your cat will be happy with offcuts and meat by-products, and this will reduce their carbon footprint.