Laugh. Learn. Love cats.
Pierre: Do I really have to get dressed up for this holiday? I don’t do dress-up.
Ashton: Take that thing off, Pierre. I’m the pirate around here. I don’t even need an eye patch!
Ahoy! It’s One-Eyed Ashton of the Cat Tree, here to plunder your hearts. (Especially you, Mr. Jinx!)
We’re updating this page because it’s relevant again now. The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is coming on October 22nd, 2016, and we want to be sure you’re ready. So dig out those leftover pills you could never get into your hard to pill cat. There’s a safe way to dispose of them near you! You can find locations that will be accepting prescription drugs, no questions asked, by checking the National Take Back Initiative Collection Site Search or by calling 1-800-882-9539.
There are a lot of ways that you shouldn’t dispose of things.
Flushing your unused medications down the toilet or drain is a bad idea. The US Geological Survey has already found levels of drugs such as antibiotics, hormones, and contraceptives in 80% of the rivers and streams tested in part of a nationwide study. Additional studies have shown that fish and other wildlife can be adversely affected by medications, even when they are expired.
Instead of flushing medications, check to see if there are drug take-back events in your area one of the following ways:
If there aren’t any drug take-back events in your area, you can purchase special postage-paid packages from your local pharmacy that send medications back to a medical waste company. Some medications are ineligible for this program so read the fine print before you purchase.
The same guidelines can be used for disposal of human medications, though your veterinarian is unlikely to be willing to take back unused human medication. Keeping our groundwater safe is everybody’s responsibility!
Pierre: This month, our friends at Chewy offered to let us try out freeze-dried liver munchies from Primal Pet Foods. We were pretty excited about these because they’re made of only one thing: freeze dried turkey liver. No vegetables, no fillers, no added salt or sugar, no chemicals that cats can’t pronounce. I like how that sounds!
Pierre: So let’s get on with the important part, the tasting!
Ashton: Hey, that looks like a really big piece. Aren’t you going to share?
Pierre: These turkey liver pieces are freeze-dried as-is, so they are different sizes, and some of them are pretty big.
Ashton: I’ll take the big ones!
Pierre: I think the big ones are meant for dogs. But don’t worry, they are easy to break up with human fingers. And when I got a large piece, it was easy to bite into and chew up. As a freeze-dried meat, it kind of crumbles, so it can make a little bit of a mess when you break it into smaller pieces. Don’t forget to be tidy and lick the crumbs off the floor.
Ashton: Is it finally my turn to taste one?
Pierre: Go ahead. I had my taste. It was pawesome.
Pierre: Don’t take the whole finger, Ashton!
Newton: Now for me, right?
Ashton: Hey! Over here. More for me. I’m turning on the cute, see?
Ashton: Mine!
Newton: I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to get any. Yum!
Pierre: We gave Primal freeze-dried liver munchies twelve enthusiastic paws up! And the head peep did, too, because it’s a healthy, species-appropriate treat that we all agreed on.
FTC Disclosure: We received these treats for free from Chewy.com. This didn’t influence what we say; all opinions expressed on this site are our own.
