Saving catnip for our catnip-loving cats!
At Shameless we are making sure that all the catnip that gets grown by our farmers gets used. Imagine cats reaction if they knew this beautiful plant (Nepeta cataria) was just being thrown away?
How upcycling works at Shameless Pets:
First we reach out to farmers here in the US to see if their catnip harvests are being fully consumed and how their crops are going for the season. We then visit their farm, get to know them and become partners to help consume as much of their crops as possible. The ultimate goal is to use all the edible parts of the plant... or fruit or veggie that the farmers work so hard to cultivate and not waste perfectly good food.
For catnip, we partner with a certified organic farm in Washington state, who are the largest growers of organic catnip in North America. We love them and they love Shameless Pets!
The primary demand for catnip is the leaves and stems where the majority of the active chemical compound that attracts and affects your cat, Nepetalactone, is found. The farm harvests the catnip plant then trims and cuts the leaves to sell to a variety of customers. When trimming the whole leaf from the plant, fine pieces fall away and are left behind. The fine pieces are considered "food waste" because they are perfectly edible high quality food that will be wasted as a result of the trimming/cutting process. Catnip is a smaller contributor but now you can imagine this across hundreds of other harvested plants, fruits and veggies and understand how we get to 63 MILLION TONS of food waste in the USA annually. And let's face it, there is no way all the tonnage gets reported, so we know that number is much larger!
So here is where Shameless comes in -- We love those fine pieces, we want those fine pieces, and we are happy to buy those fine pieces from the farmer to reduce the waste and help the farmer recoup their growing and maintenance costs. The fine pieces are the perfect size and texture to bake into our crunchy cat treats.
The entire process we just described is UPCYCLING because we are "creating new, high-quality products from surplus food" as defined by the Upcycled Food Association.
From the farm to your home
Catnip N Chill is our #1 selling product and the fastest growing cat treat on Amazon, at Whole Foods Market, and on Chewy. The more Catnip N Chill we sell the more catnip that gets rescued from the farms... so now you know where you come in! We hope we say it often enough but we truly appreciate your support; we are a small company with a big mission and we are making a dent every day with your help.
