 | By Casey LoweCommunications & Outreach Intern |
Two months ago I made one of the best decisions of my life by adopting my dog, Hunter.
I’ve been an animal lover from birth and grew up with pets in my home, but Hunter is the first pet I’ve been solely accountable for. With great puppy snuggles comes great responsibility, and I have spent lots of time searching through the aisles of pet stores looking for the best possible food for Hunter.
One day when I was browsing the kibble aisle, I was looking through the ingredient lists of all the major brands of dog food. It was then when I first thought about the environmental costs of Hunter’s food. Water, land and other natural resources are used and polluted for dog food. Most plants that create the food are also burning coal or using other fossil fuel sources.
One of the most carbon-intensive, and therefore environmentally damaging factors in food for a dog like Hunter are the protein components. Beef, chicken, pork and lamb were top ingredients in almost all of the highest-rated “healthy” brands. This made me curious to find out more about how much livestock pets consume every year in America.
A year ago, I cut red meat out of my own diet to reduce my greenhouse gas emissions. Until this moment, I didn’t consider that I may need to remove red meat from Hunter’s diet too.
There is an immense amount of scientific research that proves the devastating effects that animal agriculture, particularly beef production, has on the environment. Before 2015, few people have considered what impacts dog food production has within the sector. Growing feed for livestock is extremely resource intensive and results in a large amount of carbon and methane emissions.
Animal agriculture accounts for 15 to 35 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and producing food for dogs and cats accounts for a whopping 25 to 35 percent of the total environmental impacts within animal agriculture. This includes land use, water use, fossil fuel use and emissions, and other toxins released during the process. To simplify, pet food consumption releases 64 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent methane and nitrous oxide yearly, according to Gregory Okin, a researcher at UCLA. That amount is equivalent to 13,617,021 typical passenger vehicles on the road for one year.
Here is where the conundrum lies. Like myself, America is obsessed with pets. There are 163 million dogs and cats in this country alone. Most pet owners want to give their animals the healthiest choices possible. How can pet owners, like myself, ensure the best choices for our pets while also protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Luckily there are multiple ways to reduce the carbon “paw-print” of our pets.
One controversial way is to feed your pets a vegan or vegetarian diet. There are numerous cat and dog food brands that produce foods with no animal content, but most veterinarians agree that cats especially should not be fed a solely vegan/vegetarian diet. A vegan/vegetarian diet conflicts with a cat’s entire physiology, nutrient requirements and carnivorous instincts.
One way to resolve this is to feed cats animal protein in the form of dairy and eggs. On the other hand, dogs have omnivorous ability and can receive most of their required vitamins from plants, leaving more room for them to try a vegan/vegetarian pet diet. Vegetarian or not, grains like corn, soy, wheat, rice, and barley are perfectly healthy in your pet’s diet, but before choosing vegetarian food for your pet you should understand the effects and consult a veterinarian.
There are still more sustainable ways to feed your cat or dog that include animal protein. As pets have become more like family members more people have started buying pricey, grain-free food that contains “human-grade” or “choice” meats in it. Dog food corporations have begun advertising food containing of human-grade meat which are grain-free as the healthiest option for your pets. Scientific studies have not proven these claims.
As previously mentioned, it is perfectly healthy to have grains as a component of your pets food, and it is quite adequate for animals to consume meat byproducts as long as they are safely produced. Most of these byproducts are leftovers from meat slaughtered for human consumption that aren’t typically consumed by people but they are completely fine for dogs and cats to consume. Choosing a food that uses byproducts protects the environment by limiting the number of livestock that needs to be slaughtered for pet food on top of the number needed for human food.
A smaller-scale solution includes ensuring that you are not overfeeding your pets. A study done by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention in 2016 estimated that 53.9 percent of dogs and 58.9 percent of cats are clinically overweight. This is bad for the environment and for the health of your pet! Limiting pet obesity will greatly reduce the amount of meat based pet food that is consumed yearly and extend your pet’s life.
Although there is no perfect way to prevent pet ownership from negatively impacting the environment, there are good measures we can all take to reduce the impact our beloved pets have on the planet. I have transitioned Hunter to a chicken-and-rice diet containing real chicken produced as byproduct. Hunter’s food is still one of the most popular brands on the market- and it doesn’t break the bank. I also prefer to buy him vegetarian treats when I can find them.
By making pet food choices that have less of a negative impact on the environment and a good impact on pet health, Hunter and I can continue to enjoy the outdoor activities that we both love for many years to come.
SOURCES: