Pet Food & Treats
What's So Bad About Normal Food?
The main reason why pet food is not sustainable is because of the consumption of meat in our pets diets. Our pets' meat consumption generates about 64 million tons of carbon dioxide anually in the US, which is equal to driving 13.6 million cars according to Gregory Okin.
In the US alone our pets' diets contribute to 25-30% of the environmental impact of meat consumption.
US dogs and cats eat more than 200 petajoules (measure of energy content in food) worth of food a year, which is about the same as the human population of France!
What We Can Change
Since there has not yet been a big outturn of sustaibale pet food brands, there are some options out there. We can start to look for brands that are certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or the Marine Stewardship Council. Brands with these certifications indicate that the protein in the food is caught legally and produced responsibly.
So instead of having a red meat diet it is a smart alternative to switch over to fish. This way there are less carbon emissions when feeding and harvesting the meat.
Another way we can change as pet owners is feeding them less. The Associaiton for Pet Obesity Prevention reported that 61% of cats and 59% of dogs are obese or overweight. This correlates greatly with over feeding.