Dry pet food may be more environmentally friendly than wet food

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Pet owners may have a new reason to reach for the food.

Veterinary nutritionist Vivian Pedrinelli of the University of São Paulo in Brazil and colleagues report that dry cat and dog food tends to be better for the environment than wet food. Their analysis of more than 900 hundred pet diets showed that nearly 90 percent of the calories in wet food come from animal sources. This is almost twice the calorie content of animal ingredients in dry food.

The team factored in the cost of different pet food ingredients across several environmental measures. The results, described on November 17 Scientific reportsI suggest Wet food production uses more land and water They emit more greenhouse gases than dry foods.

Scientists already know that Human diets rich in meat cause greenhouse gas emissions (SN: 5/5/22). But when it comes to environmental sustainability, “we shouldn’t ignore pet food,” says Peter Alexander, an economist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the work.

Alexander says the extent to which different pet foods affect the environment isn’t clear. Commercial cat and dog fares are not usually made with premium cuts of meat. Instead, ingredient lists often include animal by-products — which people aren’t likely to eat anyway.

How to calculate the carbon cost of these residues is an ongoing debate, says Gregory Okin, an ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study.

Some argue that by-products in pet food are essentially free, as they come from animals that have already been bred for human consumption. Others note that any calorie requires energy and therefore has an environmental cost. Additionally, the animal ingredients in pet food may not be just scraps. If they contain even a small amount of edible meat, this can make a huge impact.

Okin says knowing there is an environmental difference between a moist morsel and a crunchy treat can be beneficial to environmentally conscious pet owners. Having this information on hand at the grocery store, he adds, is “very important when people are making decisions.” “There are consumers who want attention.”

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