Is your family pet bad for the environment? It depends.

Whether dog, cat, chicken, goldfish or hamster, children love their pets. Many would consider her part of the family.

But pets use up resources, from food and water to medicines, toys, and specialty furniture. They also produce waste. And that has led many pet families to wonder how bad their animals can be for the environment.

A squeaky toy here and a can of tuna there doesn’t seem like a huge issue for the health of the planet, especially given the rising temperatures of the climate and a million endangered species of wildlife. But since a third of all households on earth have at least one dog and nearly a quarter of households have at least one cat, the costs will all add up.

“If you take small numbers and multiply them by really big numbers, you still get really big numbers,” says Gregory Okin, professor at UCLA’s Department of Environment and Sustainability.

Waste generated by pets – droppings, used cat litter, pet food packaging, old toys, and yes, even Halloween costumes – can negate the overall sustainability of pet ownership. And of course, some of these problems are intractable side effects of owning animals. (There is no way to make your pets poop less, for example.)

From the type of pet you choose, to the food you feed them, to the way you play and tidy up with that animal, you and your children have many options to take the toll your pets take on require the planet to reduce. And while everyone doesn’t agree on the best way to minimize your pet’s paw print, we have some basic ideas for your family in the back of your mind.

The shovel on droppings

In a study published in 2017, Okin calculated that the total feces produced by domestic dogs and cats living in the United States is 5.1 million tons each year. That’s how much rubbish the state of Massachusetts produces annually – which means if all this shit collapses, it will create even more methane, which is causing climate change.

“Dog and cat droppings aren’t big, but there are plenty,” he says.

There’s not much that can be done about a pet’s methane emissions, so the trick is to teach kids sustainable ways to dispose of that feces. For example, you could choose compostable dog bags instead of plastic, go to the trouble of flushing your dog’s poop, or buy cat litter made from bamboo, corn, or other biodegradable products instead of clay.

Just don’t rinse your cat’s mess. While it may seem like an environmentally friendly solution, scientists have found that cat feces can pass deadly parasites on to endangered wildlife.

The problem with pet food

Whether dry food or pâté with sauce, the ingredients for pet food have to come from somewhere – and some are more sustainable than others. Foods with a high protein content are particularly stressful, especially when these proteins come from highly stressed animals such as cows.

There’s also a lot of confusion about how much protein pets need as many pet food companies tout higher and higher levels of whole muscle proteins like chicken and salmon fillets while devaluing “fillers.”

“Some use the term ‘bulking’ to refer to grains or fiber, but that’s basically negative marketing jargon,” said Kelly Swanson, a nutritionist in the University of Illinois’ Department of Animal Sciences. “Grains provide starch that is useful for the nutritional structure and [are] an easily available source of energy, and fiber offers many gut health benefits. “

In general, Swanson says, the pet food industry is already pretty sustainable as it contains products left over from the food industry. But families can do several things to increase their pets’ food consumption.

“One of them is to eat a healthy body weight,” says Swanson. “There are so many obese pets.” Not only does this reduce the amount of food consumed, but it also helps you avoid costly veterinary bills.

Another suggestion is to adjust your pet’s food based on their age. When they’re young, both puppies and kittens need more protein and total calories, Swanson says. In fact, he recommends reducing the amount of protein fed to pets in general as they age, as long as your vet says it’s okay.

“Cats are carnivores, but they don’t need 50 percent protein,” says Swanson, referring to the content of some commonly available products.

Instead, he recommends looking for cat foods with protein ratios in the high 20s and low 30s range. Dogs can probably get away with even less protein as they have developed an omnivorous diet that better suits our own.

This also saves you money at the checkout since high-protein foods tend to be more expensive, notes Swanson.

Play with your pets

Not really. According to a study published in Current Biology in March this year, keeping domestic cats busy with just five to ten minutes of play per day significantly reduced their desire to hunt wild animals.

And that’s good news because free-range cats kill billions of wildlife every year, putting a tremendous burden on native species.

The study also found a link between reduced kills and consumption of grain-free foods containing meat-based proteins. The food tested contained only about 30 percent protein, says Martina Cecchetti, lead author of the study and an ecologist at the University of Exeter in the UK. This is in line with Swanson’s recommendations above.

source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/is-your-family-pet-bad-for-the-environment-it-depends/