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Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

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81–90 of 95 posts

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#81
post #59

For the environmentally conscious couple, a dog or cat is an excellent replacement for the exceptionally wasteful human baby. From that perspective, re-directing your baby instincts into a dog instead of another human is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

Whoaaa... i never thought about comparing a human being and an animal on the sole scale of carbon footprint. I guess it's fair in a way.. but what a difference on how much they bring to the world.

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#82
post #70

Having worked in a meat processing plant, I can assure you that no humans would want to eat anything that goes into "rendering" for use in pet food. I'm not talking about offal, tripe, small goods, etc., all of which have markets for human consumption. Some of those items are high margin, too. There are markets somewhere in the world for just about every last bit of an animal. The only stuff that goes into pet food i…

No doubt. But there are huge qualitative differences between good and bad animal food, by and large reflected in the price, but higher price being negatable by buying in bulk.

Everything sold in supermarkets - at least where I live - is junk with a clear and immediate negative impact on health and wellbeing. Why anyone would feed that stuff to anybody is beyond my comprehension.

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#84
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that can help a lot is to give dogs and cats more vegetables. In particular, they love brassicas, especially brussels sprouts and broccoli. Either mixed in with their regular food or as a treat, it helps fill them up with very few calories - and really good for them too. If you haven't tried this, I recommend it. Simply microwave some brussels sprouts or broccoli until tender, let cool, and either chop it u…

My Mom is a hardcore vegan. She inherited a cat that was unwanted. Mom was not about to feed that cat meat. Despite the comments here, there does exist vegan cat food and my mom fed that cat vegan cat food for the last 10 years of its life. The cat lived to be 19 years old. TLDR; it's possible for a cat to survive on vegan cat food (even if its not recommended). I know from experience. If I recall correctly, it was t…

Yes, vegan cat food is fine

Doing it yourself will only kill the animal slowly

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#85
post #70

Having worked in a meat processing plant, I can assure you that no humans would want to eat anything that goes into "rendering" for use in pet food. I'm not talking about offal, tripe, small goods, etc., all of which have markets for human consumption. Some of those items are high margin, too. There are markets somewhere in the world for just about every last bit of an animal. The only stuff that goes into pet food i…

I've read an anecdote about McDonalds in the Soviet Union. They were selling meat scraps to dog owners, but they did it covertly, because of concern that poor people would buy it for consumption (meat was in deficit at the time).

What you consider as waste, someone would gladly eat. I realize transportation is a problem, these people live mostly in developing countries.

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#86
post #77
post #70

Having worked in a meat processing plant, I can assure you that no humans would want to eat anything that goes into "rendering" for use in pet food. I'm not talking about offal, tripe, small goods, etc., all of which have markets for human consumption. Some of those items are high margin, too. There are markets somewhere in the world for just about every last bit of an animal. The only stuff that goes into pet food i…

Interesting fact, thank you. I didn't know anything about the use of animal blood in medicine. Good to know we can find uses for most things to reduce waste. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_bovine_serum

it's not about reducing waste it's about reclaiming every possible revenue stream but the net effect is the same so...

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#87
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> meat fed to pets is (largely) not suitable for human consumption 30% unsuitable for human consumption? This choosiness is a just one more sign of affluence and one of the habits we have to get rid of if we want to improve our ecological footprint. Go to a rural village in a developing country and you will see them using 95% easily. This is just

> and one of the habits we have to get rid of if we > want to improve our ecological footprint. A much, much bigger improvement (reduction) of humanity's ecological footprint would be for everyone to go vegan two days a week. That would potentially have a ~25% reduction in the number of animals reared and used, and would bring a commensurate decrease in ecological footprint. I think that's a worthy goal. Disclaimer:…

So 25% reduction in meat I use by not eating it myself vs. not feeding it to a dog. Excuse me, but I can't see a difference here.

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#88
post #70

Having worked in a meat processing plant, I can assure you that no humans would want to eat anything that goes into "rendering" for use in pet food. I'm not talking about offal, tripe, small goods, etc., all of which have markets for human consumption. Some of those items are high margin, too. There are markets somewhere in the world for just about every last bit of an animal. The only stuff that goes into pet food i…

Many humans do not want to eat the cheap meat I eat.

If you are saying that the responsibility of killed cow should be distributed by costs and not by kilos of meat, I'm probably as virtuous as vegan with three dogs.

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#89
post #59

For the environmentally conscious couple, a dog or cat is an excellent replacement for the exceptionally wasteful human baby. From that perspective, re-directing your baby instincts into a dog instead of another human is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

A vegan kid seems like a preferable replacement.

Except kids can't be raised on a vegan diet, particularly young kids.

Re: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats

#90
This is exactly the type of debate that makes conservatives question climate change alarmism and shuts down the economic debate. The question should always be: to what extent is it cheaper and easier for humanity to reduce carbon emissions?

The motivation behind this research could be construed as: increasing your carbon footprint by owning a pet is immoral. This is crazy. It is not morally wrong to use the materials of the earth to improve human happiness. If you can afford pet food you should be able to have a pet. If your city can want a nature preserve, it should be able to have one.

Is anyone surprised that having another mammal in your home increases your carbon footprint? Should we restrict babies to one per family? Should we not use more of the earth's resources than we used as of 2017 years after the death of Christ? Is this all a political satire?

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