Vegan dog diet could lead to ‘massive’ environmental benefits, study says
A vegan diet for dogs could save “more greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) than all those emitted by the UK”, a study by a University of Winchester academic says.
Andrew Knight, a Visiting Lecturer in Animal Welfare at the University, claims the findings of his new study, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, are ‘game changing’.
A University of Winchester academic says his latest study points to the massive environmental benefits to be gained by a vegan diet for people and their pets.
Andrew Knight, a Visiting Lecturer in Animal Welfare at the University, claims the findings of his new study, published today (4 October) in leading scientific journal PLOS ONE, are ‘game changing’.
After analysing pet food ingredients in detail, as well as food consumed by people, Knight calculated that the world’s dogs and cats consume around 9% of all land animals killed for food, or around 7 billion animals annually, as well as billions of fish and aquatic animals.
Professor Knight said he calculated that if all the world’s dogs went vegan, it would save more GHGs than all those emitted by the UK, land larger than Mexico, freshwater exceeding all renewable freshwater in Denmark, and would feed around 450 million additional people – more than the entire EU population.
And if all the world’s people went vegan, it would save more GHGs than all those emitted by the entire EU, land larger than Russia and India combined, renewable freshwater exceeding all that of Cuba, and would feed around 5.3 billion additional people – almost two-thirds of the world’s current population.
Until recently, such dietary change had not been seriously considered for dogs and cats – who are biologically omnivores and carnivores respectively.
However, in the last two years many new vegan pet foods have been developed by companies using plant-based ingredients supplemented with vitamins, amino acids and minerals, to ensure all necessary nutrients are included.
New studies have shown good health and behavioural outcomes for dogs and cats using such diets. There are now 9 such studies in dogs, and 3 in cats. The most recent very large-scale study showed positive health outcomes in vegan cats.
New studies into the positive health and behavioural outcomes for dogs using plant-based diets have driven a rapid growth in this sector. By 2023 the vegan dog food market was valued at $14 billion and is expected to reach $26 billion by 2033.
Professor Andrew Knight said: “This study is game-changing. We’ve long known that plant-based diets are better for the planet but have not seriously considered the impacts of pet food. However, pet food has profound environmental impacts. Conversely, very large environmental benefits can be achieved by nutritionally sound vegan pet food.
“Large-scale studies have also shown that health outcomes for both dogs and cats are as good or better. And studies of feeding behaviour have demonstrated that average dogs and cats enjoy vegan pet foods as much as those made from meat.”
He concluded: “Pet owners who care about the environment or their animals’ health should consider nutritionally-sound vegan pet food. However, to safeguard health, it is important that people feed only commercial diets labelled as nutritionally complete, produced by reputable companies with good standards.”
