Member-only story
The Environmental Benefits of Vegan Diets for Dogs and Cats: Insights from a Scientist
If dogs and cats were given meatless meals, it would have a huge and positive impact on the natural environment. Even better, if people also consumed meat less frequently.
Can you imagine dogs and cats not eating meat? This is an unconventional and controversial idea. Regardless of how a meatless diet affects the health of animals, feeding our domestic pets plant-based meals would be significant for the natural environment. This is the belief of Andrew Knight from the Australian Griffith University.
In the journal “PLOS One,” Knight published an article in which he presented his own estimates of what would happen if our domestic pets became vegans. He points out that the current scale of pork and poultry farming has a massive and negative impact on nature.
Firstly, it results in significant water consumption. Producing one kilogram of beef consumes 15,000 liters of water, while bread consumes 1,600 liters, and apples consume 800 liters (data from a 2013 report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers). Animal farming requires vast areas of land for pasture crops. The entire sector is responsible for 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions (data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization for 2015; data from 2021 published in the journal…
