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Clickbaity title. Original: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats Anyway,it's not like the article seems like being a particularly good o

by jaclaz 9y ago

Clickbaity title. Original: Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats Anyway,it's not like the article seems like being a particularly good one, while it cites the concept that meat fed to pets is (largely) not suitable for human consumption, doesn't take into account the actual related impact and vaguely talks of post-processing the non-suitable parts. The IMHO terrible part is this one: >And much pet food probably is already edible and serves as a potential source of protein as a food of last resort; there are reports, both official and unofficial, of impoverished Americans eating pet food as a necessary supplement to their diet [55–57, 58, 59]. At any rate, the trend toward premium pet food with more animal products that Americans would recognize as edible indicates that pets are eating animal products that could also be eaten by humans and that there is direct competition with the human food system for ingredients in some of these products [10]. TL;DR: Your cat and/or dog is probably too fat, and you should somehow feel bad about it.

bluedino 9y ago
>> Your cat and/or dog is probably too fat Slightly above 50% of US pet dogs and cats are overweight.
- pebers 9y ago
  So, on average, they're in better shape than their owners. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statisti...
  - a2tech 9y ago
    I know my dogs are. They get lean meat and veggies and very few empty sugars and carbohydrates. They're lean and in excellent health for their age. Me? Very much the opposite.
- boyaka 9y ago
  Probably the ones that arent getting premium pet food
  - brianwawok 9y ago
    Nah pet weight is all quantity and table scraps. Limit scraps and measure well and your pet will be the correct weight. So much easier than my diet. Wish someone measured my portions.
  - jetrink 9y ago
    I take care of people's dogs for extra income. There are two primary reasons that my clients' dogs are overweight. The first group don't monitor their dog's weight or how much it eats. "Just keep some food in the bowl so he doesn't get hungry." The second group derive pleasure from feeding their dog, provide expensive meals for it and, in their enthusiasm, end up overfeeding.
  - kitsunesoba 9y ago
    For cats, the corn, grain, and otherwise carb-filled cat foods that dominate store shelves and are cheaply available are absolutely terrible. Cats are obligate carnivores and aren't built to deal with that kind of food composition at all. Some cats deal with it better than others, but generally feeding your cat these cheap foods will result in it becoming very obese and highly prone to several types of disease. I don't go as far as some pet owners, buying frozen pet food from Whole Foods and the like, but I do buy my cat high quality meat-based grain-free dry cat food. It's a little pricey but a 9lb cat eating proper amounts of protein doesn't eat much and a large bag lasts a long time. Just make sure to get a good airtight container to keep the food in.
    - adanto6840 9y ago
      +1 for airtight container. We had cheaped out on this and just purchased some cheaper plastic Rubbermaid-style containers -- to my wife's horror, she opened it one day to find maggots. She was sicker than the dog ever was (the dog didn't get sick and we threw that container out wholesale, food and all). We purchased an airtight "food container" with a screw-on lid -- from a major pet store chain, and for some absurd amount of money -- but haven't had an issue sense, and the peace of mind was well worth it for my wife's sake.
- Stratoscope 9y ago
  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 up, add a little water, and mix into their food, or else take the sprouts and slice them in quarters as a treat. With broccoli, they like the stems more than the heads. Sweeter and less pungent. When I give them the sprouts as a treat, the dogs get the quartered sprouts, and the cats like to have me peel off a leaf and tear it into pieces for them. I sit down on the kitchen floor, the dogs line up, and the cats muscle in between them and sit on my legs to get their share. (That's why I sit down, so they don't climb my legs!) I've had a couple of people tell me, "You must be kidding. Dogs and cats don't like vegetables, they want meat!" They change their mind when they see how our dogs and cats respond to the brussels sprouts. BTW, if you are used to steaming brussels sprouts for yourself when you don't do something fancier with them, I highly recommend microwaving instead. It cooks them evenly, unlike steaming which ruins the outside by the time the inside is done. Rinse them first - the bit of water avoids burning - and undercook them a little because they continue to cook when you take them out. A microwaved brussels sprout dipped in hummus is a tasty treat. (For people, not for the pets! The garlic wouldn't be good for them.) Update: I didn't expect this to spark quite such a discussion, but thank you everyone for the replies - I learned some things here. Rest assured that I only give the cats a small amount of the brussels sprouts - the dogs get more.
  - adanto6840 9y ago
    Our dog absolutely loves carrots -- if you dare to eat a carrot near him, you won't hear the end of it until he's had one too. We stopped making homemade (meat) treats for him in favor of just keeping a baggie of small carrots in the fridge. It's still hilarious to me, but he just goes crazy for them, time and time again. I'm not sure if it's just the crunch, or maybe the 'social factor' of him watching my wife eat them, but he truly adores a healthy carrot snack/treat. =)
    - mikestew 9y ago
- trhway 9y ago
  >Slightly above 50% of US pet dogs and cats are overweight. because they are spayed/neutered. We've never limited food consumption by our cats and by our dog and never neutered them, and they have never been overweight.
  - thanksgiving 9y ago
    Is vasectomy bad for health?
randomThoughts9 9y ago
> 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
- paulddraper 9y ago
  Yeah, more hot dogs.
- jaclaz 9y ago
  >Go to a rural village in a developing country and you will see them using 95% easily. Using 95%? Sure. Eating 95%? Come on. We will have to define what is "meat", in pets food a lot of parts of the animal that wouldn't be considered "meat" are used. And there are some Laws/rules about some parts not being fit for human consumption (of course depending on the country).
  - xapata 9y ago
    If you boil meat to make broth and then throw out the chunks after some hours, you have pulled most of the nutrients into the broth. So, yeah, I would say they use most of the animal.
- yorwba 9y ago
  The choosiness is also culture-dependent. I have eaten pig feet, pig stomach, shark fin, unidentifiable organs and very bony meat at somewhat upscale restaurants in China. I'm sure there are some foods that are seen as basically inedible in China, but those do not necessarily coincide with Western tastes. A lot of this is probably influenced by perceptions of "poor-people food" (like lobster) instead of being based in human nutritional needs. My Chinese friend was surprised when I remarked on the great taste of grilled pig liver, since it was the least expensive of the dishes he had me try out.
  - otp124 9y ago
sctb 9y ago
Thanks, we've updated it from “Pets consume 30% of all meat products”.
- thanksgiving 9y ago
  Thank you much!
retox 9y ago
Philip K. Dick famously ate horse meat prepared as pet food at various times in his life. Whether this was out of necessity or because of preference is open for debate.

by jaclaz 9y ago

bluedino 9y ago

>> Your cat and/or dog is probably too fat Slightly above 50% of US pet dogs and cats are overweight.

pebers 9y ago
So, on average, they're in better shape than their owners. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statisti...
- a2tech 9y ago
  I know my dogs are. They get lean meat and veggies and very few empty sugars and carbohydrates. They're lean and in excellent health for their age. Me? Very much the opposite.
boyaka 9y ago
Probably the ones that arent getting premium pet food
- brianwawok 9y ago
  Nah pet weight is all quantity and table scraps. Limit scraps and measure well and your pet will be the correct weight. So much easier than my diet. Wish someone measured my portions.
- jetrink 9y ago
  I take care of people's dogs for extra income. There are two primary reasons that my clients' dogs are overweight. The first group don't monitor their dog's weight or how much it eats. "Just keep some food in the bowl so he doesn't get hungry." The second group derive pleasure from feeding their dog, provide expensive meals for it and, in their enthusiasm, end up overfeeding.
- kitsunesoba 9y ago
  For cats, the corn, grain, and otherwise carb-filled cat foods that dominate store shelves and are cheaply available are absolutely terrible. Cats are obligate carnivores and aren't built to deal with that kind of food composition at all. Some cats deal with it better than others, but generally feeding your cat these cheap foods will result in it becoming very obese and highly prone to several types of disease. I don't go as far as some pet owners, buying frozen pet food from Whole Foods and the like, but I do buy my cat high quality meat-based grain-free dry cat food. It's a little pricey but a 9lb cat eating proper amounts of protein doesn't eat much and a large bag lasts a long time. Just make sure to get a good airtight container to keep the food in.
  - adanto6840 9y ago
    +1 for airtight container. We had cheaped out on this and just purchased some cheaper plastic Rubbermaid-style containers -- to my wife's horror, she opened it one day to find maggots. She was sicker than the dog ever was (the dog didn't get sick and we threw that container out wholesale, food and all). We purchased an airtight "food container" with a screw-on lid -- from a major pet store chain, and for some absurd amount of money -- but haven't had an issue sense, and the peace of mind was well worth it for my wife's sake.
Stratoscope 9y ago
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 up, add a little water, and mix into their food, or else take the sprouts and slice them in quarters as a treat. With broccoli, they like the stems more than the heads. Sweeter and less pungent. When I give them the sprouts as a treat, the dogs get the quartered sprouts, and the cats like to have me peel off a leaf and tear it into pieces for them. I sit down on the kitchen floor, the dogs line up, and the cats muscle in between them and sit on my legs to get their share. (That's why I sit down, so they don't climb my legs!) I've had a couple of people tell me, "You must be kidding. Dogs and cats don't like vegetables, they want meat!" They change their mind when they see how our dogs and cats respond to the brussels sprouts. BTW, if you are used to steaming brussels sprouts for yourself when you don't do something fancier with them, I highly recommend microwaving instead. It cooks them evenly, unlike steaming which ruins the outside by the time the inside is done. Rinse them first - the bit of water avoids burning - and undercook them a little because they continue to cook when you take them out. A microwaved brussels sprout dipped in hummus is a tasty treat. (For people, not for the pets! The garlic wouldn't be good for them.) Update: I didn't expect this to spark quite such a discussion, but thank you everyone for the replies - I learned some things here. Rest assured that I only give the cats a small amount of the brussels sprouts - the dogs get more.
- adanto6840 9y ago
  Our dog absolutely loves carrots -- if you dare to eat a carrot near him, you won't hear the end of it until he's had one too. We stopped making homemade (meat) treats for him in favor of just keeping a baggie of small carrots in the fridge. It's still hilarious to me, but he just goes crazy for them, time and time again. I'm not sure if it's just the crunch, or maybe the 'social factor' of him watching my wife eat them, but he truly adores a healthy carrot snack/treat. =)
  - mikestew 9y ago
trhway 9y ago
>Slightly above 50% of US pet dogs and cats are overweight. because they are spayed/neutered. We've never limited food consumption by our cats and by our dog and never neutered them, and they have never been overweight.
- thanksgiving 9y ago
  Is vasectomy bad for health?

randomThoughts9 9y ago

> 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

paulddraper 9y ago
Yeah, more hot dogs.
jaclaz 9y ago
>Go to a rural village in a developing country and you will see them using 95% easily. Using 95%? Sure. Eating 95%? Come on. We will have to define what is "meat", in pets food a lot of parts of the animal that wouldn't be considered "meat" are used. And there are some Laws/rules about some parts not being fit for human consumption (of course depending on the country).
- xapata 9y ago
  If you boil meat to make broth and then throw out the chunks after some hours, you have pulled most of the nutrients into the broth. So, yeah, I would say they use most of the animal.
yorwba 9y ago
The choosiness is also culture-dependent. I have eaten pig feet, pig stomach, shark fin, unidentifiable organs and very bony meat at somewhat upscale restaurants in China. I'm sure there are some foods that are seen as basically inedible in China, but those do not necessarily coincide with Western tastes. A lot of this is probably influenced by perceptions of "poor-people food" (like lobster) instead of being based in human nutritional needs. My Chinese friend was surprised when I remarked on the great taste of grilled pig liver, since it was the least expensive of the dishes he had me try out.
- otp124 9y ago

sctb 9y ago

Thanks, we've updated it from “Pets consume 30% of all meat products”.

thanksgiving 9y ago
Thank you much!

retox 9y ago

Philip K. Dick famously ate horse meat prepared as pet food at various times in his life. Whether this was out of necessity or because of preference is open for debate.