A normally carnivorous companion animal or "pet" can be converted to a vegetarian or vegan diet. This type of diet can extend the lives of both cats and dogs and save millions of other animals each year who are slaughtered to feed our companion animals.
"Did you know that a quarter of all the meat consumed in the United States is eaten by our pets? That’s the equivalent to the amount devoured by 26 million Americans, and it makes U.S. cats and dogs equal to the fifth largest country in terms of animal protein consumption."
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Months ago I read a draft of a forthcoming book written by specialists in veterinary science, animal welfare, and biotech—Ernie Ward, Alice Oven, and Ryan Bethencourt—called The Clean Pet Food Revolution: How Better Pet Food Will Change the World.1 I was very impressed with the breadth, depth, and scientific basis of this fact-filled book and even more taken with its numerous important messages now that I've reread it. Here is what the authors had to say about their forward-looking work.
Marc: Why did you write The Clean Pet Food
Revolution and what did each of you bring to the table or bowl?
Authors: Two huge reasons were to improve the health of our
companion animals and to enhance the welfare of those other domesticated
animals that suffer and die to feed our pets. A third, immediate motivator
was the frightening impact that conventional meat-based pet food is having
on the future of our planet. Research published in 2017 by UCLA professor
Gregory Okin showed that a quarter of all meat-derived calories in the U.S.
are fed to pets, meaning that modern high animal-protein pet diets are now a
major contributor to human-induced climate change. According to Okin’s
research, if U.S. dogs and cats were their own country, it would rank fifth
in terms of global animal meat consumption. Because more pet parents are
demanding human-grade animal meats for their dogs and cats, animals are
being purpose-bred to become pet food: about 30 percent of intensively
farmed animals in the U.S. are slaughtered solely to feed our dogs and cats.
Science tells us that unless we take the meat out of both human and pet
foods, we’re not going to achieve the IPCC recommended 60 to 70 percent
reduction in food-based GHG emissions needed to stop or slow climate change.
Ernie’s veterinary passion has always been in pet obesity, nutrition, and
extending longevity in dogs and cats. During the past decade, he’s become
concerned that there are too few food choices for pet owners concerned about
the environment and climate change, animal welfare, and the contamination
risks of meat-based dog foods. Ernie wrote this book to educate pet parents
as to the benefits of an animal-meat-free diet for pets, increasing consumer
demand and encouraging other pet food producers to invest in alternative
proteins. He explains the science behind plant-based feeding and delves into
the challenges for feeding cats meat-free diets. Ernie is also passionate
about saving the "hidden victims" of the pet food industry: dogs confined in
"kennel farms" for use in pet food feeding trials. In the final chapter, he
advocates for more ethical "in-home" testing, explaining why this can
produce more useful science.
An animal ethicist, Alice is fascinated by the differing ways that humans
treat dogs and cats versus the pigs, cows, and chickens we raise for food.
She wants to help pet owners expand their circles of compassion: to remove
the barriers that stand in the way of thinking too much about the animals in
the food as well as the animals eating that food. As obsessive dog
guardians, nobody understands the bond we share with our pets better than
us. But surely this should be a starting point for broader empathy with all
animals? So long as we rely on animal meat to feed our dogs and cats, we're
only reinforcing these categories of "food" versus "friend."
Finally, we wanted to show not just problems but solutions, and this is
where Ryan Bethencourt stepped in. Ryan’s expertise helped us write the
section of the book which discusses the biotech innovations that are
revolutionizing pet food. We explain why cell-based, cultured or "clean"
meat has enormous potential to offer a more environmentally-friendly,
sustainable, and ethical way to feed carnivorous cats. Cell-based protein is
identical to animal meat in terms of nutritional composition, taste, and
smell but not a single animal has to be harmed to make it. That’s the truly
revolutionary part!
Marc: How does your book differ from others on the same
or similar topics?
Authors: We wanted to write this book because we were
seeing increasing interest in feeding alternative proteins to pets, but no
one source of comprehensive, scientifically-sound information that they
could refer to. There’s a lot of misinformation out there: for example, that
dogs are carnivores, that removing meat from your cat’s diet is "abuse,"
that raw meat is the healthiest diet for your dog, and that pets are just
using up byproducts of meat meant for human consumption. We wanted to pull
together the facts about pet nutrition and the real impact conventional meat
pet food is having on the planet and on farmed animal suffering. The book is
fully referenced without being "dry"―it was hugely important to us that we
cited as many reputable scientific sources as possible.
Finally, while there are a few excellent books out there on plant-based pet
food, this is the first book to explore novel proteins such as cultured
fungi-based and yeast-based dog food and cell-based cat food. We speak with
the top experts in each area, including the CEOs and scientists of
cell-based meat start-ups for both pet and human food and disseminate their
unique insights and perspectives on this exploding field.
Marc: What are some of your major themes and messages? I
know many readers will really want to know if dogs or cats can "go
vegetarian or vegan."
Authors: One of the things we want to stress is that this
book is not about turning your pet "vegan." Veganism is a social movement,
not a diet: your dog might be fed a plant-based diet but he/she is never
going to lie awake at night worrying about farmed animal suffering or the
ethics of wearing a leather collar. Actually, a plant-based diet is just one
of the many ethical, environmentally, and scientifically sound alternatives
to conventional animal meat pet food: there is now a wide range of meat-free
pet food options, from plant-based diets, yeast and fungal proteins, insects
(and yes, we debate the ethics of feeding insects, as well as discussing the
environmental benefits!) and, very soon, cultured or "clean" meats.
Marc: Are you hopeful people will change the ways in
which they decide who and what to feed to their companion animals?
Authors: Absolutely! Last year, a research team at the
University of Guelph surveyed 3,673 pet parents and found that 78 percent of
vegan owners indicated that they would feed a meat-free diet to their pet if
one were easily available and proven to be nutritionally complete and safe.
Our book aims to show that healthy alternatives to animal meats in pet foods
are available, options that are better for the planet and reduce animal
suffering.
Marc: What are some of your current projects?
Authors: Ernie is continuing his crusade for plant-based
pet foods as co-founder and Chief Veterinary Officer of Wild Earth while
overseeing research into the health benefits of meat-free pet foods and
exploring exciting new alternative proteins.
Alice is currently working on her MSc thesis exploring pet owner attitudes
to feeding cell-based meat and other alternative proteins, as well as
developing a One Health One Welfare book series at Taylor & Francis. She
continues to blog regularly on animal ethics.
Ryan is actively working to ensure Wild Earth pet foods are available to
more pet parents as CEO and tirelessly campaigns for pet food that’s better
for pets, the planet, and all animals.
Marc: Is there anything else you would like to tell
readers?
Authors: One of our greatest concerns is that pets will
become too expensive to feed over the next 20 years due to exploding global
populations and the increasing scarcity of resources. We believe that the
Clean Pet Food Revolution will be won by introducing less expensive choices
than traditional animal meats. We can only make meat cheaper by unethically
increasing the number of animals raised and adding hormones and antibiotics.
With yeast and cellular proteins, we can infinitely enhance the foods we
produce at a lower cost, ethically creating foods specific to an individual
pet’s nutritional needs. Our book discusses this emerging food revolution,
the new language of nutrition, and how every human and animal can
participate. Viva la revolution!
Marc: Thank you for such an informative and important
interview. Many people, including animal lovers, really don't know about
"the impact pet food has on the environment and climate change, how healthy
or necessary it is for our animal companions, or how it impacts the welfare
of the farmed animals who become that food." But they should and must.
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Biographical information about the authors
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