The supermarket, pet shop, and vet clinic shelves are full of an array of pet food options: dry kibble, canned wet, semi-most, freeze-dried, raw, complete, complimentary, oven-baked, grain-free, hypoallergenic, and plant-based, not to mention the different treats and chews presented. With this diversity of products available at different price points, it’s hard to know which to choose.

Pet food companies capitalise on the fact that cats and dogs are increasingly valued as family members (Irvine and Cilia, 2017; McCabe, 2014) and their products are advertised to us in ways that are designed to pull on these kinship relations (McCabe, 2014), as well as our caregiving instincts (Baker, 2023). Popular media, information on the internet, and social media (e.g. Massey, 2023; Snider, 2023; Walker, 2023), as well as scientific research (to be discussed in more detail in a future post), often present different opinions as to what is in the nutritional best interests of our cats and dogs. Meat-based pet food companies typically highlight and market the “carnivorous” nature of both cats and dogs (despite dogs actually being categorised as facultative carnivores, meaning that they do eat plants) (see Baker, 2023). There are also often concerns shared around the safety of commercially produced pet foods, including food recalls, contamination, and mislabelling (Blazquez, 2023; McTaggart and Stephens, 2021; Walker, 2023). Many guardians are also increasingly aware of the environmental and animal welfare costs associated with the production of meat-based pet products (see Ward et al. 2020 for an overview of some of these issues) and Baker (2023: 2) refers to how there has been a “shift in the US [and UK] pet food industry which tries to balance nutrition, welfare and sustainability”. With all of these competing interests, how do we navigate what is best for our companions, other animals, and the planet?  

A quick aside: A very brief history of pet food

Cats and dogs have lived alongside humans for many thousands of years and for most of this time they received sustenance from leftovers and scraps, or, especially for cats, by hunting. These early relationships were largely functional, for instance, cats were thought to be highly valued for their hunting skills. The human relationship with cats and dogs and their popularity as companions began to shift alongside changes in financial practices and economic stability in the late 1800s (Power, 2012). This change in relationship and their incorporation into the household was also reflected in feeding practices with the production in the 1860s of a dog biscuit produced by James Spratt, an American electrician (Grier, 2006; Slater, 2014). Canned wet food emerged in 1922 in the USA, with the advent of the brand ‘Ken-L-Ration’ by the Chappel Brothers, which used horse meat as the primary ingredient (Pet Food Institute, no date). The Chappel Brothers subsequently brought canned dog food to the UK in the 1930s, with their operations purchased by Mars Inc. in 1935 (Mars, no date). During WWII, production of canned pet food was reduced as a result of rationing, leading to an increased market for dry kibble. Ralston Purina produced the first extruded dog kibble in 1956 and the first extruded cat biscuit in 1962 and this is the primary method used in the production of conventional kibble today. Across this period, the demand for companion animal products continued to grow rapidly, and contemporarily, the pet food industry is a huge economic market amounting in 2023 to £3.8 billion in the UK alone (UK Pet Food, 2023).

The current situation

Pet foods traditionally utilise the body parts of other animals that are considered “surplus” and not readily consumed by the human food chain (see DEFRA’s list of acceptable by-products). Yet, pet food market indicators (e.g. Hypercube Insights, 2022) refer to growth in what are known as ‘premium products’ driven in part by a humanisation of the companion animal market, as well as feeding of grain-free pet foods, and raw and freeze-dried products promoted by some advocates as a more “natural” and healthier alternative to conventional kibble (e.g. Brady, 2020; Schulof, 2016). This move away from by-products to premium high animal-based protein food has been associated with an increased negative environmental impact (Alexander et al., 2020; Conway and Saker, 2018) and there are concerns it could lead to competition with the human food chain increasing food insecurity (Okin, 2017). As with industrial meat production in general, all pet food production is associated with greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation in the form of land use and deforestation, water overuse, pollution, eutrophication, harmful algae blooms, and air pollution (Alexander et al., 2020; Okin, 2017). Ward et al. (2020) in their book, The Clean Pet Food Revolution, have written extensively on this topic summarising the evidence of our cat’s and dog’s consumption habits on our wider ecosystems. They highlight “how feeding our pets is contributing to this [existential] threat to our very existence” (2020: ix).

As well as environmental concerns, knowledge surrounding nutrition and the potential health consequences of the products fed to our cats and dogs is also increasing. Marion Nestle wrote the book Pet Food Politics in 2008 about the recall of over 150 different brands in the USA which resulted in an estimated 8500 deaths due to contamination (Ward et al., 2020: 9). Since then, there have been a number of studies highlighting mislabelling and misidentification issues (Kanakubo et al., 2016; Maine et al., 2015) as well as nutritional inadequacies (Hill et al., 2009), and there have been continual national recalls (e.g. see FDA for a list of current recalls in the USA, for instance). The most recent high-profile case in the UK occurred in 2021 with cat food manufactured by Fold Hill Foods and death and ill health due to pancytopenia (see Glanemann et al., 2023). This has driven some guardians to choose to feed raw food instead of commercially produced products and there are a number of advocates for feeding raw bones and meat with argued health benefits for digestion, weight maintenance, teeth, and skin (e.g. Brady, 2020). Yet, raw diets may also introduce harmful bacterial infections, such as salmonella, e-coli, and campylobacter, posing a particular risk to immunocompromised people (e.g. Davies et al., 2019; van Bree et al., 2018).

The use of animal meat-based products also introduces animal welfare concerns for the individuals bred and killed to produce that food. The conditions that farmed animals are kept in prior to their deaths, especially within the large-scale industrial agricultural system, and the manner in which they are killed raises many well-reported issues. For instance, to name a few, there are concerns around confinement and restrictions on movement, the selective breeding of exaggerated traits, bodily mutilation, the separation of family members and social groups, as well as the slaughter process itself (e.g. for an overview of some of these issues from different perspectives, see Animal Aid; Animal Equality; CIWF; RSPCA; World Animal Protection).

One approach to reducing these potential harms is to feed a plant-based diet to our companion animals. As already mentioned, dogs are considered ‘facultative carnivores’, meaning they can thrive on a more omnivorous diet, and in their coevolution with humans have adapted to eat more plants than their wolf ancestors (Dodd et al., 2023). As a result, it is much more widely accepted that dogs can be fed a plant-based diet compared with cats largely designated as obligate carnivores. Yet some prominent proponents of plant-based diets dispute the claim that cats cannot be fed a complete and well-formulated plant-based diet successfully (e.g. Knight and Leitsberger, 2016), and increasing research indicates that it is feasible for plant-based diets to be formulated to meet the nutritional needs of both cats and dogs (e.g. Dodd et al., 2021; Knight and Leitsberger, 2016). However, there is conflicting evidence with tests of some commercially produced plant-based diets indicating that some products have nutritional deficiencies (e.g. Dodd et al., 2021; Gray, 2004; Kanakubo et al., 2015; Zafalon et al., 2020), an issue also found with meat-based products (Dodd et al., 2021). Plant-based pet food products are predicted to be a growing market with Future Market Insights estimating a growth of 6.9% CAGR and as of 2022 there were 171 animal care products listed in the UK with the vegan trademark (The Vegan Society, 2022). Some of the larger pet food corporations are also beginning to introduce more plant-based products (e.g. Lily’s Kitchen; Wainwright’s) and there are an ever growing number of smaller and startup businesses in this space (e.g. Benevo; Bonza; Give a Dog a Bean; Hownd; Noochy Poochy; Omni).

Vets and veganism

In October 2021, the topic of ‘vegan’ dogs hit the media headlines in the UK causing controversy amongst the veterinary community and the general public, including claims that guardians feeding such diets could face time in jail (e.g. Gant, 2021). The head of veterinary services at the Blue Cross was reported as stating that “Pets need a balanced diet, cats, in particular, have very specific nutritional needs which would be unlikely to be met by a vegan diet”, while Justine Shotton, president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA) at the time, also rejected plant-based diets claiming: “We would not recommend feeding a dog a vegan diet as it is much easier to get the balance of nutrients wrong than to get it right, leading to a risk of dietary deficiencies and associated disease” (Hall, 2021). The BVA highlighted that they felt there were inconsistencies between plant-based pet foods and the Animal Welfare Act 2006, particularly regarding the duty to meet the animal’s ‘need for a suitable diet’ (BVA, 2021). Since this statement, the BVA has introduced a working group focused on companion animal feeding to investigate and develop a position that addresses “nutrition, sustainability, and public health” (BVA, n.d). At the time of writing this is an ongoing process and what constitutes a ‘suitable’ diet remains a debatable question.

This research project, generously funded by the Culture & Animals Foundation, is a response to the conflicting evidence on plant-based diets (to be discussed in a future post) and seeks to investigate what the notion of a ‘suitable’ diet means in reality. In light of the now well-known environmental impacts and welfare issues associated with animal meat production, it is vital to our collective futures that scrutiny is also placed upon the foods consumed by our companion animals. Veterinary professionals are considered “an integral part of the agricultural and food sector, working collaboratively with others to protect animals, people and the environment they share” (BVA, 2019: 1). They are in a unique position to be able to advise and support guardians in their pet food choices and help them to make decisions which take into account the issues with pet food. A study by Alvarez and Schultz (2021: 649) found that 93% of guardians were “somewhat willing” to consider changing what they feed their cat or dog based on their vet’s recommendations. During this research project, members of the veterinary community will be interviewed to ascertain attitudes, barriers, and enablers to more ethical dietary choices, with the aim of bringing the veterinary profession more firmly into the conversation around companion animal nutrition.

The next blog article in this series will discuss the current scientific research emerging on the efficacy of plant-based pet diets.

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