Our dogs and cats offer all kinds of benefits. They improve physical health, reduce stress, and can ward off loneliness.
Research shows that interacting with pets can reduce blood pressure. Dogs need walks and games, which helps people stay active. And both dogs and cats can form deep bonds with humans. Basically, they enrich our lives.
“There is a whole literature that supports this,” said Pieter de Frenne, bioscience engineer at the University of Ghent, Belgium.
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Despite all this, they have an environmental cost. Dogs and cats eat a lot of meat, for example. They also kill wild animals.
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So how can you get all these tangible and intangible benefits and maintain the environmental impact, say, as low as possible? See what experts have to say.
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A lot
Gregory Okin, a UCLA geographer, calculated in a 2017 study that about 163 million dogs and cats in the United States consume a quarter of the country’s animal calories in the country.
“If US dogs and cats were an independent country, they would be fifth in global meat consumption,” he said in an interview.
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Okin estimated that the feed for pets is responsible for about a quarter of agriculture -related fossil fuel emissions in the United States. Globally, another study found that dried pet feed accounts for up to 2.9% of agriculture carbon dioxide emissions and 1.2% of agricultural land use.
Pets fed human quality meat have greater effects. A 20 kg dog on a raw food diet has an environmental impact related to greater food than most humans who eat meat, said Dr. John Harvey, a veterinarian and doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
To reduce these effects, okin recommends pelling brands for pets that meet dietary needs, but contain less animal protein. Pets feed made of chicken is usually better than pork, and both tend to be better than beef. Dry ration, on average, has a lower environmental impact than wet feed.
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Vegan foods for pets should be approached with caution due to potential nutritional deficiencies. This is especially true for cats.
Also, in the United States, most dogs and cats are overweight. Therefore, reducing the amount of food these animals receive would be beneficial for both animal and environmental health, Harvey said.
Waste
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The nutrient -rich foods we give to our animals are excreted in the form of pee and poop, also rich in nutrients. “It’s basically a hyperfertilizer,” Harvey said about dogs and cats.
High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in pet waste have been associated with soil contamination and water pollution. In parks and other natural areas where walking with dogs is common, this influx of nutrients may even lead to biodiversity loss, Frenne said.
If the owners were more responsible for cleaning the feces of their dogs, these effects would be softened, said Kim Maya Yavor, a doctoral student in Sustainable Engineering at Berlin Technical University. “With urine, there is not much to do, but half of this problem can be reduced by collecting your dog’s feces and throwing them away.”
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Hunting instinct
Loose pets can also disturb or kill wildlife. “The mere dog crossing for an area can have drastic impacts on biodiversity,” said Harvey.
Pet predation can also have side effects for other species. “When a cat kills a mouse or a field rat, this animal cannot be eaten by a native predator, such as an owl or a Marta,” said Arie Trouwborst, professor of nature conservation law at the University of Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Many of these problems can be solved or attenuated, TrouwBorders said, keeping cats indoors and dogs with a collar.
The question here is not that you cannot have one or two pets. Beware of food and pet waste and keeping them under your control can help a lot.
Adopt, don’t buy
Finally, if you are thinking of having a pet at home, it is important to consider where you will find this new friend.
Of the 5.8 million dogs and cats that entered shelters and rescue centers in the US in 2024, 607,000 were killed, according to Shelter Animals Count, a non -profit organization. The number of unwanted pets has environmental and animal welfare concerns.
Adopting a pet from a shelter or rescue group, instead of buying from a creator, can help compensate for these problems. “Instead of creating something new, you’re getting something that already exists,” said Dr. Lena Detar, Veterinarian at Cornell University.
And if you’re specifically looking for a pet that causes less environmental impact, then choose something small, said Harvey.
Dogs and cats are not the only pets available either, said Okin. For example, rabbits and guinea pigs also end up in large numbers in shelters and rescue centers. And unlike dogs and cats, they are vegetarian.
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