All animals can experience pain, fear, comfort and happiness and deserve our compassion. One way pet owners and guardians can make a positive impact for animals is by understanding the connection between the food we feed our companion animals and the farm animals used in pet food. It is possible to advocate for both better quality food for cats and dogs and better treatment of farm animals through the pet food we purchase.
The Problem: Most Pet Food Is Sourced from Factory Farms
Companion animals are responsible for a surprisingly large amount of meat consumption: nearly one-third of meat in the U.S. is eaten by dogs and cats. In fact, if they made up their own country, pets in the U.S. would rank fifth in the world for meat consumption.
Sadly, nearly all dog and cat food and treats are made from animals forced to live in factory farms, where hundreds to tens of thousands of animals are trapped in dark, filthy and crowded conditions. Most never go outside, and what’s worse is that some are held for months at a time in metal crates or cages so small that they cannot turn around.
How did we get here? As industrial agriculture expanded and came to dominate our food system, large-scale operations began funneling byproducts deemed non-human grade (feed-grade) into pet food. Loose regulations have allowed diseased animals, expired meat from grocery stores and even roadkill to be included in pet food. Today, these ingredients make their way into the pet food supply. To make matters worse, pasture-based farmers who use more humane, sustainable practices and raise animals in natural environments struggle to enter the pet food market, which is largely supplied by industrial farms.
Image represents conditions typical of a factory farm, in which pregnant pigs are held for months at a time in crates so small that they cannot turn around.
The Solution: Helping Pet Owners Find Better Food and Treats
Pet owners want more humane options for their furry family members. An independent, nationwide survey [PDF] found that nearly 90% of pet food shoppers would be likely to switch to another brand of pet food if they knew the brand sourced from farms that treated animals better. Tellingly, most pet food shoppers are willing to pay more for those higher-welfare pet food products, too.
The most straightforward way to identify better pet food is to look for products with a meaningful animal welfare certification. We’ve compiled a list of pet foods and treats from farms that never keep animals in cruel confinement.
"Most of our society is kept distanced from the full reality farming practices used by industrial agriculture, and this is no accident. Decades of marketing has separated the product from the animal, and misleading words lull us into the sense that animals from these facilities are raised on grass and small bucolic farms. The vast majority of them are actually raised in filthy, crowded warehouses. People who love their companion animals are uniquely well-positioned to break through the distance that has allowed the cruelty of factory farming to continue by choosing higher-welfare pet food.”
-Daisy Freund, Vice President of Farm Animal Welfare, ASPCA
Our Work
We empower pet owners to make more informed, impactful choices as well as engage the pet food industry to provide their customers with more and better options. Our collaborators include:
- Pet food and treat brands that are interested in sourcing from higher-welfare farms. Through the ASPCA’s Pet Food Progress initiative, we work with companies to develop new, industry-leading policies and sourcing standards that will improve millions of farm animals’ lives.
- Farmers seeking to enter the pet food market with higher-welfare and pasture-based supply.
- Trade associations that want to engage and inform their members around issues related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility, including farm animal welfare.
What You Can Do
- Find more humane dog and cat foods and treats on our Shop With Your Heart Grocery List. Each of these products is verified by an independent, third-party welfare certification which denotes that they source from higher-welfare farms.
- For dog owners, consider plant-based food and treat options.
- Spread the word! Our work on more humane pet food was featured on FoodPrint’s podcast “What You’re Eating” in the episode “What We Feed Our Pets.” Take a listen and share.
Frequently Asked Questions
In egg production, a cage-free claim ensures that cages are prohibited for laying hens, though it provides no other specifications or requirements on how to raise hens more humanely. Chickens and turkeys raised for meat (as opposed to eggs) are not typically caged, though they live indoors in extreme confinement on factory farms, rendering a cage-free label meaningless on most poultry meat products, including pet food and treats made with chicken.
Many people are unaware that some companies take advantage of good intentions by using meaningless but humane-sounding terminology, so it is important to be knowledgeable about which terms and labels are meaningful by using resources like our Label Guide.
Parts of animals rendered into pet food ingredients are listed as meal, for example chicken meal. Rendering is a process that involves cooking raw animal materials, typically not eaten by humans, at high temperatures. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rendering (or a renderer) is “any firm (or individual) that processes slaughter byproducts; animals unfit for human consumption, including carcasses of dead cattle or meat scraps.” The vast majority of rendered ingredients are feed-grade, though fats like chicken fat are also rendered ingredients and can be human-grade. Rendered food makes up 40-60% of kibble, which is the most common form of pet food.
Human-grade pet foods are any animal parts and products as well as supplements within those foods that would have been deemed edible if included in the human food supply chain. In terms of manufacturing, human-grade pet foods must meet human food safety standards.
Feed-grade pet foods are allowed to use parts or products of animals that are deemed inedible for human consumption, including from diseased animals that died other than by slaughter. Feed-grade pet foods do not have to meet human food safety requirements. There is currently no legal requirement for pet food labels to disclose whether a product is feed-grade.
Like humans, cats and dogs need a range of nutrients, including essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals, which must be carefully balanced to maintain their health.
Studies show that it is possible to keep dogs healthy on a plant-based diet if it is nutritionally balanced. You can see the list of plant-based dog food and treat products on the ASPCA’s Grocery List. However, a plant-based diet is not safe for cats. Because cats are carnivores, their gastrointestinal tracts and metabolism have adapted to eating meat.
For pet owners who do not feed their pet a plant-based diet, purchasing pet food products with a meaningful animal welfare certification helps ensure that their dog or cat’s food does not support the cruel factory farming system and instead helps build a more humane food system where farm animals are able to live better lives.
Consult your veterinarian before changing your pet’s diet.
