Impact of Dog and Cat Diet Formulation on Environmental Sustainability 

In line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, the pet industry seeks strategies that reduce its environmental impacts, highlighting food formulation and efficient ingredient selection as important tools for this process.

How Plant- and Animal-Based Ingredients Impact the Environment 

The ingredients used in the formulation of dog and cat food have different environmental impacts along the production chain. Factors such as raw material origin, processing, transportation, and use of natural resources influence the sustainability of these products (Swanson et al., 2013).

Ingredients of animal origin are widely used due to their high biological value and the presence of essential amino acids. However, its production is associated with the consumption of water, energy, and productive areas, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and land occupation (Swanson et al., 2013; Pedrinelli et al., 2022). In general, diets with a higher share of animal ingredients have higher environmental impacts, especially those containing beef, while predominantly vegetable formulations tend to have lower values for environmental indicators, Figure 1 (Brociek; Gardner, 2025). 

In turn, plant ingredients, such as corn, soybeans, and wheat, generally require fewer resources than some animal sources, although their cultivation also involves the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and water, in addition to nutritional limitations that must be considered in the formulation (Kim et al., 2024; Cao et al., 2026).

Thus, the sustainability of diets depends on the balance between environmental, nutritional, and economic aspects, considering the origin of the ingredients, their digestibility, and the use of nutrients (Swanson et al., 2013; Pedrinelli et al., 2022).

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Figure 1. Comparison of the environmental impacts of different types of dog diets, expressed per 1,000 kcal supplied.

Circular Economy and Waste Use

The circular economy has been identified as an important strategy to increase the sustainability of production systems, promoting more efficient use of resources and reducing waste generation (Mullen et al., 2017; Alexander et al., 2020). In the pet industry, this concept can be applied by using co-products from other agro-industrial chains, transforming materials that could be discarded into ingredients with nutritional value for dogs and cats.

In conventional feeds, ingredients such as viscera meal, blood plasma, and other protein co-products are widely used in the formulation of pet foods (Magalhães, 2025). In addition to reducing waste, these ingredients allow the reuse of nutrients already inserted in the production chain, which can reduce the environmental impacts of food production (Alexander et al., 2020). Several agro-industrial co-products can be incorporated into the formulation of dog and cat foods (Chart 1). The use of these ingredients reduces the waste of materials with nutritional value and favors the best use of resources already used in production processes (Alexander et al., 2020).

Table 1. Examples of agro-industrial co-products used in the formulation of dog and cat food and their main nutritional applications. 

Source: Adapted from Magalhães (2025), Mullen et al. (2017), and Alexander et al. (2020).

Co-products generated during the production of food for human consumption can be reused in pet food manufacturing, reducing waste and increasing the system's efficiency (Figure 2). According to Alexander et al. (2020), this practice can also reduce competition for ingredients intended for human consumption. In addition, the use of these materials allows resources that have already been produced to continue to be used within the production chain.
 

Figure 2. Circular economy in dog and cat food through the use of co-products.

In addition to conventional co-products, new alternatives have been studied within the principles of the circular economy, with emphasis on the use of proteins obtained from insects, capable of converting organic waste into biomass of high nutritional value (Lu et al., 2022; Valdés et al., 2022).

Relationship Between Digestibility, Environmental Impact, and Sustainable Formulation

The digestibility of ingredients is an important factor for the sustainability of formulations, as it directly influences the efficiency of nutrient use by animals. Diets with higher digestibility tend to reduce the amount of feces and, consequently, the environmental impacts associated with feeding dogs and cats (Swanson et al., 2013; Abd El-Wahab et al., 2021). Results such as this were observed by Santos et al. (2025), who, when evaluating a highly digestible gastrointestinal adjuvant diet in relation to a low digestibility diet, demonstrated that the dry matter digestibility coefficient of 82.6% and 70.7% of the diets, proportionally impacted the amount of fecal production produced per animal per day, resulting in 117.8 and 249.4 g/day, respectively.

Thus, the environmental concern for providing diets with low digestibility occurs due to fecal production contributing to part of the environmental impact. This is because feces can potentiate eutrophication and ecotoxicity processes in aquatic environments (Yavor et al., 2020). In addition, the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus excreted by dogs and cats also contributes to the contamination process (Cowan et al., 2024).
Thus, formulation strategies aimed at increasing digestibility can contribute to more efficient food systems, reconciling nutritional performance and environmental sustainability.

Thus, sustainable formulation seeks to meet the nutritional requirements of animals and reduce the environmental impacts associated with food production. In this context, different strategies have been studied by the pet industry to increase efficiency in the use of resources and promote more sustainable systems (Swanson et al., 2013; FEDIAF, 2025).

Among these strategies, amino acid balancing stands out, which allows the levels of essential amino acids to be more precisely adjusted to the diet. This practice favors the use of nutrients, reduces nutritional excesses, and makes the use of raw materials more efficient. In addition, the choice of ingredients with good biological value and nutritional quality contributes to more balanced formulations (Swanson et al., 2013).

The processing of ingredients also influences the quality of food. Steps such as grinding and extrusion can increase nutrient availability. Likewise, functional ingredients, such as blood plasma and agro-industrial co-products, have been gaining ground because they add nutritional value and favor the use of available resources (Tran et al., 2008; Vasconcellos et al., 2023).

Results obtained by Abd El-Wahab et al. (2021) demonstrated that diets containing Hermetia illucens larvae meal had digestibility coefficients like those observed in conventional diets, in addition to maintaining adequate fecal quality. These results indicate that alternative protein sources can be used without compromising the nutritional performance of animals. In addition, it has good nutritional value and potential for use in more sustainable systems. Its production can be associated with the use of organic waste, contributing to the circular economy.

Final Considerations
 
The growth of the pet market has increased the importance of sustainability in the production of dog and cat food. In this scenario, strategies such as the careful selection of ingredients, the use of co-products, the increase in the digestibility of diets, and the use of alternative proteins can contribute to reducing the environmental impacts of the production chain. Although there are still challenges for the adoption of these practices on a large scale, different solutions have been studied and implemented by the industry, aiming at the development of formulations that reconcile nutritional quality, efficient use of natural resources, and environmental responsibility.

By Laura Cicília Cassol da Silva¹, Bruna Cavalari Santello¹, Lorenna Nicole Araújo Santos¹, Gabriele Ancilotto Oliveira², Douglas Melo de Souza³, Josiane Aparecida Volpato¹
Source: All Pet Food Magazine
 

¹State University of Maringá (UEM)
²São Paulo State University (Unesp - Araçatuba)
³Federal University of Bahia (UFBA)
 

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