Jake as Vegetarian?

My husband, who knows how much I have been struggling with meat issues lately, sent me this article, which was a wake-up call of another kind.

I never dreamed that the dogs, who have become like family members for many of us, were having such a detrimental effect on the environment.  The carbon footprint of meat is the main problem.  This article claims that a medium size dog eats 360 pounds of meat and 200 pounds of cereal each year.  It takes 2 acres to raise that much food (not sure how they came to this conclusion.)

I’m already feeling somewhat better because in Jake’s case I know that I use only 2 pounds of meat in a week’s food.  But I do use significantly more rice (cereal).

In addition to the carbon footprint problem, dog feces are a significant source of pollution in rivers and streams.  Jake only poops in our back yard and there is no stream below us, so he’s off the hook on that count.

The article correctly emphasizes the positive emotional effect of owning a dog, a natural anti-depressant.  Most pet owners simply couldn’t envision a life without animals.  And for many of us, the advise to get a hen (which lays eggs) or a rabbit is not an acceptable solution.  I love the statement from an expert, “Rabbits are good, provided you eat them.”  I can’t imagine ever eating a family pet of any sort!

There are things we can do to at least mitigate this problem.  The first is to cut down on the meat intake of our dogs.  I can imagine that if people can get protein from other sources, so can animals.  We could possibly become a vegetarian household.

Those who walk their dogs in the woods can take care to scoop the poop instead of letting it become a pollutant.

At some point, humans may be forced to make difficult decisions about things like owning a pet as our environmental issues become more obvious.  I never realized how far-reaching this current passion of mine would turn out to be!