The New Scientist reveals some interesting statistics around the environmental impact of dogs: what does it take, in terms of food, and the resulting drain on natural resources, to raise man’s best friend? Quite a lot, as it turns out.
To measure the ecological paw, claw and fin-prints of the family pet, the Vales analysed the ingredients of common brands of pet food. They calculated, for example, that a medium-sized dog would consume 90 grams of meat and 156 grams of cereals daily in its recommended 300-gram portion of dried dog food. At its pre-dried weight, that equates to 450 grams of fresh meat and 260 grams of cereal. That means that over the course of a year, Fido wolfs down about 164 kilograms of meat and 95 kilograms of cereals.
Just to compare the ecological paw print, here’s a visual representation:
Or, in other words, one large dog is equal to 1.3 Land Cruisers or 78.5 hamsters. So which would you give up first, the dog or the car?