What do the calculations include?

Human nutrition, the production, transport and consumption of food has considerable impacts on the environment. The same occurs in the case of companion animals, which are increasingly being cared for by their owners and whose diet -especially in the case of dogs and cats- has a high protein content of animal origin and is subject to complex elaboration that includes numerous dietary supplements. All this is reflected in greenhouse gas emissions, especially notorious in countries with a prominent pet population (Su et al., 2018).

The calculations in this case take into account the amount of food that a companion animal eats annually based on its weight, multiplied by the emissions associated with the production of the ingredients (meat, vegetables and other supplements), along with the processing of all the components to obtain packaged food ("dry food") ready for sale and finally, the transport to the shopping centers. For example, a medium dog can eat up to 250 kg of processed food per year. However, some specialized studies on this subject also take into account that part of the food of some pets comes from the remains of their owners' daily food, so this factor is also taken into account in the total calculation (Su et al., 2018; Su & Martens, 2018).

(values in kgCO₂e / animal per year)

PET	MEDIUM EMISSION	MINIMUM EMISSIONS		MAXIMUM EMISSIONS
PET (food only)	MEDIUM EMISSION	MINIMUM EMISSIONS			MAXIMUM EMISSIONS
				VALUE	AREA OF CALCULATION	VALUE	AREA OF CALCULATION
Little dog (doggie)	250	30 Su, B., & Martens, P. (2018). Environmental impacts of food consumption by companion dogs and cats in Japan Ecological Indicators. Vol. 93, pp. 1043-1049.	Japan	410 Su, B., & Martens, P. (2018). Environmental impacts of food consumption by companion dogs and cats in Japan Ecological Indicators. Vol. 93, pp. 1043-1049.	Japan
Medium dog	800	127 Martens, P., Su, B., & Deblomme, S. (2019). The Ecological Paw Print of Companion Dogs and Cats, BioScience, Vol. 69(6), pp. 467–474.	Japan	1.592 Martens, P., Su, B., & Deblomme, S. (2019). The Ecological Paw Print of Companion Dogs and Cats, BioScience, Vol. 69(6), pp. 467–474.	China
Big dog	2.000	650 Su, B., Martens, P., & Enders-Slegers, M.-J. (2018). A neglected predictor of environmental damage: The ecological paw print and carbon emissions of food consumption by companion dogs and cats in China Journal of Cleaner Production. Vol. 194(1), pp. 1-11.	Japan	3.370 Su, B., & Martens, P. (2018). Environmental impacts of food consumption by companion dogs and cats in Japan Ecological Indicators. Vol. 93, pp. 1043-1049.	Japan
Cat	170	120 Su, B., & Martens, P. (2018). Environmental impacts of food consumption by companion dogs and cats in Japan Ecological Indicators. Vol. 93, pp. 1043-1049.	Japan	251 Martens, P., Su, B., & Deblomme, S. (2019). The Ecological Paw Print of Companion Dogs and Cats, BioScience, Vol. 69(6), pp. 467–474.	Netherlands

(*): Little dog (1.5 -10 kg), medium dog (10 -25 kg), big dog (25 – 60/70 kg). Average cat: 2-6 kg.