Could farmed insects be the perfect pet-food ingredient?

[hunter]

Insect-based foods may be better for pets than prime steak, according to the British Veterinary Association.

Advocates say insect protein provides a more environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional pet food.

Protix, a Dutch firm which claims to have the world’s biggest insect farm, estimates that compared with beef, insect-based foods use 2% of the land and 4% of the water per kilogram of protein.

BBC's Environment and energy analyst Roger Harrabin has been given access inside the farm.

-- video at link --

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-49484661/could-farmed-insects-be-the-perfect-pet-food-ingredient

Most days I don't eat any meat or dairy products, my primary motivation is to reduce my environmental footprint.

My wife is entirely vegetarian, approaching vegan.

But I don't expect the same of our dogs.

They eat meaty food and treats I buy at Costco.

I'm not sure what I think of this factory farm insect protein.

I'd probably try some if it shows up at Costco.

Until then I'll support spaying and neutering cats and dogs, and most especially, birth control for humans.

[Beakybird]

1. Someone respond to this thread.

I just hear crickets!

[hlthe2b]

2. My only concern is keeping the "inputs" free of insecticide and other toxic residues.

It surely makes more sense than the current "raw food" (Salmonella sustaining) trend

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. My cats eat bugs if they can catch them.

June bugs are big and crunchy. Yum.

[ginnyinWI]

5. And "sky raisins"! (Houseflies). Yum, yum... nt

[ginnyinWI]

4. My daughter brought some insect cat food from Paris.

A sample packet. Her cat likes it, and one of mine does too. But the other one only ate some once and the next day it was, “uh, no thanks”. He’s the pickier of the two. It looks just like ordinary kibble.

[Meadowoak]

6. My dog has never had dog food (I don't trust it, it's not regulated).

She gets a plate of whatever everyone is having in the family at dinner time.

[hunter]

14. The human diet in our household does not resemble a natural dog diet.

We share some food preferences with our dogs but they don't consider a lot of what we eat food.

I'm especially not keen to feed them some of the spicier foods we enjoy. It doesn't seem fair to me to give dogs food containing garlic or hot peppers. Vegetarian chili over rice, which I make with olive oil and hot peppers, and a food I consider a staple, isn't suitable for our dogs.

Dogs are omnivorous to some extent. Having co-evolved with humans dogs are more so than wolves, but there are still some fundamental differences between dog and human metabolism.

Dogs, for example, don't need vitamin C. That's one reason they'll look at you with disgust if you hand them an orange slice. There's no nutrition in an orange they need and it probably smells horrible to them. Brussels sprouts are another food item our dogs won't touch, even though I see videos of other dogs eating brussels sprouts on youtube.

Cats are even further away from humans than dogs in their nutritional requirements.

If my wife and I were eating chicken-and-rice for dinner it might somewhat resemble the ingredients of good dog foods, but we don't eat chicken or any other meat for dinner.

I'd estimate our dogs' diets at 70% good quality dry dog food, 20% appropriate people food, and 10% snacks. One of those snacks is string-cheese sticks. They love string cheese. There's nothing natural about that.

[Rhiannon12866]

24. Dogs, if started early, can be vegetarian, cats cannot.

I took my vet's advice about what to feed both my dog and my cat. They said that's the most important decision I can make about them.

[procon]

7. Bugs aren't a known food source for dogs and ats.

I'd be suspicious just for healthy nutrition concerns. All proteins are not the same. Maybe there's a wizbang machine that chops, dices, adds and removes bug stuff down to the molecular level and makes it all taste just like chicken, I dunno.

I spoil my furry kids and indulge most of their fanciful foodie whims. Still, I'd be reluctant to serve them bug burgers because there's no long term scientific study by actual pet food makers to see if it's safe, nutritious and meets all the dietary guidelines for quality pet foods.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Cats eat bugs all the time.

But since they can't catch and eat enough of them to survive, bugs don't provide a major protein source for cats, which are obligate carnivores.

[procon]

12. Sure they do, but it's still not a known food source.

Are bugs meat? They contain protein, but so does soy beans, and I wouldn't feed that to my pets either.

I remember when my kids tried to get me to agree that ketchup was a vegetable. There was even an attempt to pass off Cotton Candy is a vegetable since it came from a plant. Clever little darlings of mine.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. I think insect predation by cats is more an expression of their hunting drive

than satisfying their hunger for meat. But they sure do enjoy chasing them.

[procon]

15. Yes they do.

Both of mine are especially attracted to flying moths. They chase, leap like gymnasts, and pounce, holding the wee captured beastie under their paw until it escapes and the hunt is rejoined.

They will sometimes mouth the dead moth only to spit it out in disgust...no creme filling, I guess.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Moths have scales on their wings, which the cats probably find unpleasant.

Suggest that they go after June bugs, which are a lot meatier.

[Newest Reality]

8. Chirp, chirp!

Damn crickets...shlup...yum.

Insect protein has potential to help feed the world, as well. Despite the yuck factor, (I feel that way about snails and octopus) insects are also an abundant source of protein. We may have to start looking more in that direction out of necessity and due to availability and other factors.

You might be surprised at how many insects there are in one square foot column going up into the atmosphere, (where a LOT of insects take a superhighway all over the place).

By the way, we already involuntarily eat a lot of bugs in our food every year. Some have estimated about two pounds per year, but I think it is much less than that. So we don't really have a bug-free diet, and there may be even more of them ingested from other factors that I won't go into here:



Oh, and lobsters are just sea roaches anyway that were once considered garbage food

Enjoy your bugs and that kind of protein, if it is from a good source, is much better than the rendered awful they use in many commercial pet foods.

[Newest Reality]

9. I also have a caveat...

I am concerned about the issue of vitamin B-12 in regards to non-meat diets, considering that the body does not synthesize it, and meat was a primary source of that in our diets. Oral B-12 supplements tend to break down lose much of their effectiveness in the gut and a deficiency of B-12 can lead to pernicious anemia and other problems.

I am going to look into that in regards to insect protein and it is a good thing to consider concerning a pet's diet.

Oh, and here is an interesting nutrition label:

[hunter]

17. The curious thing about vitamin B-12 is that it is not synthesized by animals.

The B-12 in cow's meat or milk is synthesized by bacteria growing in the cow's gut.

Certain seaweeds and fermented foods are another source of vitamin B-12. These traditional foods were very important in societies where meat and dairy products were scarce.

[Newest Reality]

11. Lastly...B-12

Vitamin B12 occurs only in food of animal origin and is well represented in mealworm larvae, Tenebrio molitor (0.47 μg per 100 g) and house crickets, Acheta domesticus (5.4 μg per 100 g in adults and 8.7 μg per 100 g in nymphs). Nevertheless, many species have very low levels of vitamin B12, which is why more research is needed to identify edible insects rich in B vitamins (Bukkens, 2005; Finke, 2002)”

Source, and for further reading:

http://www.fao.org/3/i3253e/i3253e06.pdf

[MFM008]

16. The bug food trend

Will finally be the way i lose weight.........🐜🐞🦗🕷

[Sneederbunk]

18. Must be free range insects.

[Bayard]

19. Ummm..... What?

I couldn't take the yack factor.

With all the commercial dog food alerts, I went back to cooking for my pupsters again. Usually boiled chicken, pasta, and veges. They get a multi-vitamin in that to cover all the bases. Eggs from our chickens for breakfast, usually with cheese on top. Most info recommends 50% protein in a dog's diet.

Treats are usually the dried beef lung chips from Tractor Supply. I'm a little leary about feeding any beef, but I figure these are small enough to be fairly benign. They also get some of whatever we're eating.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Think of them as land-based shrimp

One of the most important results of this new study is support for the hypothesis that the insects evolved from a group of crustaceans. So flies, honeybees, ants, and crickets all branched off the arthropod family tree from within the lineage that gave rise to today's crabs, shrimp, and lobsters.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216114034.htm

Surely feeding shrimp to your cats and dogs is OK?

[Bayard]

22. Sure

And the chickens eat the tails.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. I think of lobsters and crabs as aquatic spiders.

But I eat them anyhow.