Abstract
Interest in more sustainable diets for the global population of 528 million companion dogs is steadily increasing, encompassing nutritionally sound cultivated meat, vegan, and microbial protein-based dog foods. Factors driving these alternative dog foods include lower impacts on the environment, fewer welfare problems related to intensively farmed animals and wild-caught fish, and potentially superior canine health outcomes, relative to conventional meat-based dog food. Through a questionnaire with 2639 responses, this study aimed to gain insights into dog guardians' current feeding patterns and dog food purchasing determinants, acceptance of more sustainable dog diets, and sources of information used for decisions about dog diets. Key results included that 84% (2188/2596) of respondents currently fed either conventional or raw meat-based dog food. More than 43% (936/2169) of this group of respondents who answered found at least one of the more sustainable alternative dog foods acceptable, with purchases of these alternatives hinging most commonly upon the nutritional soundness of the products. Cultivated meat-based dog food was the most popular alternative (selected by 24%, 529/2169), followed by vegetarian (17%, 359/2169), insect-based (16%, 336/2169), and vegan (13%, 290/2169) dog food. The top three information sources used to make decisions regarding dog diets were labels/packaging (selected by 42% of all respondents, 1080/2596), scientific articles/books (38%, 989/2596), and business webpages (35%, 900/2596). Numerous human and dog demographic variables had impacts on current diets, acceptance of alternative diets, and information sources used. Notably, human diet and dog diet were the factors most commonly associated with current and potential purchasing decisions, as well as with information sources used. For instance, greater reductions by guardians in the consumption of animals were associated with greater acceptance of more sustainable dog diets. It should be noted that, due to the reliance on convenience sampling and the overrepresentation of respondents from the UK, of female guardians, of respondents with higher education, and of vegan guardians, the reported relative frequencies of subgroups were not fully representative of the global dog guardian population. Association estimates were based on regression analyses to minimize any resultant bias effects.