Pet Food Business

The global pet food industry turns over more than $130 billion per year. Trends suggest growth in the pet food economy is also driven by a trend toward increasing demand for higher quality pet foods.

Consider just the animal welfare part of this industry. Hundreds of thousands of pets find themselves in animal shelters every year. It is estimated that 187,000 animals are currently in rescue centres in Australia each year and 250,000 in the UK.

Pet food is the term used for any product that is used in the nutritional care of domestic animals, so dogs, cats, guinea pigs, gerbils, lizards etc. 

In recent years, pet owners and people involved in animal breeding, rescue centres, boarding kennels etc have looked at making their own animal food products at home.   Providing high quality, nutrient-dense food for a large number of animals, such as an animal rescue centre, can be costly and time consuming.

This is where learning how to produce quality pet food for large numbers of animals can be an important and key skill.

Before making your own pet food, it is important to understand the dietary requirements of the animals in your care.  This means that you need to have a good understanding of –

In the past, animals were given food from our tables, or waste food, such as –

We now know that this is not always a good diet for pets. For example, bread can be very harmful for pets. Small amounts are fine, but too much and it can lead to weight gain, vomiting, diarrhoea and even fatal bloating. Pet nutrition has evolved greatly in recent years, and we understand more about how to keep our pets healthy and happy.

There are some important factors to consider if you are thinking of making your own pet food –

Like humans, animals do have taste preferences in their food. 

In the wild, dogs are scavenger carnivores. This means that they need a diet that is a combination of meat protein and carbohydrates.  Cats, for example, don’t like nectar flavoured food.  In the wild, they would eat birds and other small prey, so they will enjoy meat-based products. Cats need more meat than dogs and don’t need carbohydrates in their diet.

So it is important to be aware of the taste and nutritional needs of the animals you are planning to feed.

Again, like humans, animals will have different calorie intake.  A large working dog will require far more calories than a small dog who spends most of their time asleep on the sofa.  An older animal will have different requirements to a young animal.

As well as taking account of the calories required, when making pet food, we also need to know what else an animal needs in their diet, such as –

When making food, there are many different ingredients you might use, such as animal protein, plant protein, insects and water.

We have already mentioned that different animals will require different calorific intake. Animals will also have different nutritional needs depending on other factors, such as pets who have poor health or specific conditions. For example, diabetes.

When buying commercial pet food, you have probably seen the terms – complete – or complementary – foods.

Complete food contains all of the animal’s dietary requirements.

Complementary foods are given in addition to other food, but they do not contain everything the pet needs.

So when you are considering making your own food, consider whether it is complementary or complete animal food.

But, making your own pet food can give you a real sense of achievement – creating your own recipes and producing high quality food for the animals.

Providing home produced pet food has other advantages –

It also gives you complete control over what the animals you are caring for eat.  You can choose what the animal likes and make sure that it offers them good nutritional value.

If your answer is yes, then we can help. We offer an intensive and extensive course in Pet Food Business. This will take you through step by step in how to create your own pet food and what you need to be aware of.

If you would like more information, please get in touch on admin@acs.edu.au