A message crossed my desk from Grace Lansbury on behalf of the Kennel Store in the UK. The topic was about stolen dogs and pets in the UK and preventives that can be taken to avoid these situations. This topic was one causing thoughts on the whys and where and the possible comparisons. Reviewing nearly 2500 dogs were stolen in 2023, up about six percent over 2022 with English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and XL Bullies being identified as the top three breeds taken in the UK. Looking at the Kennel Store’s web page they supply very secure kennel back yard systems to keep dogs safer. The suggested methods to reduce theft were Microchip your pet, don’t leave them outside, be mindful in public, identification collar and be cautious of strangers.
Looking into this from a broader point of view research showed in the USA nearly 1,000,000 dogs a year are stolen with the four top breeds stolen being French Bulldog, Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever and German Shepherds.
Reviewing from a value point of view it was seen that the average dog in the USA costs US$50 to $3000 per dog. Tibetan Mastiffs being the most expensive. Well kind of hard to carry off a Mastiff so it can be understood that the expensive cute smaller dogs are at risk. Why, seems to be a market for selling stolen dogs due to increase in demand during and since our bout with COVID. Additional illegal dog breeders can increase their breeding of dogs at a low cost for high value dogs, steal and breed them. It is a sad topic as pets are family members. Also, just as sad is that fact that it is very hard to catch the culprits and the low priority placed on this by law enforcement as we all know they seem to be quite busy with other pressing problems.
The percentage of dogs taken in the UK based on an estimated 13.5 million dogs would be less then one percent with the USA percentage being in the 1.5 percent range. 65.1 million dogs versus one million taken. Further searches of dog populations became interesting as what are the number of dogs in various countries and the data shows the USA, Brasil, China, Japan, Russia, UK, Germany, India, Argentina and Spain are the top 10 in terms of dog population. One site stated that 50 percent of the world population owns a pet of some sort with Central America and South America recently being some of the fastest growing dog ownership areas. Other bits of interesting information, China has over 100,000,000 dogs, India dog ownership increased 58 percent over the last five years, Switzerland dog population reduced ten percent over the same period. Russia loves cats with 60 percent of the population having a cat. Brasil is big on small dogs with 101 small dogs per 1000 people. Reviewing the numbers above it can clearly be seen that pets is a huge business not only from honest individuals but dishonest as well.
Looking at the USA on a total pet basis it was reported that 65.1 million dogs, 46.5 million cats, 11.1 million fish and 6.7 million small animals such as gerbils, mice, chinchillas etc. are owned.
When these kinds of numbers are reviewed it becomes logical to understand how the petfood, pet supplies and the pets themselves results in business model which are growing steadily. The USA has a pet related business of 136.8 billion per year, not counting vet visits. Of this total 100 billion is petfood related. Worldwide the total pet business is near 325 billion on a similar basis. When you consider the total volume of this business is amazingly huge.
Recently visited a pet store and noted a 44 lb or 20 kilo bag of standard dogfood was in the US$25 range for 40 to 50 lb bag. Reports show that the cost to feed a dog can vary greatly as when using lower quality petfood it can cost US$30 to US$75 per month or about US$600 per year. Quality petfood would cost in the area of US$150 to 300.00 per month. This would average out to be about US$2700 per year. It is quite a range in costs with options for all pet owners. As a note, US$30 to US$90 is considered the cost for cat food and litter per month on an average basis.
What causes the difference in petfood costs? Mainly the ingredients are considered the most expensive part of petfood production. This can be seen when reviewing the ingredient list on a package of petfood. For example, meat meals used in lower cost petfoods versus ground deboned meat in the expensive products would be a major difference. This would not only be the cost of these ingredients but the machinery needed to handle and use fresh meats versus dried meat meals. Obviously, there are other ingredients and qualities available as well as novel ingredients which have a big effect of final costs. Plant design as well as chilled handling areas needed for meat injections and increased equipment required are needed for raw meat inclusions. Tests proved inclusion of fresh meat during extrusion and fats added in the extruder and topically applied greatly increase palatability. The nutritional balance of meats and or meat meals is considered to be excellent and when mixed with the balance of the ingredients there is a full range of possibilities available.
The process varies as formulation vary. When adding high moisture ingredients such as deboned meats or other wet ingredient possibilities such as vegetables, fats and other slurries the moisture becomes the limiting factor in frictional cooking extruders. The cooking methods are with heat either generated from friction development, thermal cook with steam injection and heat exchanger methods or combinations of these. Today most of the dry and semi moist style petfoods are produced with frictional and steam injection extruder heating style extruders.
Limitations as noted above would be in the area of a total moisture in the lower 30 percent ranges. Meats and higher moisture ingredients are added while added water is reduced to keep in operational ranges. The moisture level in the meat has a big impact on how much can be added in these kinds of systems. About 20 percent in a single screw design and 25 percent in a twin-screw design based on standard 65 percent moisture meat.
The industry is full of all sorts and styles of machines and systems to produce a wide range of products. Keep in mind there are limits in both directions as these machines are evolving to make specific products effectively. Discussions of these ranges should be considered so you are aware of your production possibilities.
This Editorial was published in the April Edition of International Petfood Magazine.