The idea of feeding your dog crickets used to land as a gag. It doesn’t anymore, and the reason isn’t a trend piece. It’s paperwork. Insect proteins have quietly cleared the regulatory bars that decide what can legally go in a bag of dog food in the United States, which means the “bugs are the future” pitch is out of date. For dogs, bugs are the present.
Here is the thesis worth holding onto before you judge a cricket treat by the ick factor: the question that matters isn’t whether it sounds gross. It’s whether the protein does a real job in your dog’s bowl, and whether it does that job with a fraction of the environmental cost of beef. On both counts, the answer is more interesting than “eat bugs, save the planet.”
Why dogs, specifically
Dogs are omnivores. They don’t need meat, exactly. They need the nutrients meat usually delivers, and those nutrients can come from other sources as long as the diet is complete and balanced. That biological fact is the whole opening for insect protein, because crickets are dense with the things a dog needs. Pound for pound, a cricket beats both beef and salmon on protein and on fiber, and it arrives carrying iron, B12, and omega-3s besides.
There’s also an ancestry argument that’s easy to wave off but shouldn’t be. Insects were part of what canids ate long before kibble existed, and most dogs who nose around a summer yard are still eating them. A cricket treat isn’t asking your dog to try something alien. It’s formalizing a snack they’d grab on their own.
The environmental math is not marketing fluff
Raising livestock ranks among the biggest drivers of greenhouse gases, eroded soil, polluted water, and cleared forest, and our pets own a genuine share of that tab. A UCLA analysis found that the diets of American dogs and cats account for roughly 30 percent of the environmental impact of animal-based food production in the US. That’s not a rounding error.
Crickets change the arithmetic dramatically. One pound of beef takes about 2,000 gallons of water and 25 bags of feed. One pound of cricket protein takes roughly one gallon of water and two bags of feed. Set the carbon output of cricket farming beside that of conventional meat and it barely registers, and the methane, that potent greenhouse gas which pours off cattle operations. There’s less water pollution too, because manure management isn’t the problem it is with livestock. If you already make food choices with your own footprint in mind, this is one of the few places you can extend that logic to your dog without guessing.
“People get stuck on the yuck factor and skip the part that matters,” says Dr. Priya Nair. “Insect protein is highly digestible, it’s low on the common allergen list, and for a dog who reacts to chicken or beef, a novel protein like cricket can be the thing that finally settles their skin and their gut. I’d rather a picky, itchy dog try crickets than cycle through the fifth chicken recipe that didn’t work.”
What’s actually on the shelf
The market is still young, but it’s no longer thin. A handful of brands have built their whole identity around insect and low-impact proteins. It helps to meet them in order of how long they’ve been at it, because the pioneers tell you where the category is headed.
Jiminy’s is the veteran here, one of the earliest brands to put powdered cricket protein into dog food and treats. Its Nooch Puffs and Peanut Puffs have an airy crunch dogs tend to love, and the brand estimates every five-ounce bag saves 220 gallons of water versus a comparable meat treat. Founder and CEO Anne Carlson frames it as combatting climate change while making dogs happy, and says the category is just getting started. If you want the closest thing to an established track record in a young field, this is it.
Chippin takes the widest swing on protein. Alongside cricket products, the brand makes food from silver carp, a wild-caught, overpopulated fish pulled from the Great Lakes, and from vegan spirulina. The brand’s operations lead, Jessica Blum, says its proteins sidestep the most common canine allergens, build in gut-health benefits, and are made with roughly 80 percent less in natural resources than a conventional beef or chicken treat. Chippin buys from small and mid-size farms and fisheries in North America, and the box it all ships in is certified plastic-neutral, spun out of recycled yogurt cups. This is the brand for an owner who wants alternatives beyond crickets alone.
Hoppers is the one that leans hardest into making bugs feel normal and fun, with flavors like Hayride and Hound Dog. The recipes read like human snacks, built on chickpeas, peanut butter, coconut oil, banana, and honey, which is part of the point. Co-founder Danielle Wood, one of four who launched the brand in 2021, has said she’s tried every flavor herself and that the first thing people notice on opening a bag is that the treats smell good rather than strange. Her framing is the ancestry one: dogs are probably already eating insects outside, so this isn’t a leap. Good pick for the skeptic in your household.
Neo Bites is the newest angle of the bunch, cricket-based food toppers and treats pitched as a way to supercharge an existing diet rather than replace it. Co-founder Wesley Cooper describes the brand as the first carbon-negative pet food company in the US, meaning it offsets more than it emits, and says everything is made in small batches in Austin, Texas to keep quality tight and waste and shipping low. If you don’t want to switch treats wholesale, a topper is the low-commitment way in.
What’s new since this was written
The biggest change isn’t a new flavor. It’s that insect ingredients grew up in the eyes of US regulators, which is what turns a fringe product into a normal one you can trust on a shelf.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), the body whose ingredient definitions effectively govern what’s allowed in pet food, approved black soldier fly larvae for adult dog food back in 2022. In January 2024 it approved dried mealworm meal for adult dog food, the first mealworm ingredient cleared for US pet food. Cricket ingredients have moved through the same process, with a dried cricket definition written specifically for dog foods that requires feed-grade rearing and a microbial kill step during processing.
Then, in October 2024, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine issued guidance (GFI #293) saying it generally won’t enforce food-additive approval requirements against ingredients listed in AAFCO’s official publication. In plain terms, that stabilized interstate sales of these insect ingredients and gave brands a clear runway. Facilities still have to meet the same safety-control rules as any other animal-food plant. So when you buy a cricket treat today, you’re not buying an unregulated novelty. You’re buying something that cleared the same gates as the rest of the aisle.
The honest bottom line
Cricket treats are worth trying if you want a genuinely novel, digestible protein, if your dog struggles with common allergens, or if you want your dog’s snacks to carry a lighter footprint. They’re treats, not a complete diet, so they supplement rather than replace balanced meals. Talk to your vet before making insects a daily habit, especially if your dog has existing food sensitivities, and introduce any new protein slowly. The bugs cleared the paperwork. Whether they earn a spot in your rotation is a smaller, easier experiment.
References
- Okin, G.S. “Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats.” PLOS ONE, vol. 12, no. 8, 2017, e0181301. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181301
- Association of American Feed Control Officials. “Official Publication” (insect ingredient definitions, including dried black soldier fly larvae and dried mealworm meal). https://www.aafco.org
- US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine. “GFI #293: Enforcement Discretion for AAFCO-Listed Animal Food Ingredients,” October 2024. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary
