Passover: Guidance for Pet Owners

I'm a big pet lover with a wonderful aquarium full of exotic fish, a few parrots, and two cats. I've noticed that their food contains chametz, and I'm wondering if I need to discard it. What should I do? I'm concerned about them going hungry or possibly suffering during Passover. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your question.

It is important to know that it is not so simple, and I'd like to explain. It is written in the Talmud, Tractate Pesachim, page 45b:

"תנו רבנן: הפת שעיפשה ונפסלה מלאכול לאדם, והכלב יכול לאוכלה - מטמאה טומאת אוכלין בכביצה, ונשרפת עם הטמאה בפסח."

The Sages taught: Bread that has spoiled and become unfit for human consumption, but can still be eaten by a dog, …. is burned along with other impure items on Pesach.

We see that any food that is edible for a dog is considered chametz and needs to be burned before Pesach.

This is brought le'halacha in the Shulchan Aruch, siman 442, seif 2 and 9.

One might ask why the status of chametz depends on the eligibility for consumption by a dog? The Mishneh Berurah (ad loc) explains that if the chametz is fit for a dog to consume, even though it is not fit for human consumption, it nevertheless retains the capability to leaven other doughs. It still has the status of chametz and needs to be burned before Pesach.

"משנה ברורה על שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות פסח סימן תמב סעיף ב: מלאכול הכלב - דאז אינו חייב בביעור דהוי כעפרא בעלמא אבל אם לא נפסל מאכילת כלב אף שלאדם נתקלקל ואינו ראוי מ"מ עדיין חייב לבער כחמץ גמור מפני שראוי לחמע בה עיסות אחרות."

Mishnah Berurah on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Laws of Pesach, Siman 442, Seif 2:

To feed it to a dog - in that case (where it is unfit for a dog), one is not obligated to burn it before Pesach, as it is considered mere dust. However, if it has not become unfit for dog consumption, even though it has spoiled for human use and is not fit, one is still obligated to destroy it as proper chametz because it can leaven other doughs.

So one could argue that since pet food is fit for your pet to eat, and the halacha of ‘fit for a dog’ is not specifically for a dog but any animal, it should therefore be forbidden to have such foods in your possession over Yom Tov.

However, HaGaon Harav Fried, Shelit'a writes (Azamra Lishmecha Moadim, Page 160) that it would depend on what the pet food is.

The basis of the halacha brought by the Mishneh Berurah is from the Rambam, Hilchot Chametz U'Matzah, Perek 1, Halacha 2, that the definition of chametz that one may not have in one's possession over Pesach is the kind of food that has the capability to leaven other doughs.

Therefore, If the pet food is a kind where the chametz is crushed and mixed into other ingredients, then it loses its capability to leaven other doughs, and therefore, one would be allowed to have such food in one's possession over Pesach, and it would be permitted to feed it to your fish.

If, however, the pet food consists of whole grains of wheat or barley, and it is not crushed and mixed into other foods, then it would be forbidden to have such foods in your possession over Pesach since it is fit for a dog and able to leaven other doughs.

In a case where you have such pet food that one may not possess on Pesach, there are other solutions that one can use to feed one's pet, for example:

• Parrots or budgies – Millet
• Fish – Worms
• Cats and dogs – Meat, chicken, etc.

So, as you see, there is no reason for your pets to go hungry. Either you can give them the pet food in a case where the chametz is crushed and mixed into other ingredients, or you can give them the other alternatives mentioned above.