No hunter teams?

[Apatheist]

I'm curious are there any TPS meters out there to confirm overall TPS per pet. I'm thinking Bats according to Petopia put out more damage according to their modifier data there compared to Carrion Birds they just have less armor.

It boils down to armor. Carrion birds have the highest armor value out of all of the beasts that can use screech. Armor is your pets primary survival stat when tanking. The damage modifier is negligible since your pet will only be doing a fraction of your overall DPS anyway. Get armor pet talents, 30% from BM and a carrion bird and your pets will have nearly as much armor as a decently geared tank (though less avoidance/HP) which is what allows them to survive some of the harder hitting dungeon mobs.

Put growl first on your pets bar then screech and autocast both. Should have enough focus regen to cast screech once or twice between each growl.

Having said all that, I just realized you're playing 5 hunters. When I tested hunters I used 4 hunters with a healer so screech for AE threat to keep adds off my healer was invaluable. If you're going 5 hunters it may not be as crucial for you. You might be able to get away with one bird for the debuff and then 4 wolves to cycle furious howl.