Craig we are obviously thinking alike - we posted at the same time. Thank you for your post - it is well thought out and very beautiful.

Cheers,
Sheryl

Greetings Craig & furry friends,

We would also like to thank you for your wonderful posts.  As you can see from our pic we are the very proud parents of two beautiful dogs: Layla, 3 1/2 yr old great dane, and Mojo, around 2 yrs old german shepherd X ridgeback.  To give you a little background, I grew up with great danes and knew another would bless my life at some stage.  After waiting 8 yrs (due to renting, not enough $ etc), my partner and I finally were blessed with our gorgeous girl.  She was 12 wks old and luckily came from a lovely breeder in Melbourne.  Being vegan we agonised over what to feed our new puppy and being a research fanatic I looked into alternative diets for dogs.  Being omnivores, not carnivores, dogs can flourish on a vegetable based diet and I was pleasantly surprised at all the information available. 

Through this we came across VeganPet and Sandy whose business this is was so very helpful.  As you can imagine, we didn't want to jeopardise our dog's health due to our beliefs and being a great dane, growth problems are quite common (actually due to misguided advise on their need for excessive protein and calcium).  Sandy even went so far as to get independent analysis done on her dry food to satisfy my need for assurance.  The dry food she offers is of the highest quality, mostly organic and all human-grade, and meets all the American standard for dietary requirements.

Being in the Veterinary industry at the time also meant that I had access to the best food money could buy and I was able to compare the nutritional analysis.  As a vet nurse I also saw first hand the many dogs with allergies, skin complaints and cancers that arose all too often.  Diet is the culprit over and over again.  Processed foods containing meat by-products (which literally means anything coming from the abattoir), fillers and artificial additives is by no means an ideal diet for anyone.  As a side note, if I was to feed my dog meat (which I believe is unnecessary, as it is for us) I would only be giving organic as the hormones and antibiotics pumped into farmed animals is abominable and totally detrimental to health.

Hence, we started our baby girl on veganpet dry food (slowly introducing it with the food she was used to) and we have never looked back since.  Time and time again, Layla is praised on how damn good she looks and we had none of those stressful problems with excessive growth spurts typical of her breed.  She is now fully matured and at 60kg is big for a female.  Her coat is excellent, muscle definition to die for, and has perfect stools.  I must point out that we don't solely have her on the dry food as how bland would that be (she is our spoilt baby nonetheless) so her food consists of half dry and the rest is made up of an organic brown rice/lentil/vegetable stew with nutritional yeast/hemp seed/flax added for flavour.  As our veges differ so do hers and I will confess to making them organic oat/date/carob/hemp cookies for a treat.  Great danes are known to be fussy eaters but our girl just loves her food!

Mojo, our second dog who we got as a playmate for our girl, came from Shenton Park dog home (his history is questionable) and is one of those dogs who'll eat anything.  He has thrived on this diet and has filled out to be an impressively solid dog.  He too seems to very much enjoy his food.  We make sure they have sticks to chew on and often get them the 'greenies' to aid in keeping their teeth healthy and clean.

In summary, we fully believe dogs can thrive on a diet absent in meat (which is all too often substandard in more ways than one) and we feel comfortable in knowing that our babies eat better than most people and feel confident in that we are doing the very best by them.  Through this we hope to see them lead a long and healthy life. 

Craig, one day we must get together with our beloved furry companions as we too live in Perth.  The cruelty free shop you talk of I am not aware of, do you mean the Animal Lib shop on Beaufort in Northbridge and does it hold dog food?  At the moment we get the veganpet delivered from Melbourne, 15kg every 4 weeks or so.

Take care all,
Clarissa & Angus.

P.S.  Craig, are you aware of the Perth raw picinic on Sun May 28th at 12pm, Kings Park near Fraser's?

Clarrisa,
that is great..(no Pun) about your dogs
i will not be able to attend the picnic on the 28th work until 6am ughh.
all the best
Craig



>anyway here is the message i recieved about Vegan Pet dog food
>Dear Club Veg members,

>PAWS Commununity Resource Centre Now caters for Vegan pets for more Information
on the product visit www.veganpet.com.au or call PAWS on (08)9228-2435.

>We are trying to establish a cruelty free shop in Perth, feel free to drop in at
112-114 Beaufort Street Perth, 6000.

What a good boy he is! He's adorable, too. Thanks for sharing F1!

ohh he is lovely....