Disrupt the Dog Food Industry – with DoGood, Dog Food for Good.
Join the Mission:
Do you know the impact your dog’s food is having on the planet?
Many of us are now aware of the negative impact our consumption of meat has on the planet. However, did you know that scientists estimate meat-based pet food is responsible for 25-30% of the environmental impact of meat production?
With the global food system under intense pressure, an area twice size of UK is now needed just to feed the world’s pets. In fact, the pet food industry emits more greenhouse gases each year than entire countries such as Mozambique and the Philippines.
Do you know how mass-produced dog food is usually made?
90% of all pet food sales in the UK are from just three huge (and very profitable) corporations.
- Mass produced dog food typically includes ingredients such as ‘derivatives of animal origin’ – code for slaughter-house left-overs. This includes ground down skins, horns, feet, pig bristle, heads of poultry, hatchery waste, day-old chicks and blood, placenta, wool, feathers, hair & hooves.
- Ingredients are processed at high temperatures – meaning vitamins and minerals are destroyed in the process
- Artificial ingredients & chemicals are added to make the product profitable to sell - for example by providing an unnaturally long shelf life.
The end result is the dog equivalent of junk food.
It’s no wonder our dogs are now facing an obesity epidemic, with 65% of dogs in UK now classed as overweight.
This clearly isn’t healthy or sustainable, and that's why we decided to do something about it :)
What if your dog’s diet could help fight climate change?
DoGood is a 100% plant-based, fresh and nutritionally complete dog food.
We believe in dog food as a force for good, and our mission is to create a sustainable future for our pets and planet.
Our 3 pillars are:
We have spent the last year developing our dog food which is:
100% Plant-Based – Using real, whole foods and packed with innovative superfoods such as kelp and shiitake mushrooms
Nutritionally Complete – Developed with the help of canine nutritionists to ensure the perfect balance of vitamins & minerals
Hand-Cooked Fresh, then Frozen – We use the optimum method of cooking for each ingredient to retain those essential nutrients, & then lock them in
High in Protein – Using a unique combination of plant-powered proteins
Organic, Local Ingredients – sourced from growers in the UK wherever possible to minimise food miles
Vegan & Cruelty-Free – No animals are used or harmed in anything we do :)
Sustainable - We base every decision on whether it contributes towards a sustainable circular economy. Our containers are made from sugarcane pulp residue, our packaging is plastic-free and uses recycled material + vegetable-based inks, and we'll deliver directly to your door via a carbon-neutral delivery partner.
At least 20 times more land is required to feed a meat-eating dog than one on a plant-based diet, and we believe that even switching to a flexitarian doggie diet would help contribute to a sustainable future.
Why we need your help
We’ve spent the last year in the kitchen perfecting our first three recipes with the help of our vegan canine nutritionist, and developing our sustainable packaging and delivery offering. All of this has so far been self-funded out of our passion for building a sustainable future for our pets and planet.
We are now in a position to bring DoGood food to the masses, meaning we require investment to:
- Lease a commercial kitchen
- Invest in specialist equipment
- Design and print labels and packaging
- Develop our website and social media presence
- Complete regulatory requirements, such as lab analysis for labelling the product
(Chief Taste Tester Watson, waiting patiently for his next batch in the early days)
***Join our mission now - contribute, sign up via our website (www.wearedogood.co.uk/signup) or follow our socials @wearedogood for more details***
BUT WAIT…..Don't dogs NEED to eat meat?
Thankfully not! Dogs - along with all species - require specific nutrients rather than specific ingredients and contrary to popular belief, dogs are actually omnivores.
That’s hardly surprising, as dogs have been living alongside humans for over 30,000 years and depending on our leftovers for the bulk of their nutrition – humans only started eating meat with every meal in the last hundred years or so (and even now, meat with every meal is largely confined to the Western World).
Genetic evidence thus supports their adaptation to a more human-like, starch-rich diet. Perhaps most important is AMY2B, a gene responsible for pancreatic amylase production in dogs. Amylase is an enzyme that breaks starches down into glucose, in order to fuels cells. On average, this AMY2B gene is 28x more active in domestic dogs than in wolves.
There is no reason why diets comprised entirely of plants, minerals, and synthetically-based ingredients (i.e. vegan diets) cannot meet the necessary palatability, bioavailability, and nutritional requirements of dogs. In fact, game-changing studies are now showing that both dogs and cats can not only survive, but thrive on a plant-based diet. (See studies by Dr Andrew Knight linked below).
The picture above shows Bramble, a border collie from the UK who held the Guinness World Record for being the oldest living dog at the time. Bramble was fed an entirely plant-based diet for her whole life. She lived to the ripe old age of 25 - that’s 189 in dog years!
The UK’s Pet Food Manufacturing Association is now moving with the times, stating: “Dogs are omnivores and can adapt to a well-balanced vegetarian diet.”
For further reading, follow the links below (in order of appearance above) -
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181301
https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2020/area-twice-size-of-uk-needed-to-feed-worlds-pets
https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/articles/pet-food-domination-the-big-three-corporations
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5806590/
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/6/9/57/htm
https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-021-02754-8
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235375792_The_genomic_signature_of_dog_domestication_reveals_adaptation_to_a_starch-rich_diet