Sixteen-year Ruby was not a fussy eater. She had some white combined into her coat, some silver peeking by at sure angles, however she was nonetheless an easygoing pet at coronary heart for all intents and functions.
Besides when it got here to meals.
Extraordinarily allergic to meat and animal-based meals, Ruby would throw up each time her mum, Saakshi Sharma, tried to include some species-appropriate meals into her food regimen. After which the fixed itching would set in and he or she’d cease consuming utterly for 2 or three days.
To interrupt this cycle, Saakshi tried varied diets and meals, earlier than placing Ruby on a 100% vegan food regimen. A vegan herself, Saakshi had seen drastic adjustments in her life ever since she gave up animal-based meals.
As soon as on the vegan food regimen, Ruby instantly began seeing enchancment in not simply her intestine well being and pores and skin situation, however in her total power ranges.
When Saakshi began trying to find vegan, plant-based food regimen choices for canines out there, she got here up brief. Her solely choice was to organize meals for Ruby at dwelling, making certain it had all of the 37+ important vitamins that animals want of their meals each day. It was a troublesome state of affairs to navigate, however it gave Saakshi a brand new perspective on the pet meals business in India.
If she, a vegan and a canine nutritionist herself, had a lot bother placing collectively healthful, vegan meals for her Ruby, it needed to be doubly exhausting for different pet mother and father in the identical boat as her.
This inspired Saakshi to hitch arms along with her fellow vegan colleague and pal, Tejwinder Singh, to start out Freshwoof, a plant-based pet meals firm primarily based out of Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Based in 2020, has raised a pre-seed spherical from Marwari Catalysts, and some angels, up to now. The founders have invested Rs 1 lakh within the enterprise, and its merchandise retail at Supertails, Vegan Dukan, Wildermart, and different ecommerce platforms.
Controversial method?
Veganism and vegetarianism within the pet meals house are considerably of an oxymoron—at the very least to canine nutritionists who swear by species-appropriate diets.
It’s extensively accepted that regardless of being domesticated, pets’ organic make-up doesn’t make them splendid candidates for simply vegetarian/vegan diets. Many canine nutritionists lately have advocated species-appropriate diets for pets, rationalising that, had they been within the wild, they would not have entry to vegetarian meals similar to grains, pulses and greens.
However a current examine carried out on the College of Winchester, UK, confirmed that vegan diets are wholesome and secure, and that canines on uncooked meat diets are solely marginally more healthy than vegan ones.
In a rustic like India the place vegetarianism is intricately tied to spiritual beliefs, healthful and nutritious vegan diets have helped pet mother and father feed their canines higher.
“My mother and father solely let me undertake Carla on the situation that I’d feed her veg as a result of nobody within the household consumes meat. For the longest time, I held off on adopting as a result of I believed it wouldn’t be honest to the canine if I fed it meals that did extra hurt than good,” says Shivam Goyal, a category eighth scholar primarily based out of Bengaluru’s HSR neighbourhood.
“However my dad and I’ve been studying plenty of newly revealed papers that say vegan diets are literally wholesome for canines, and that gave me the boldness to lastly undertake a sister-dog,” he provides.
The Indian pet meals business has seen large development since COVID-19 after individuals adopted and purchased four-legged companions. Euromonitor says India’s total pet food market is projected to develop by 15% over the following 5 years, and vegan manufacturers stand to realize so much from rising consciousness round vegan pet food.
Winner winner, vegan dinner
Freshwoof’s meals are available ready-to-feed packets that don’t require any extra cooking. There are three flavours presently out there: brown rice and beans; tofu and quinoa; and oats and chickpeas.
Saakshi says the vet-approved meals makes use of natural, ayurvedic elements similar to ashwagandha, amla, moringa, ginger and turmeric—all of which supply quite a lot of well being advantages to canines.
However getting right here wasn’t a straightforward feat.
“Together with the well being facet, palatability performs a significant function in any pet meals. There’s no level in making a recipe that’s wholesome however not tasty,” Saakshi explains.
Initially, 80 of the 100 canines who examined Freshwoof’s recipes rejected the meals Saakshi and Tejwinder created. The second time, solely 35 appreciated the meals. Lastly, after seven tries and 21 recipes, 98 of the 100 check topics appreciated the meals.
The startup says it presently has greater than 18,000 distinctive guests on its web site each month, and has served greater than 28,000 meals to 2,500+ canines in India. Its 500-gram pack retails at Rs 449.
Freshwoof hopes to launch in worldwide markets by the tip of the following monetary yr. It’s concentrating on nations similar to Australia, Singapore, and the UK for enlargement.
Freshwoof’s opponents embrace kibble model, Benevo and Something Vegan. No recent meals vegan model, apart from Freshwoof, presently exists in India. Within the species-appropriate, meat-based meals class, Canine India, , , and Georgina’s Kitchen present preservative-free, dehydrated pet meals.
