Feast Fit For A Dog
For a while now, we had wanted to overhaul our feeding regime for the dogs that were hospitalised at the shelter. It just seemed that what we were feeding them on, on a twice daily basis, just wasn’t hitting the mark and we wanted to make more of an effort to get things spot on.
Because the diet had to be made from scratch from local resources, it was important that all the nutrients were given at the right proportion and balance. For this I turned to veterinary colleague Nick Thompson, a vet who is committed to providing a personal, comprehensive, professional holistic referral service to the public and veterinary colleagues.
Treating both small animals and equines, his skills cover a wide range of complementary therapies such as homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal and nutritional medicine. After attending many of his lectures in the past, and from reputation, I knew that he would be just the person to set us on the right track as regards getting exactly the correct nutrients into the dogs.
Through email and phone, over the course of a couple of weeks, we discussed raw materials that were available to us that would be cost effective. Through his expertise Nick came up with a basic diet that could be fed to all the dogs, with modifications made for our long-term shelter dogs and for sick animals that needed just that little bit extra. I then handed the baton over to Serena, our volunteer helping to look after things in India, to get the recipe up and running….
A storybook perfect white cow adorns my red trimmed cotton shopping bag, which I pass to the wizened gypsy lady to fill with the mornings crop of vegetables. This summer season sees the last of the carrots, but plenty of cauliflower, spinach, cabbage and beans. I buy extra tomatoes as Squirrel Nutkin, my 3 legged much favoured pup, swears it’s the secret to keeping his coat extra red.
Shopping for fresh seasonal vegetables each day
Sharda and I chop away happily in the coolness of the food preparation area, exchanging pleasantries and smiles, despite the fact that neither of us speaks the others language, while Squirrel squirts tomato seeds and juice on my tatty work clothes and Sharda’s immaculate midnight blue sari - which incidentally stays pristine all day!
Lovingly prepared food for our doggies dinner
We‘ve put up pictures of Ganesh, Sharda’s favourite deity, and she places pink roses by his image. A donkey in the snow from an old calendar hangs off the wall, a casualty of the recent rains. The recipe is written out in Hindi surrounded by cheery stickers of vegetables and gods. We stir in the vivid yellow saffron and swirl in the tasty ground nut oil.
Then it’s out into the pounding sun to stir the pot over the open fire, using cow dung as fuel. The bubbling mixture is carried with improvised oven gloves of bits of cardboard and we stir this into the rice and chickpeas with a long handled mini spade and we all agree how delicious it smells.
Mixing the dogs a colourful feast
The dogs clearly relish the new flavours, which vary on the day– and of course the chef. On Sharda’s day off, Nadja, the veteran of the Indian staff takes on the mantle of chief cook, and boasts his concoction is “First Class”! Mmmm, let the hungry customers be the judge!
All gone - the proof is in the eating!
Nothing is more pleasing than a clean polished bowl and tell tale saffron on the whiskers. Sharda and I watch like contented mothers glad our 70 dog children are well nourished and appreciating their fare with a sea of waving tails - oh and a few doggie squabbles.
Sharda taking a well earned break
Thank You to Nick Thompson
We would like to say a big thank you to Nick Thompson for his time and effort in creating a perfect doggy diet for us. To find out more about Nick please visit www.holisticvet.co.uk
May 2nd, 2008 at 13:34
Your doggy recipe even makes me hungry! Those dogs at TOLFA are very lucky canines!!!
October 30th, 2008 at 17:03
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