And little Ruff turns 8 and enters his autumn years!

As COP26 gets underway today in Glasgow and we celebrate World Vegan Day, I can feel the excitement of change around the corner! It may be a time when many people are at last seeing the light that animal agriculture is a massive driver in destroying the planet and that hence, the dog food industry is playing a big part in devastating the environment.

I chose to turn myself and our family dog Ruff vegan 2 1/2 years ago to find the healthiest diet for him, as all the research I did into pet nutrition pointed towards plants being the healthiest; I did not realise then what an impact my actions would take in helping combat climate change.

Turning plant-based for us and our dogs is possibly one of the greatest changes we can make in our lives that is so easy to implement as for us, there are alternatives to all our favourites – even down to a McPlant burger followed by a vegan Magnum (yes we all have our indulgences!!)…….but the same rings so true for our dogs!

There are now 7 hugely popular, very new and successful plant-based dog food companies in the UK and we will be meeting up this evening via Zoom and have our own COP26 plant-based dog food business meeting so watch this space, it is just SO EXCITING!

We celebrated 3 milestones today on World Vegan Day – our daughter Emily turned 18, our guinea pig Maisy turned 6 and our 3rd vegan Ruff turned 8! They each deserved an extra special cake to celebrate and each one handmade with love.

Emily’s Kinder Bueno vegan cheesecake was particularly indulgent and unhealthy (but delicious). Maisy had a bowl of healthy fresh vegetables with all her favourites – we felt so lucky having her still with us as she had pneumonia last winter and it was Emily’s careful love and attention that saved her.

Ruff deserved the best cake with all his favourites in them as he is our most valued little member of the family – we all just love him to bits!

Ruff’s Homemade Birthday Cake Ingredients

I soaked some soya protein in hot water for 1/2 hour.

Mix some polenta with oat milk and nutritional yeast and heat on stove and stir for 10 -15 minutes.

Add together with soaked soya protein and place in a non-stick pan and bake for 30 minutes at 180C.

Make the icing by mixing some chickpea flour with oat milk and margarine and add a little Just be Kind supplement for added nutrients.

Ice cake once cooled and I gave Ruff an autumn scene for his autumn years (and he loves peppers!) I used broccoli stalks for the stems. It is so important to now tailor Ruff’s diet to his senior years. Being plant-based is one of the healthiest for our elderly pets, and we make sure to feed him one of the plant-based diets that is no higher than 24% protein to protect his kidneys.

Freshest is best and he just loves his homemade food, but when we do not have time, he is more than happy with Solo Vegetal dry or Greta dry, and watch this space, as we are due to begin importing Green Crunch again from Germany which is his ultimate favourite!!

Read how dogs live longer on a vegan diet