Lily’s Kitchen Vegan Rainbow Stew & Burrito Bowl
We want to fully support plant-based feeding in dogs in the UK, so we are so pleased that in November 2020, a big UK based company like Lily’s Kitchen brought out a vegan range that is affordable for UK dog owners – Vegan Rainbow Stew.
We did used to like Lily’s Kitchen as it was a family-run business with an excellent reputation, but it was taken over in April 2020 by Nestlé Purina which we are not happy about, as Nestlé does not have the greatest reputation for being sustainable or ethical. We do hope that Nestle Purina are considering the health of our dogs with the production of this new line, rather than just ‘greenwashing’ as explained in this article.
The composition of the vegan stew is Potatoes (10%), Courgettes (6%), Carrots (6%) Millet (6%), Lupin (4%), Lentils (3%), Peas (3%), Pea Protein (3%), Sunflower Seeds (2%), Sunflower Oil (2%), Minerals, Yeast, Chia Seeds (0.3%), Algae, Parsley (0.2%), Basil (0.2%)
We are happy with these ingredients as all nourishing and all healthy. They are however, a company whose main driver is meat-based dog food, so it appears as though they have not researched balanced vegan dog food properly. There is no mention of the addition of Taurine which is so important for a fully balanced vegan dog food for heart health.
In 2021, they released a second flavour – Mighty Burrito Bowl.
We imagine that they plan to sell the food to dog owners who want to try Meat-Free Mondays with their pet as the wording describes the food as ‘complete’; not 100% balanced, so not to be fed exclusively to your pet.
Benevo’s dog and cat vegan food is also described as complete which is impossible as dogs and cats have such vastly different nutritional requirements so the word ‘complete’ is just used as a positive marketing term.
On the whole though, we are so happy that a big company is embracing plant-based and moving with the times to bring a nutritious food that is affordable and well known in the UK.
