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Superior nutrition for all cats and dogs because prevention is better than cure!

Dr Susanna Moves House

Animal pens for animals to the slaughter

Article Summary

Dr Susanna moved house from Wales in the UK to Colombia in South America. She lived alongside her family in rainforest in the foothills of the Andes amongst bamboo and lush forest greenery. During this time she experimented with largely vegan food for stray animals that presented themselves.

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Dr Susanna Moves House

I have now moved to Colombia, and am living with my daughter and her Colombian husband in the rainforest in the foothills of the Andes. They are both inspirational natural architects, creating sculptural buildings from home-grown bamboo.

Dr Susanna has moved to South America

As they are currently building their own house, I am living in a lovely tree tent, suspended between 3 trees, until they can build my house on my neighbouring farm, El Rebano, in 2021.

My tree tent in the Colombian Rainforest

We have two dogs and one kitten, all of which just appeared, one by one. As we eat raw living foods, we are vegan, but respect the need for carnivores to eat meat. So we have arrived at a very successful compromise.

They all have various vegetation to eat, including coconuts, flax and chia crackers, avocadoes, pumpkin, squash, nut and seed cheeses and veggie burgers. The crackers and burgers are made in our dehydrators and have proved a great success. More on these later!

Food made in our dehydrators have proved to be a great success

In the evening, they have their raw meaty bones which they all love. And during the night, the kitten has started catching rats, which has greatly reduced our kitchen challenges.

PET Plus’ Future Is Bright!

I am continuing to research nutrition to ensure PET Plus remains the best wholefood, natural, vegan nutritional supplement available. I am committed to this! You will undoubtedly have noticed subtle changes in the powder over the years as I make delicate improvements to the ingredients to provide the most useful nutrients for our pets.

Changes To The PET Plus Formula

The most recent change has been the realisation that dogs, who were always thought to make their own taurine, need taurine in their PET Plus too. Cats have always needed it, so the PET Plus for Cats and the PET Plus for Dogs now have the same ingredients. We now have one product – PET Plus for Dogs and Cats

Dogs Need Taurine

Taurine has been found to be deficient in dogs that tend to suffer epilepsy. It has long been used to help prevent it. As epilepsy seems to be increasing, it was discovered that many more dogs than before are not managing to produce enough taurine for their needs.

I can’t help wondering if this is associated with a deterioration in the quality of processed pet foods and our general environment. All the more reason to feed raw, make it yourself and ensure you give a top-quality nutritional supplement like PET Plus.

Making Raw Crackers For The Cats And Dogs

So, how do I make these raw crackers and burgers for our 4 legged fur-babies?

Make your morning green juice with cucumber, celery, broccoli, parsley, kale, sunflower greens and pea greens. To make the pulp a little sweeter, you could also juice a carrot, maybe a beetroot and on the odd occasion, an apple. If you don’t have all these ingredients, improvise! If you don’t have a juicer, use a blender and make a smoothie out of them.

Mix some of the juice with some of the pulp from the juicer and put it in the blender. Add some Pet Plus powder for flavour and nutrition! Humans love the taste ….and it’s really good for us too!

Here are some other additions to vary the taste. Add some of them and blend the mixture, adjusting quantities to taste.

The number one favourite here is coconut. We all love crackers and burgers containing coconut!

Adding More Flavour!

You can blend in a little raw garlic, if your dog likes the taste but avoid onions, chives, shallots and leeks completely because they cause haemolytic anaemia which can be fatal. Garlic helps to reduce parasites and has been used for centuries. The key is to use very small amounts.

The new rumour that all garlic is toxic to dogs is only true if huge amounts are given. The Japanese breeds of dog, notably the Akita and Shiba, and a very few others have an hereditary disorder that renders them extremely susceptible to onion and garlic poisoning, so clearly don’t give any to them!

Add a little salt as long if none of you are on a salt-free diet. Maybe also add some turmeric if your dog actually likes the taste. It’s an excellent anti-inflammatory and natural pain reliever.

If you, your dog or cat has any other healthy favourite flavours, try adding a little to the mix for example you could add some nutritional yeast and / or marmite. Remember though that the taste will intensify after the mixture has been dehydrated, so go for subtlety!

Your Cats And Dogs Will Love These Crackers

Add some soaked (activated) and rinsed hulled sunflower seeds and blend until smooth. These are a great source of protein for you and your pets. You may need to add more juice or water. Taste it and add seasonings as you fancy. If you like it, chances are so will you dogs and cats! Here’s a picture of the kitten having a taste!

Kitten eating raw vegan cracker mixture

Tip this mixture into a bowl and stir in some chia seeds and flax seeds. Stir well. These will absorb the moisture over the following 15-20 minutes. If it hasn’t become thick, stir in more chia seeds and flax seeds. These seeds are both excellent sources of the anti-inflammatory omega 3 EFAs and protein.

Spread this mixture onto dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 42 degrees centigrade for about 12 hours. Then turn them over onto the mesh sheets, carefully peeling off the Teflex sheet, and dehydrate for a further 12 or more hours. These will only store if they are really dry, so keep dehydrating until they are completely dry when they can be stored in airtight jars. If they are still chewy and soft, either eat or feed them straight away, or store them in the fridge for a few days.

The difference between crackers and burgers is solely in the thickness of the mixture spread on the dehydrator sheets. The crackers will be crisp while the burgers will retain their moist burger-like texture.

Here’s a picture of the mixture spread thinly on the teflex sheets to make crackers.

Cracker mixture laid onto teflex sheets, ready to go into the dehydrator

And here the mixture is formed into burgers which will dry a bit to form a crunchy outside with a soft, chewy centre. These need to be eaten or stored in the fridge. The ‘meaty’ colour is from the beetroot!

Meaty Vegan Burgers

This picture shows Lobo, the biggest dog, enjoying coconut chunks.

Lobo Eating Coconut

And here the kitten is enjoying pre-chewed chlorella and coconut! I love the pre-chewing duty! I chew a chlorella tablet then chew some coconut ‘meat’ and spit the contents into his bowl. He gobbles it up and is immediately ready for more! As the green of the chlorella fades from the mixture, he thoroughly enjoys just plain, chewed coconut!

As he is getting older, he is more able to eat the coconut himself, but he still prefers the pre-chewed variety! When he arrived, he was only 4 weeks old and very sick and frail. Chewed coconut and chlorella was his main food at first. He is now thriving!

Kitten eating pre-chewed coconut and chlorella