My lifetime love of animals has motivated me to help them maintain healthy and happy lives.

I have been involved in every aspect of animal life, including the establishment and operation of an animal welfare society, care and rehabilitation of native and domestic animals and the creation and manufacture of products to improve the standard of living for animals.

My first business enterprise began with a burning desire for change and Sandy’s Natural Herbal Products operated successfully as a pioneer in natural animal and human products for eight years until sold.

My priorities are still the same; the quest to provide safe and healthy alternatives for animals wherever possible.

Changes in my own lifestyle resulted in me choosing a vegan diet and by necessity, I became more aware of the compositions and ingredients of food products. It was a natural progression to start reading the labels on pet foods and further research and inquiries caused me to be greatly concerned.

It was time to change and the best approach (from previous experience) was to provide an alternative product of equivalent cost but with superior quality and without causing pain and suffering. The result is the product named “Veganpet”.

Our products are free from any genetic engineering or irradiation. We are opposed to the increasing chemical and technical interference with food, especially our companion food

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Veganpet Dry Dog Food – Pup To Adult Blended Formula

No animal has suffered in the making of this quality product. This food is a complete and nutritionally balanced Vegan diet for pups to adult dogs. It meets all nutritional requirements according to the Association of American Feed Control Official’s (AAFCO) dog food nutrient profile for puppy/adult maintenance.

This product is all natural with no artificial colours or preservatives (with the exception of some added vitamins which are made synthetically). Most of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes are added in a whole food state to enhance absorption.  All vitamins , including all B group vitamins, minerals and calcium are added in balanced amounts to ensure your pet has every nutrient for body building and maintenance.

Amylase, Taurine and L Carnitine are added to ensure well being. Soy, Faba Beans and Pea protein are the main protein source with natural added enzymes to begin digestion and aid absorption. From time to time the main protein source may change to chickpeas and other similar vegan products from Australia where possible.[/one_half]

Veganpet Dry Cat Food – Kitten To Adult Blended Formula

In the making of this quality product, no animal has suffered. This food is a complete and nutritionally balanced Vegan diet for kittens to adult cats. It meets all nutritional requirements according to the Association of American Feed Control Official’s (AAFCO) cat food nutrient profile for kitten/adult maintenance.

Veganpet is a natural product with the exception of synthetically produced taurine, niacin and some vitamins and contains no artificial colours or preservatives. Most of the vitamins, minerals and enzymes are added in a whole food state to enhance absorption. All vitamins , including all B group vitamins, minerals and calcium are added in balanced amounts to ensure your pet has every nutrient for body building and maintenance of a kitten to adult cat.

Amylase, Taurine and L Carnitine are added to ensure well-being. Soy,faba beans and Pea protein are the main protein source with added enzymes to begin digestion and aid absorption. From time to time the main protein source may change to chickpeas and other similar vegan products from Australia where possible. [/one_half]

Veganpet – Why Vegan Pets?

Previously, there was a mistaken belief that dogs and cats were predominantly carnivorous, eating only meat and small amounts of vegetables. However, studies now indicate that companion animals can live a completely healthy and active life on Veganpet food.

Although the dog and cat have about equal status as companion animals, they are two totally different species. Things you can feed to a dog can harm a cat EG. Aspirin reacts in a dog about the same as it does in a human but is poison a cat. A dog can live on commercial cat food but a cat will die if fed only on dog food. There is a huge difference between dogs and cats physiological, behavioural and dietary habits. Dogs evolved from an omnivorous species whilst cats evolved from a strictly carnivorous diet. The shorter gastrointestinal tract of the cat results in a rapid rate of passage and therefore lower digestibility of foods than the dog. Because of this there are many special needs in a cats diet. These differences are the cats unique energy and glucose metabolism, higher protein requirement, the need for the amino acid taurine, sensitivity to a deficiency of the amino acid arginine, the inability to convert beta-carotene to active vitamin A, the inability to convert the amino acid tryptophan to niacin and the inability to convert linoleic acid effectively into essential long-chain fatty acids.

This is why many vets and nutritionists say cats cannot be vegan but dogs can be if given a nutritionally balanced diet. For the last five years I have been working on making a dry extruded dog and cat food using vegan alternatives to supply all of the animals nutritional needs. This food meets the NRC and AAFCO standards and in some instances, exceeds them. The body basic building, energising and replacing materials can come from a meat or from a soybean, corn, flaxseed or seaweed source, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the basic cellular structure is the same from either source and the availability of each nutrient is broken down into an acceptable microstructure for absorption into the gastrointestinal tract. I have achieved this with the careful addition of  enzymes (EG. amylase) and other special enzymes to break down Pea Protein, Faba Beans, soya,  chickpeas and similar vegan products into readily absorbable molecules. The nutrients are carefully balanced in a way that the body will accept them readily and synthetic replacements are only used when absolutely necessary. Synthetic replacements are not engineered from any animal source.

With my dry dog and cat food there is a guide on the label stating how much food your pet should eat in order to receive all the requisite nutrients in one day. If you give this food as a base and then add whatever else your pets would like to eat with it, you can be safe in the knowledge that they are getting all the nutrients they need. If you have any concerns or would simply like some further info, please feel free to contact me.

So what exactly would an animal found dead, suffering or dying in a paddock have wrong with it? A disease, cancer, torn kidney, lung, blood or liver infection? Perhaps an overdose of pesticide? No one knows for certain but such animals are used for pet food. Also of concern is the possibility of veterinary drugs still present in the animal. These animals are then cut up and used as choice cuts of beef or lamb or plump whole chicken , as the pet food labels claim. Being thrifty institutions, slaughterhouses take all that is left over, including the head, legs, intestines, liver and lungs and render it down in a big vat. The hair is skimmed from the top and whatever remains is dried and powdered, leaving beef or chicken meal or meat and poultry by-products or digests.

These products are found in almost all dog and cat foods available today. I think this is a questionable source of nourishment for our pets. On reading labels you will see feather meal and blood meal. Feather meal is ground up feathers very high in protein but totally indigestible. The same goes for blood meal. For more info on this, please read “Food Pets Die For” by Ann Martin, ISBN 0.939165-31-7 or www.newsagepress.com.

Have you ever wondered why our pets become ill or allergic, develop chronic digestive problems or sometimes die very young? Could it be the food they are eating? With the above in mind, are we being so cruel by feeding nutritionally balanced vegan food to our pets? I think not. We now have the possibility to make a more humane choice by not feeding our pets the products of other slaughtered animals.

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Motivation

My lifetime love of animals has motivated me to help them maintain healthy and happy lives. I have been involved in every aspect, including the establishment and operation of an animal welfare society, care and rehabilitation of native and domestic animals, and the creation and manufacture of products to improve the standard of living for animals.

My business enterprises began from a burning desire for change. “Sandy’s Natural Herbal Products p/l” evolved many years ago because my beautiful shepherd “Zoe” had a very serious reaction to a Shelltox pest strip collar. Zoe was so sick, despite the best of diet, care and attention. All of my inquiries resulted in the same response; I was told that Zoe was fine, that it was my imagination.

But I knew that wasn’t the case; something was wrong, very wrong.

Trial and error proved beyond doubt that the chemical insecticide flea collars, powders and washes were the root of the problem, and further research and study identified that organo phosphates were the main culprit.

Further research and study made me aware that there must be an alternative, but no one would listen to me. I decided then to force change commercially. I established a company structure and studied herbs, in particular Pyretherum, and made my own natural products for pets. “Sandy’s Natural Herbal Products p/l” grew and grew, slowly people listened to what I had to say, and things began to change.

My business expanded and my products gained acceptance Australia-wide and also overseas. The products were found on the shelves of every major supermarket, pet suppliers and mail order companies, head to head with the chemically-based products of all the big names. Numerous presentations and articles in magazines and on television promoted the products far and wide.

Pyretherum is now the most commonly used base for pet pesticides used today. I had achieved what I set out to do; but some where in all the business razzle dazzle I had made a big mistake. I lost myself. I became so involved in my company and keeping it debt free, I almost forgot why I started it, and the reason for its existence. I sold my company and my business, and concentrated on getting my priorities right. My priorities were still the same; the quest to provide safe and healthy alternatives for animals wherever possible.

Changes in my own lifestyle had resulted in me choosing a vegan diet and by necessity, I became more aware of the compositions and ingredients of food products. It was a natural progression to start reading the labels on pet foods; and further research and inquiries caused me to be greatly concerned. It was time to change; and the best approach (from previous experience) was to provide an alternative product of equivalent quality and cost.

The product I developed is named “Veganpet”. Veganpet is a nutritionally balanced and complete dry food for puppies and kittens to mature adults. It is completely vegan, manufactured without the use of meat or animal by-products. Developed to completely balance a pets diet, it contains key ingredients that ensure that your pet is healthy and nourished. Veganpet is completely natural (with the exception of some added vitamins which are synthetic) with no artificial colours or preservatives.

Veganpet also meets the stringent nutritional requirements of AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Official’s) dog and cat food nutrient profile for puppy/kitten to dog/cat maintenance. Veganpet is a relatively new pet food to the market and it has received a favourable response in this limited time.

Requests for Veganpet are nationwide, despite a limited word-of-mouth advertising strategy. This positive, early response suggests future success in the newly discovered vegetarian pet food market.