How enormously fortunate we feel at Just Be Kind, to be the UK stockist of Green Crunch, Jerkey treats, Vegdog dental treats, POPS low calorie treats, Vegdog Senior tinned food and even their latest product - Bedtime Cookies to calm your dogs! They produce the highest quality soya and grain free, non-GMO cruelty-free dog food products that we can source for your dogs!
Vegdog is an enormously successful ethical company set to drive change in the vegan ethical dog food space as they turn 10 years old this year (wow)...and they have just raised an astounding €9M (over £7.5M!) in funding to expand their European presence, after seeing sales hike by 66% in 2024!
What success and we couldn't be prouder of them as they play a very special role in the continued success of Just Be Kind!
It was back in February 2020 that I felt fortunate enough to have met both co-founders of Vegdog Tessa Zaune-Figlar and Valerie Henssen at a pet food convention in London. There were a number of talks at this event, and the only vet in the UK who fully supports feeding dogs a raw food diet was giving his talk. I lasted only 2 minutes listening to him as everything that he said horrified me and I walked out of the conference room!
Tessa and Valerie noticed me walking out and did exactly the same as the ethos behind feeding our dogs raw meat goes against everything that we stand for as environmentalists and vets wanting the kindest, healthiest food for our dogs and our planet.
I had only started Just Be Kind (see more of my journey at bottom of the page), and I was so taken speaking to the lovely Tessa at a quiet table outside the lecture hall as to why she began her business -
Tessa has this very personal journey to share about her own dog Nelson and why she started the company Vegdog -
Her words are used below translated from the VegDog.de site.
“Crossbreed Nelson who died at the good age of 15 years, was a vegan for 7 years as he suffered from an intolerance to animal protein. We had Nelson as an adult rescue and when we first had him, we made numerous trips to the vets.
The vets were baffled and we tried everything that the market had to offer – hypoallergenic dry and wet foods as well as the recommended full range of exotic meats such as kangaroo meat or ostrich meat with potatoes. Nothing seemed to help him. The itching and digestive problems did not improve. Eventually Nelson’s vet advised us to refrain from any animal protein.
Vegan for dogs? I thought it was a joke. “How is this going to work?” “Is it even suitable?” These were only a few of the many questions I had.
My vet was so supportive and gave me a comprehensive balanced homemade recipe to try on Nelson. After 4 weeks, he was symptom free and he remained so for 7 years on his vegan diet! He lived until he was 16 years old!
Together with a professional vet specialising in animal nutrition, we developed our first vegan, grain-free and 100% complete food for dogs. VEGDOG was born!” - Tessa Zaune-Figlar
HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE TO BE STOCKISTS OF ALL OF THESE VEGDOG PRODUCTS BELOW TO REALLY BENEFIT YOUR DOG'S HEALTH:
WHERE DID IT ALL START FOR JUST BE KIND?
It all started with me, Dr Arielle importing Green Crunch from Germany back in February 2020. I remember sitting in a restaurant catching up with such a good friend and telling her that I had sourced the very best soya and grain-free vegan dog food that there was called Green Crunch that I wanted to feed my own dog Ruff, but I didn't know how to go about it as I was just a vet with a passion who knew nothing about running a business and importing dog food!
I'll never forget her words -
"Just do it!"
How right she was! I just needed the belief from one friend to take action. When I made the excuse of where would I store the food as our garage was very damp and flooded regularly, she replied - you'll come up with a solution....and I did! I hired a small unit in Melton Mowbray and Just Be Kind was born and I couldn't be more thankful for my friend's gentle guidance. If I can 'JUST DO IT' anyone can and I highly recommend just starting any ethical business that you may have your heart set on! 💚
Thankfully I am no longer involved in the packing of all those boxes to send you the amazing Green Crunch dry food which I did for many years and grew very strong physically (and I did find the packing quite therapeutic)!!
I now have a very capable team in Peterborough in the Midlands who do all my packaging for me and I couldn't be more thankful as it has allowed Just be Kind the growth that it needs to help as many of your dogs as possible 💚
Read here about how lifechanging Green Crunch has been for Peanut the Cockapoo.
