What an overwhelming turnaround for innovation and success in the plant-based sustainable dog food sector as in just one week we have some amazing news to share!
A dog treat made from lab-grown meat has gone on sale in Pets At Home in Brentford West London which is a move that Pets At Home claims is a world first!!
Chick Bites are made from plant-based ingredients supplied by wonderfully ethical company The Pack led by Damian (shown in image above on left) combined with cultivated meat, which is produced by growing cells and does not require the raising or slaughter of animals. (We do sell The Pack treats in our online shop, but these are their original delicious peanut butter based treats without cultured meat.)
The manufacturer of these new Chick Bites, Meatly, said the chicken was produced from a single sample of cells taken from one chicken egg, from which enough cultivated meat could be produced to feed pets “for ever”.
It claims the meat is “just as tasty and nutritious as traditional chicken breast”, and contains the amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamins needed for pet health. Meatly’s founding chief executive, inspiring vegan Owen Ensor shown on the right in image above, said: “Just two years ago this felt like a moon shot. Today we take off. It’s a giant leap forward, toward a significant market for meat which is healthy, sustainable and kind to our planet and other animals.”
Will we sell cultivated chicken cells Chick Bites in our JUST BE KIND shop?
NO AS WE ARE LAUNCHING OUR OWN 100% PLANT-BASED AMAZING DOG TREATS FULL OF UNIQUE FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENTS VERY SOON (see images of our exciting new treats below) Although we are so excited too for both these wonderful vegan entrepreneurs, we will not be stocking cultivated meat in Just Be Kind at all as we do not feel it necessary to use the cells of any animals when we have such wonderful plant powered foods and treats available for our dogs and cats!
Dr Arielle invited by entrepreneur Owen Ensor to attend launch of Chick Bites in collaboration with Meatly in London February 2025
" Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life "
OMNI appear on Dragon's Den!
Such positivity and it carries on this week as we had vegan dog food company OMNI appearing on TV screens across the country as their founders Dr Guy and Shiv pitched to the dragons and achieved the investment they were after!
I remember having a Zoom meeting with these 2 inspiring entrepreneurs over 5 years ago. They had just joined forces and wanted to launch high quality plant-based snack bars for dogs made from amaranth and exotic ingredients. As a very passionate vegan vet, I advised them to please just develop more vegan dog foods as we SO badly needed as much movement in this space as possible!
What success they have been able to achieve with OMNI. They have been able to secure that eye watering amount they mentioned on TV of £2 million in investment (!) and use this to advertise and spread the word fully about the benefits of plant-based dog nutrition. We only stock the Omni Sensitive food in our Just be Kind shop as it is the only one of their foods without genetically modified soya, but we see their success in this space as being enormously important for the growth of vegan dog food and we couldn't be more excited about their TV appearance.
We appreciate that the only reason for taking on so much investment and appearing on Dragon's Den is so that it results in the huge sellout of their company that they mentioned to Peter Jones to be able to repay their investors hungry for a return on the large amounts they are handing over.
It is concerning when talking such large amounts of money, as just in the same week, vegan dog food giant in the US who also went on the US version of Dragon's Den in 2018, has worryingly declared bankruptcy this same week.
On a huge positive, all this talk of sustainable vegan dog food has resulted in an unprecedented surge in sales of our JUST BE KIND products as interest in this area has grown and we only sell the best quality dog and cat products around - hurrah!!!
Would we ever sell Just Be Kind?
Just Be Kind was borne out of the pure passion of myself Dr Arielle in January 2020. Meet the Just Be Kind 'family' here with Mum and Dad both vets, and our 4 'children' where I have to include our adored Ruff as my 5th child!
I see Just Be Kind as my 'sixth' child that is still in its infancy stage. I am there for it 24/7 to feed and nurture and care for it to allow it to grow and develop into something amazing. When it cries and wakes me at 4am with my head spinning with stress, my heart breaks and I do my very best to settle it as I am completely in love with it.
I know that all of this attention will be worth it as at some point, it will grow and develop so much that I will need extra help with keeping it nurtured and growing. All 4 of our children have always had the most inspiring teachers and university lecturers that I feel so grateful for. Similarly, some key individuals have stepped into my life to help with Just Be Kind. They have skills that I am in awe of and they too just want the best for the success of the business.
I know that it is being given the correct room for growth, and that it will turn into an awesome adult that I can always be there for, but would I ever sell my business Just be Kind? A definite no as it is as much part of me as my 4 children and Ruff are, and we see such an exciting journey ahead and feel overwhelmingly grateful as a family to have you nurture and support and feed our ever growing ethical Just Be Kind Dog and Cat Food business.
What exciting developments from Just Be Kind?
We have grown organically without any investment as a small family run business beyond our wildest dreams. Who knew that we would be producing ground breaking solutions to the overfishing of our oceans with the production of our Best Of Vegan Omega 3 Daily for dogs, followed closely this month by the launch of a world first extremely tasty Vegan Salmon Oil for cats!
What future growth can we expect from Just Be Kind?
With your continued support through sales, we invest every penny back into the business to invest in the health of your dogs and cats and we have the most exciting products launching in April (very soon!)
We have our own brand functional dog treats launching in April, with our beautiful new branding (we hope you'll agree), and the most delicious ingredients to not only reward and treat your dog, but also to fully enhance their health with such exciting unique additions as turkey tail mushroom, marshmallow root, slippery elm, shiitake mushroom and the ever important pre and probiotics - we couldn't be more excited about ALL of these new products!!! (and no, we will not be stocking cultured chicken Chick Bites as we feel our new treats will be even more delicious filled with pure plant powered goodness so no animal cells needed!!)
AND THERE'S EVEN MORE (!) - SOMETHING EXTREMELY EXCITING WILL LAUNCH IN MARCH.....YES A TRULY NOVEL PROTEIN OF OUR FUTURE FULL OF GOODNESS!!!
AND WHAT ABOUT OUR CATS?
We have had so many of you request more for your plant-based cats as we have already had overwhelming success this month with our Fussy Feline Starter Boxes. We have a Cranberry Care Supplement launching very very soon for any cats or dogs with urinary tract issues needing that extra bit of support from natural and kind sustainable ingredients.
Dr Arielle Griffiths Plant Powered Vet (Read more here)
