London entrepreneur launches vegan dog food brand ahead of ‘Veganuary’

A London based entrepreneur is hoping the launch of her new product will satisfy the market of ethically minded pet owners this ‘Veganuary’.

Lucy McKinna, a qualified vet and vegan from New Malden, struggled with the fact she didn’t eat meat but did feed it to her dog.

Lucy commented: “I had fully embraced a vegan lifestyle but I couldn’t find anything on the market I felt confident would provide my dog with everything she needed to stay healthy.”

Lucy set about solving this ethical dilemma herself. She started to create her own vegan dog food, initially just for her and her veterinary clients’ dogs.

The feedback she received from her clients was “so positive” that Lucy decided to turn her idea into a business, and Noochy Poochy was launched shortly thereafter. ‘Nooch’ is a vegan term for nutritional yeast.

The brand has, thus far, launched in health, pet, and vegan stores nationally, including zero waste stores, to which Lucy provides bulk product.

Lucy continued: “Initially we couldn’t find a vegan source of a key vitamin in dog food, Vitamin D3, normally derived from sheep’s wool. After months of searching, and running our own tests to make sure it was stable throughout the cooking of the recipe, we managed to source the vitamin D3 from algae and could finally get the fully vegan seal of approval.”

“In the past there has been a lot of scepticism out there about feeding dogs a vegan diet, but now with recent supportive studies and a ‘complete’ food available, the plant-based dog market may well start to mirror the human food market.

“A lot of people worry a vegan dog food will be lacking in things like protein, certain fats and amino acids but Noochy has a 28 per cent protein content, higher than many meat based foods, alongside an impressive omega fatty acid 6:3 ratio of 4 to 1, and supplemented L-carnitine, DL- methionine and taurine.”

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