Hi Honey’s!

It’s that time of the month! We have food delivery!!! Woohoo!

As many of you know, we feed raw and have been eating Honey’s Real Dog Food for eight years now. In the box of sausage rolls, there’s always a newsletter, The Alternative Dog that comes with it. And that’s how I learnt about their environmental and ethical programme.

Honey’s packaging is 100% recyclable – everything from the tape that seals the boxes to the ice sheets to keep the food cold in transit, and wherever possible, made from recycled materials.

You see those sausage tubes, also known as chubs or shires? They are packaged like that for several reasons. Each of those 500g chub of food requires around 2g of material, compared to 30g for the equivalent tub and seal, or 36g if there’s a cardboard sleeve.

Also importantly for us, where we do not have an industrial size freezer, but only a BIG BOX in our frieezer dedicated to our food, these chubs take up 20% less space in a freezer than tubs or pouches. They also freeze down faster and there’s minimal wastage.

But what about the plastic wrappers to make the chubs? They are 100% recyclable plastic but many councils have yet to accept recycling them. So instead, Honey’s has started an incentive scheme until there are readily recyclable plastic. To make the programme work, they needed us to help them gather sufficient wrappers to make the recycling scheme work. Honey’s will be giving £5 off our next order for every 100 wrappers returned. So Mum set about collecting and washing each of our food wrappers. We have now collected more than 100 wrappers and will send them to Honey’s.

This is just one small thing we are doing for the environment. Every little bit helps and we support businesses who do their part for the world.

Did you know that this is National Raw Feeding Week (1-7 April)? Yes, there is such a thing!

May’s comment: Businesses exist to make money and it is unavoidable that they will use the world’s resources and cause a certain amount of harm. But if we each do our part towards achieving carbon neutral, and support businesses who make an effort – we can help make a difference to save the environment.

Honey’s conscientious effort in helping the environment meant they have achieved ISO14001 certification, the international standard for environmental management and then they became carbon neutral in 2020.

They also only buy British raised free-range, pasture fed, certified organic and wild meat. They keep dog food miles to a minimum.

They have also been working on a range of complete vegetarian and vegan food options – which I would be very interested in using them as part of Darcy and George’s diet. I wouldn’t have them become vegan but a balance would be a good alternative.

Why do we feed raw? She of the benefits are:

• healthy skin and shiny coat, decreased allergies
• a healthy digestive system which means – no smelly breath and at the other end, no smelly flatulence (massive benefit), and well-formed less smelly poos
• healthy body weight
• they are healthier for their teeth, less plaque formation

All this means fewer vet visits!