Hi!
I’m Nandini, the dog mom behind Pawthecary. I created the brand to make species-appropriate care and nutrition easy and accessible for other dog parents, especially for young professionals like me.
At Pawthecary, we make single and limited ingredient food toppers that are species-appropriate and compatible with any kind of diet.
Why do we do this?
Because dog parents often face constraints in what they can feed their dog, and we want to ensure they have a simple and convenient way to feed wholesome and beneficial ingredients.
Our products have health benefits but they’re not pharmaceutical – we make all natural products that are free from artificial colours, flavours, fragrances and preservatives. This makes our products suitable for dogs under veterinary care (please do check with your vet before adding our products, though). All our products are either powders or liquids, and can easily be integrated into your dog’s meals, even if they’re on a soft or liquid diet.
How did Pawthecary come about?
The story of Pawthecary is incomplete without my dogs.
I adopted Bailey, my first dog, at 26 years of age. Back then, the advice I received – especially around what to feed her – was quite traditional. So, Bailey remained on kibble for the longest time, and I thought that merely feeding her that was enough. Then my spouse and I adopted June, the dog who changed the way I approached nutrition and dog wellness, and eventually inspired this brand.
L: June; R: Bailey and Imli
June came to us at 8.5 years of age with poor kidneys, weak hind limbs, failing eyesight, poor dental health, a weakening heart and a strong, indomitable spirit. Just kibble wasn’t going to keep her going, so I started talking to nutritionists, vets, fellow dog parents, and eventually started her on a home-cooked, species-appropriate, fresh diet. It took us a long time but through a fresh, species-appropriate diet, along with the necessary veterinary intervention and medication, we were able to bring her renal parameters within normal range!
This prompted me to make the switch for Bailey as well, and I could see the difference in her overall wellness, as well as the decrease in number of vet visits. Since then, we have fostered multiple dogs and even adopted one recently (Imli, our youngest, is the chaotic energy we did not know we needed in our lives), and fresh, species-appropriate meat-based diets have been the cornerstone of all these dogs’ health.
However, feeding fresh hasn’t always been easy. Some ingredients were inaccessible due to the season, difficult to source locally and reliably, or difficult for me to prepare (ask me to cook fish paste and see how fast I cry).
June was confined to her bed in her last few weeks with us, and I moulded my days around her care. When she passed, I wanted to do something with my grief and the sudden spare time I now had, and I set about trying to make this one niche part of fresh feeding easier for other dog parents – nobody should have to compromise on giving their dogs the best simply because they can’t source an ingredient or have constraints around what they can prepare.
The first plans for this brand were for senior/ palliative care products but along the way I realised that the products I was planning for can be fed with all sorts of diets, for all ages of dogs (beyond puppies). I can choose to fed my dogs fresh food, but another dog parent – for any reason- may not have that choice, so I hoped that these products could inch their dogs’ meals just a little bit towards being species-appropriate and wholesome.
So, with cautious optimism, here is Pawthecary, my endeavour to make species-appropriate ingredients and nutrition easy and accessible. I hope these products with benefit your dog(s) and take some of the effort off your plate. Please give them love and squish them on my behalf, and please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Love,
Nandini