We love the occasional vegan treat here at Lady & The Scamps, with some of our favourite brands including W’Zis and Soopa, who are dedicated to plant based rewards, while the likes of Denzel’s and Lily’s Kitchen also have their own meat-free options to provide pet owners with some variety, while helping to get more veggies and nutrients into our dogs.
We recently tried out Plant & Paws, an Irish brand committed to bringing our hounds healthy, vegan treats and dental sticks with a myriad of benefits, both to do with our dogs’ wellbeing, but also positives like supporting charitable causes, eco-friendly packaging and accessible pricing.
Plant & Paws’ range currently consists of two types of treats in three delicious fruit and veg-focused flavours. There are the chews – long, flower-shaped chews ideal for aiding dental hygiene – and the natural bites, little bite-sized flower treats ideal for rewarding happy hounds. Both types come in banana and peanut butter, blueberry and apple, and carrot and pumpkin flavours, using natural, plant-based ingredients to help keep your dog active and healthy for years to come.
Plant & Paws said: “Fruits and veggies are a great way to add nutrients into your dog’s diet. Full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and phytonutrients with certain disease fighting benefits, they are an easy and essential addition to your everyday routine. Plus, they make a yummy treat!
“Our core purpose is to provide customers with healthy, innovative, and delicious plant-based products for their dogs. We only create products we would buy for our own dogs, and which have been approved by our in-house doggie taste tasting team.”
The Plant & Paws chews come in packs of three, and are suitable for all dogs over the age of six months. Made using natural 100% human-grade ingredients they help keep teeth clean and improve doggie breath. They don’t last particularly long, so don’t have any major dental benefits, but are great for using in conjunction with other oral care routines like teeth brushing. The recipe is low in fat, and therefore a good option for dogs with weight issues, with the rainbow of ingredients making them suitable for dogs who may have, or be susceptible to pancreatitis, low immunity, poor digestion or kidney and liver problems.
The common ingredients include brown rice, potato flakes, non-palm glycerine, cellulose fibre, rapeseed oil and yeast products, followed by things like peanut butter, apple and pumpkin to create the ultimate flavour combos.
Each of the ingredients have been chosen for their range of benefits and canine likeability, with peanut butter containing healthy fats and Vitamin E which can help keep your dog’s coat healthy and shiny, while bananas are a good source of vitamins and fibre to help keep your dog’s digestive system in check.
Meanwhile apples are a great source of vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, and antioxidants. They’re chock full of fibre, which helps dogs maintain a healthy weight while assisting with their digestion. Then there’s blueberries that contain minerals that help maintain strong bones, as well as vitamin K, which improves calcium absorption and the antioxidants in blueberries help protect cells against free radicals and inflammation, which can help prevent cancer.
Finally, pumpkin seeds are known as ‘power seeds’ as they are excellent for skin, coat, soothing digestion and may even help protect your dog against intestinal parasites and worms.
The natural bites, which come in the same three flavours, look just as though the chews had been sliced like a carrot or stick of celery. Bite-sized and pocket friendly, they are ideal for training, rewarding good behaviour or for taking on walks.
There are around 50 bites in each back, though I did find this to vary, with one packet having around 42 treats inside, another with 48, though the third had 56. They were also quite un-uniformed in thickness, but this didn’t bother me in the slightest – Phoebe and Frank certainly didn’t notice.
What’s more is that Plant & Paws donate 1% of all sales to charity, and though vegan treats already leave a smaller environmental paw print, they’ve reduced theirs further with 100% recyclable packaging. The price point is super reasonable, too, with the chews costing £2.50 per pack – or 83p per chew – while the bites are £1.99 per pack, averaging at less than 4p per treat.
Simple, delicious and nutritious, Phoebe and Frank have loved trying out the Plant & Paws range, praising it with tail wags and even ‘asking’ for their daily chew after tea time. We’re really looking forward to seeing if they bring out any new flavours or styles.
