Our Story
We are confident of what we make, and pictures can speak more than words. The first photo is Kaytee when we first started fostering her. She was so itchy that she scratched out most of her fur. Her body was covered in angry red patches of skin, but it was also sticky, yeasty and oily. The red you see, isn't a filter or lighting, but her skin.
The 2nd photo is Kaytee today. She still has some occasional environmental allergies, but she looks amazing. Her coat is thick and shiny, and she doesn't scratch like she used to.
If Wholesome food can do so much for her skin, imagine what it does for her overall health! Just like humans, what we put in our dogs' mouth has a direct effect on their well-being. But unlike human food, there is little regulations and checks done on commercial pet food, that often contain gluten and fillers that cause a mountain of issues for most dogs.
We are thankful to have gotten to know so many dog owners who believe in good food for their dogs, and thankful to have met with other owners who didn't know about this before, but were receptive enough to listen to our advice.
Our dogs have a much shorter lifespan than we do. A healthy lifestyle allowed us to spend a good 18 years with our old dog, Shadow. And all we wish for is that we can help you spend the same good years with yours!
We started studying more about pet food when Shadow had a health scare, and our vet recommended we switch to home-cooked food. That's when he first opened our eyes to the crap that is called pet food. Shadow, lived till a very ripe old age of 18. She had perfect health for 17.5 years, and we are more than certain that a large part of that is attributed to her eating well for at least the latter part of her life.
We adopted Haru and Sora after Shadow passed on, and Kaytee came shortly after. At first, we got lazy and just did our research to buy good kibbles for the dogs, those that at least had proper proteins and actual meat in their ingredients. But the dogs remained in subpar health. They had terrible skin and coats, constant allergies and ear infections and itchy skin. Sora was hairless and constantly scratching. Kaytee, who was rescued from Tuas, had angry red skin that was also yeasty so she was constantly sticky. The problems never really stopped.
So one day, we stopped being lazy and started cooking for the dogs again. Let's just say we are never going back to kibbles. The dogs now get a pretty balanced meal, with real, human-grade meats (not by-products from funny parts, or weird "meat" that is glued together). They eat offals/innards with every meal for a good balance, with a huge assortment of vegetables, topped with oils and dog vitamins. They also get good chews from duck and chicken necks or feet, or even a healthy dose of collagen from the occasional pork ear. They still get their itchy-ness from time to time, since they are also allergic to some floor cleaners and environmental things, but if we do a side-by-side comparison with photos of them now, and back when they were on kibbles, there is nothing more left to be said.
We believe in our food. While raising money for Kaytee's operation was a main reason why we started Wholesome Paws, the other big reason was also because we were shocked with what some of our own friends were feeding their dogs and we sincerely wanted to help or at least to educate. When we say that something only contains a certain meat, we mean that is ONLY contains pork or beef or duck or chicken or mutton etc.
There is nothing else in there, nothing nasty, nothing that glues meat together, no corn, no glutten, no nonsense. We don't even believe in using wheat flour in any of our cakes. Why does it matter if it is whole grain or organic? It is wheat, and many companies still use this to make barkday cakes, or mooncakes for dogs, or cookies. It would have been so much easier if we did this, but we know that many many dogs are allergic to gluten, so even if our costs increases, even if it takes us hours and hours in the kitchen to figure out a good alternative, we don't want to and will not feed your dogs with processed flour/gluten/sugars, just so it will look pretty enough for instagram.
Be aware of what goes into your dog's food bowl. Carelessness on our part not only results in expensive vet bills, but often brings a lot of suffering to the dog. We will always be happy to share our knowledge with you; please ask. If you want to continue feeding kibbles, please also let us help you choose affordable but healthier options for your dog. There are also ways to supplement kibbles to ensure your pet still gets enough nutrition that it needs.
Love your pets the WHOLESOME way.