Great to chat with you Aneisha and Jack! Firstly, what 5 words would you use to sum up Scrumbles?
Fun, conscious, affordable, gut-friendly and down-to-earth
We love that you don’t test on animals! Was this an important choice for you when developing your products?
As animal lovers, we don’t participate in any invasive animal testing and we hope to encourage others to do the same. Our recipes are designed to put cats and dogs first and come with approval from Smudge, Boo and a few of their furriends, who have taste tested in the comfort of their own home with us.
We know pets gut health is hugely important to you. What is the 1 biggest tip you would give to pet owners wishing to improve their pets' health?
Portion control. Sadly almost half our furry friends are overweight or obese, which research shows shortens their life by up to 2 years. As we spend lots of time with our pets, it’s understandable we want to shower them with affection with treats and food but understand feeding guidelines and what the ideal body condition is can help you avoid over feeding to be able to spend even more time with them. If feeding guidelines aren’t on the packaging, get in touch with the manufacturer and they’d be happy to help.
We know that you care about the environment just as much as we do, can you explain a little bit about what steps you have taken to be kind to our planet?
We thoroughly believe that good food shouldn’t cost the earth, and want to have a positive impact on our environment for the benefit of future kitties and doggies. The nature of manufacturing means that we have an impact but we make conscious efforts to keep this to a minimum. For example, to reduce our food miles we choose to manufacture locally in the UK and Ireland and opt for eco-packaging in a bid to avoid landfill but we know there’s more we can do. We’re currently undergoing a Life Cycle Assessment with the University of Bath to get a full overview of our impact and what measures can be taken to further minimise it, which we’re excited to share with our customers next summer. In the meantime, we’re working closely with the governing body of Pet food as well as our suppliers to lead the way on innovative solutions. As a member of B Corp and 1% for the Planet, with every sale, we donate a portion to wider environmental and social initiatives.
Is it important to you that your products are British made?
Having carried out some research in the past we know after ingredients, it’s our food miles that have the greatest impact, so as well as choosing British Ingredients where possible e.g. our meats, it is very important for us to manufacture locally and we’re proud to say all our food and treats are manufactured in the UK and Ireland. This also helps support our British suppliers, supporting a sustainable economy.
Could you tell us a little bit more about your charity work with All Dogs Matter?
As pet (obsessed) parents ourselves, we want to improve the lives of as many cats and doggies we can. We work with All Dogs Matter and The Cat Welfare Group who are wonderful charities that do great work caring for and rehoming stray or abandoned cats and dogs. We help where we can supplying them with all the food they need, as well as raising awareness of the amazing work they do and donating funds to help them reach more vulnerable animals.
What should pet owners be looking out for to see if their pets are unhappy with their diets?
If you’re moving away from a food which has added salts or sugars, it’s quite typical to have an unhappy pet and cats are renowned for being resistant to change. We’d always advise to introduce a new food slowly and with some persistence you’ll be able to tame those sugar cravings. To see the benefits for dog owners this tends to be easier and if the food isn’t sitting well the ‘proof will be in the poo’ as we like to say. So keep an eye on their bowel movements, or particularly unpleasant smelling flatulence. Cats tend to be a lot more secretive about their issues and if they’re ‘grazers’ it may be less obvious if they aren’t having issues, so again you’ll be tasked with becoming a poop inspector.
What are Smudge and Boo’s, your dog and cats, favourite Scrumbles snacks?
Smudge joins us in the office most days, so her day is always kickstarted by one of our Gnashers Dental Chews as soon as she gets in to work. She enjoys having a play and chomp down on them. For Boo we created her own version and sprinkle the dental treats over her food in the morning. She starts purring as soon as she sees the bag.
Here’s the tough question - cats or dogs?!
We could never answer that, never!!
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We'd like to say a huge thank you to Aneisha and Jack for taking the time to speak with us! To find out more about their delicious range of pet food, you can visit their website here. In addition the next 100 Hiro + Wolf customers* will receive a Scrumbles treat sample with their order! We love how much thought and care goes into each of their products, and of course they get the Hiro + Wolf seal of approval!
*Offer valid on UK Orders only made through our website, whilst stocks last.