Taking
responsibility of a pet is serious business. It is a full-time job with all the tensions and
pressures that come with caring for a child. Providing the right kind of
nutrition to the pet is a very important aspect of the responsibility. And then
there are the eccentricities of the pets, which are many and in different
guises. But they all love their sweets. It then makes a lot of sense to start a
new business preparing confectionaries for pets.
Austina Cardoso came up with the brilliant
idea of creating confectionaries for pets on the birthday of her pet, Patch.
She says, “My first cake inspiration came when my Patch turned one on March 16.
I thought to myself, does he not deserve a special cake on his special day too?
So I baked an apple, banana and peanut butter wheat-based cake with cashew
frosting. It was so delicious that even humans relished it. The cookies were a
fun way to add fruits and vegetables to my stubborn dog’s diet.”
The initiative was named Bark Me a Treat and she decided to
focus her attention on providing healthy and tasty confectionaries to dogs.
Austina believes dogs deserve cakes but it should be prepared with the
knowledge that sugar and all purpose flour (maida) are difficult for dogs to
digest. She informs that since all the ingredients usually have vitamin A, it
is important to give smaller portions to dogs as it could be toxic to them. It
is very important to know all the derivations of the ingredients.
She says that she uses home-made peanut butter without salt and
with coconut oil as other oils are harmful to dogs. Pumpkin purée should also
be made at home since the one available in the store contains sugar and spices,
which are harmful to dogs. She advises caution every step of the way.
She states, “Dogs are treated like children and considered
family. I have seen so many photographs of the different ways people celebrate
their pets’ birthdays in Goa. Some put party hats on their dogs and post
pictures on Facebook, some give meat rich foods to their dogs on that day. Some
give them new toys. If they know such cakes are being made, then definitely
yes, they will want to give a special cake to their dogs on their special day.
I’ve been getting orders to make cakes months in advance.”
Her friends who attended her pet parties were aware of her
expertise and would order cakes. The word slowly and surely spread. Her
friends’ associates would place orders with her. She says, “After that I
decided to put up a post about it in a group petsconnekt. Chaitaina organised a
pool party for dogs (which was a huge success) and suggested I put up my stall.
He really had my back and supported me in this new venture.”
According to her, pumpkin is a miracle food for dogs as it helps
ease constipation and diarrhoea. Carrots offer a low-calorie source of extra
food for hungry dogs. High in fibre, it also slows down progression of dental
diseases and is good for overall health, immune system, bone growth, healthy
eyes, reproduction and sharp vision. She strongly believes oats is easy to
digest and is good for elderly dogs and gluten intolerant dogs; more
importantly, oats should always be cooked with no sugar or flavourings, she
advises.
Austina is contemplating creating dishes for cats and research
is ongoing. She has several plans in the pipeline but is not very keen on
highlighting them, preferring to just say that she will be expanding her menu.
She presently prepares dishes as varied as Apple cinnamon
poochkies, Chicken poochkies, pup cakes like apple n carrot muttfin, bowchow
like chicken biryani and mocktails like puppuccino, to name a few.
It
will be surely said, it’s a dog’s life now.
