Feature Interview: Eco Savvy Companion Animals
Entrepreneur Delta Farrington, long-time vegan and animal lover, has been busy curating humane and vegan friendly animal products for your pets. Her company Eco Dogs and Cats provides “only the best for your friends,” meaning all meal-time, play-time and bath-time products for domestic animals can be purchases sans ingredients from other animals. Vegan Mainstream spoke with Delta [...]
Delta Farrington. Photo courtesy EcoDogsandCats.com
Entrepreneur Delta Farrington, long-time vegan and animal lover, has been busy curating humane and vegan friendly animal products for your pets. Her company Eco Dogs and Cats provides “only the best for your friends,” meaning all meal-time, play-time and bath-time products for domestic animals can be purchases sans ingredients from other animals. Vegan Mainstream spoke with Delta to find out what goes into a vegan companion animal company, and why she finds it important.
Vegan Mainstream: What made you decide to develop a vegan company for cats and dogs?
Delta Farrington: Well, I’ve been a vegan for 23 years and I raised my animals, my cat and my dog, vegan. Beyond that, they have all-natural food and we eat all organic. Just a very healthy lifestyle. I just believe that I can do it; there’s other people out there that want to treat their pets the best possible way.
VM: When did the company come about?
DF: I just started the company at the beginning of this year, so it’s a new company.
VM: What was your background before Eco Dogs and Cats?
DF: I still have another business, I’m a wholesale art dealer. I’m a vegan chef also.
VM: And what city are you based out of?
DF: I’m in Dana Point, California.
VM: How do you gather the products you sell? What’s the process for sourcing and putting them up on the website?
DF: Well, we’ve got some great products now. We try and find eco-friendly; we’ve got things made from recycled rubber. We’ve got pretty much all the vegan food for dogs and cats, which means dry food, wet food, that kind of thing. And then we’ve got the treats and everything. We like to learn about the company and figure out how [the products] are made, if they’re made with recycled materials or are compostable. There’s a lot that goes into that; it’s really important that we don’t just buy things from China or whatever. It’s just things that are given another life!
VM: Did your wholesale background help with this?
DF: I think so. I’ve been self-employed for as long as I can remember. Just kind of doing things, like when I started my vegan catering service. People said, “Oh, you can’t have a catering service if you don’t serve meat.” Well, I did! So, I’ve learned there’s a need for everything. If I’m feeling this need, there are other people out there feeling this need. That’s how businesses are born, really.
VM: Do you make any homemade dog or cat food since you have a background in cooking?
DF: No, I haven’t started that yet. Maybe in the future, but that’s a huge commitment right now. We’re just selling the ones that are available out there.
VM: What are some of the more popular items you sell?
DF: Ami Cat and Ami Dog [vegan cat and dog food]. And then Evolution [brand pet food] is very popular. They have the dry and the wet [food] for dogs and cats. We’ve put some Christmas things on [the site] now from West Paw. Little toys for dogs and cats that are made from recycled materials, like little felt ducks that squeak and really cool stuff. We have toys made from recycled rubber and beds, all-natural, made from recycled material in the filling also. We need to put more cat toys on [the site] too, because people are requesting more cat stuff. So, we found a couple of cool little cat things that weren’t made from feathers or leather. We have to research all these things because [you never know where there are animal products lurking!]
What we’re trying to be is a main source for all these [products]. There are some people who sell maybe just vegan dog food or just the toys. We’re a one-stop vegan place for your animals. We also have supplements, we have Spirit Essence Botanicals.
VM: Do you have any products exclusive to your company?
DF: I think some of the items are available, but of course not at stores as much. We’re an online business. A lot of these are specialty items. Not something you could walk into your pet store and get. Especially the food; the food is so specialized, you won’t be able to find 99 per cent of our food in a pet store.
VM: What are some things you have planned for the upcoming year?
DF: We’re always adding new products; that’s something we’ve been working pretty diligently on. First we have to research [the products] and find them. We’re going to be at World Fest next year again. We were out there last year. That’s the near future, that’s what we see. Of course, we’re trying to get a lot of Christmas things in for the holidays; little gifts for [pets].
VM: And what’s World Fest?
DF: It’s a vegetarian/vegan event they put on in the valley [Los Angeles]. It’s been going on for years. They have speakers and food, everything is vegan. A lot of booths are there, everything from non-profits to people selling vegan items like we do.
VM: So, you said your cat Tom and your dog Hannah, they’ve been vegan. What do you say to people who may have a problem with animals surviving on a vegan diet?
DF: There’s a lot of fear out there. My cat was three before I started feeding him vegan, because of that fear. My dogs always were vegan. This fear put on you is, “Oh, you can’t do it, they are carnivores. You absolutely can’t.” I remember talking to someone and went ahead and did some research. The taurine is what they need. These foods are supplemented with taurine, not from animal sources, but synthetic. Tom has been on a vegan diet since he was three, and he’s thirteen now. He’s never had any problems with anything. He’s very, very healthy. It’s much easier than people think. You know, cats are finicky. So if your cat’s been on meat for a long time, it might take a little while. Though, my cat just went right into it.
If you think about it, it’s ridiculous. Cats would not be eating cows and chicken and all the things in those canned foods anyway. They probably wouldn’t even be eating fish. So, most of that argument doesn’t really hold water. If they were going to eat what they would in nature, it would be bugs and mice or something like that. I’ve seen firsthand that they do wonderfully. It’s just more of a scare, but as long as they have the taurine, they do very well on it. I’ve got so many clients who have had vegan cats. I had one lady who rescued feral cats, she must have ten cats, and they’ve all been vegan since the day she had them.
VM: That’s something that isn’t discussed on our blog as much. We focus a lot on our own food choices. I think it would be interesting for our readers to learn more about vegan diets for cats and dogs.
DF: The thing is, I think with vegans, especially if you’ve been vegan as long as I have, you contemplate the idea of exchanging one animal for another. You think “Well, if you’re saying that the cat’s life is more important than the chicken…” that is where most vegans have a problem, because they’re thinking, “I want to live in a world where we don’t support the cruelty and the slaughter.” I think that’s where most vegans really start to do research and start to say, “If there’s a way to do this, I want to do it.” I’ve talked to a lot of people who are just starting it. They ask me questions and are welcome to call me; I give them my input. And I understand. I understand the challenge, I understand the fear, because we love [our animals] like we love our children. We don’t want to do anything to hurt them. But I don’t believe there’s any kind of jeopardy. Not only do they feel well, but they do better. The owner of Evolution has done all kinds of research. He takes shelter animals and feeds them his food. He’s got animals on record of living very long lives. Dogs living eighteen, nineteen years. He’s got a twenty-eight year old cat who’s been on his food, so it’s not like, “Oh they can be OK,” they really can be healthier on this diet. Especially because there aren’t the fillers, the artificial flavoring [in vegan pet foods]. The other [pet] foods with meat in them are made with diseased animals. There’s no other nice way to say it. So, that’s a concern. You don’t have those problems when you have the standard of food we sell.
Find out more about Delta and her businesses at https://www.ecodogsandcats.com/
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