MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT
Canine cuisine expert Alex Thurstan
Alex ThurSTAn, 43, co-founded home-cooked dog food company Different Dog with her husband, Charlie, in 2016. They have three children and live on a farm in Shropshire. DOGS have always been a huge part of my life — I grew up with six spaniels. After leaving home I fell into a tech job in London, and the travelling involved meant having a dog wasn’t possible.
Those were fun, crazy days, but things never felt quite the same without a dog. Luckily, I fell in love with a fellow spaniel devotee and we moved to Shropshire.
Having a family happened without us really thinking about it — then Crumble, a red working cocker spaniel completed the picture.
A few years later my husband was working for a pet retailer and travelling a lot.
One day, he came home after visiting a dog food manufacturer and was very bothered by what he had seen — the low quality of the ingredients, and the high temperatures and pressure used to sterilise the food to give it a long shelf life. It seemed inconsistent with the way we fed good food to the rest of our family.
I believed in feeding the children fresh, natural home-cooked food with a focus on quality ingredients, yet we were giving our dog the equivalent of Pringles for every meal. That conversation was my light bulb moment.
We started cooking for Crumble and then local friends’ dogs — which led to friends of friends’ dogs — and it snowballed.
In 2016, we decided to challenge the industry status quo and set up a dog food company of our own which did everything differently. And so Different Dog was born.
We are the first UK subscription dog food company to cook our food gently by hand in a pan, which enhances flavour and locks in antioxidants and nutrients.
We create new recipes every week using seasonal ingredients, and hire trained chefs to create personalised food plans for dogs of all shapes and sizes. We’ve got a fantastic team, including an experienced pet nutritionist and vet.
Our dishes, such as Braised Beef, Lamb Hotpot or Chicken Casserole, start from less than £1 per meal. Orders are delivered fortnightly, monthly, or on a one-off basis. Our aim is to put an end to long-life shelf cans and tasteless food for our four-legged friends.
differentdog.com