Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wagatha's Product Review

STEPHANIE DE PASQUALE BARKS ABOUT LIFE WITH THREE COCKER SPANIELS.

MONDAY, JULY 6, 2009

Product review: Wagatha's organic dog treats


The dogs and I both loved Wagatha's organic dog treats. The biscuits are made in Vermont with organic, human-grade ingredients that you can recognize, pronounce and probably already have in your kitchen. So unlike many biscuits, they're actually soft and easy to break into smaller pieces.

They also smell really good. The
Breakfast Biscuit and Tuscan Tomato & Herb smelled so good I was tempted to try one myself. Even Lady, who is the pickiest eater I have ever met, really liked the treats.

Wagatha's organic dog treats are also priced reasonably in comparison to other organic treats at $8.95 for a 9 ounce tin or $7,95 when you buy three or more. Or if you have multiple dogs in the house, like me, and go through a lot of treats, Wagatha's also offers bulk packages to save money.

Friday, June 26, 2009

She Scribes; A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Friday, June 26, 2009

Wagatha's Gourmet Organic Treats


Cranberry Cheddar with a hint of mint...Tuscan Tomato and Herb...Breakfast biscuits... They sound yummy don't they? Can you believe these are DOG treats! Gourmet organic treats to be exact from a company called Wagatha's.

Wagatha's biscuits are made from healthy ingredients. They are 100% USDA Certified Organic
100% Human Grade Ingredients, certified Kosher, Baked and they use Virgin Oil Oil from Italy and Spain. The biscuits are made from whole wheat flour, easily digestible grains, extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, brown flax seed, eggs, non-dairy milk, garlic, honey and sea salt. Basically YOU could eat these biscuits too, although I think they might be a wee bit hard and dry for us humans to enjoy.

It goes without saying that Wagatha's puts a lot of heart into their biscuits. They care about what goes into your beloved four legged friend therefore they use only the best ingredients for their biscuits. They even have special biscuits to fulfill the needs of senior dogs and a "Super" biscuit that is jam packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

So how do they taste? Well I didn't actually taste them myself (although they sound so good I was tempted to nosh on one... hee hee). Our dogEspn is not always big on treats. He likes those "leather" type dog treats. He'll eat biscuits when he's in the mood. I'm NOT exaggerating when I say that my dog practically attacked me after he tried his first one. Not in a bad way, I just mean he was jumping all over me. He practically jumped in my lap! Now just the MENTION of the "cookie" (that's what we call it) excites him. Our Wagatha's biscuits are in small zip lock bags. All I need to do is shake one of the bags and he comes running. And he INHALES the biscuit too! WOW! I wonder if he even knows what he's eating.

The Wagatha's treats are the perfect size too. My dog is about 20 pounds. He's on the small/medium size range and these are PERFECT for him. These might be a wee bit small for large/huge dogs, but none the less, they are just as yummy. You might just have to give a larger dog 2-3 treats instead of one. Since these are HEALTHY dog treats you can feel at ease giving your dog more then one.

Wagatha's sells their biscuits in either 9 ounce round tins or 10 pound boxes. They are available online at www.Wagathas.com. You can even purchase the Fetchstix that I reviewed earlier on Wagatha's web site too (click here for the Fetchstix review).

To learn more about Wagatha's biscuits and to see all the other great dog treats and gifts they offer please visit them at www.Wagathas.com. You can also read the latest news and reviews on their blog.

Products, People and Places that Protect Your Health & the Health of the Planet

Wagatha’s Organic Dog Biscuits

2009 JUNE 23
by Kimberly ~ greenWell

If you’ve ever read the ingredient listing on your dog’s traditional pet food or dog biscuits packaging, it was probably enough to instantly convert you to switching over to organic foods and treats. The disgusting additives and questionable “food” products make you wonder how our four-legged friends ever manage to get the food down. Perhaps that’s why they eat so fast…so they don’t have to taste it!

Wagathas Cranberry CheddarTo the rescue comes Wagatha’s Organic Dog Biscuits, a Vermont-based company that has been creating wholesome, organic treats for dogs since 2006. With a chef as one of the founding partners, you know that these gourmet dog treats made with human grade ingredients should be good. But the real test is what the dog’s think.

Sydney is used to wolfing down her treats, whether conventional or homemade. But when I fed her a Wagatha’s Cranberry Cheddar Biscuit with a Hint of Mint, she actually paused and stopped to sniff the organic dog biscuit. Thinking this wasn’t a good sign, I was slightly apprehensive. But then a miracle happened. A miracle that only a dog owner could appreciate. Sydney actually politely took the treat, almost seemed to be savoring the flavors as it was in her mouth, and rather calmly ate and enjoyed it.

It’s as if Sydney actually was thankful for a dog biscuit that tasted good with an unusual melding of flavors that seems to work for dogs. She continues to enjoy Wagatha’s Organic Dog Biscuits, stopping just a little longer to savor the flavor, which is about the highest recommendation that a dog can give. Kudos to you, Wagatha’s!

Visit www.wagathas.com for more information.

Why It’s Better For Your Dog’s Health: Wagatha’s doesn’t use artificial preservatives or remnants of food products that aren’t even considered edible for humans. Your dog will receive actual nutritional value from the ingredients in Wagatha’s Gourmet Organic Dog Biscuits.

If your dog has food allergies, the simple ingredients in these dog biscuits might work better for your pooch, such as the wheat-free varieties.

Why It’s Better For The Earth: Organic ingredients don’t use the harsh chemical pesticides and fertilizers that are needed to produce the ingredients in conventional dog biscuits, allowing the Earth to breathe a little easier.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Keeping Kosher with Your Pet

Keeping Kosher with your Pet
By| April 29, 2009 10:12 AM

According to Jewish scripture, unnecessary cruelty to animals is strictly prohibited, and this premise yields the guidelines for kosher food, as defined by the Kashrut, or Jewish dietary laws (kosher slaughtering is designed to be as fast and painless as possible). Just like their owners, pets can keep kosher too.

Kosher food is not a style of cooking, but rather food that has met the definition, preparation and consumption rules presented in the Kashrut. Chinese food can be kosher if it is prepared in accordance with Jewish law.

While there is no direction provided by Jewish law that animals must keep kosher, their owners may want to extend to them the benefits of a kosher diet, which is prepared under the most sanitary of conditions and is believed to provide the body with a more easily digested regimen ofnutrition, specifically by separating dairy and meat. Pets can also enjoy the same standards of nutrition as their owners.

On a practical level, supplying the pet with kosher food for the Jewish holiday of Passover, when the rules are heightened to entirely exclude leavened bread, or anything made from the five major grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt), means that the cat or dog can be fed at home, with the family, without conflicting with the week-long prohibition.

Kosher households use only kosher food in their preparation and eat from any of the three acceptable categories of meat, dairy or pareve (neutral, neither meat nor dairy), as identified and defined by Jewish law, but without ever mixing meat and dairy. This strict division must be followed from the very beginning of the processing cycle, for example, meat cannot come from a factory that produces dairy, and vice versa. Also, this rule must be maintained through preparation, using an entirely separate set of cookware, dishes and utensils; and consumption, with appropriate order of and time between consumption.

The companies that now provide kosher kibble adhere to the strict separation of meat and dairy to qualify the food as kosher for animals. This does not make the pet food kosher for human consumption, and in a kosher household, the animal's dish would have to be washed in a bathroom or laundry room sink, separate from the kosher supplies in the kitchen, advises Rabbi Joseph Landa of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and consultant to Evanger's Dog and Cat Food Company, which provides kosher pet food.

Striving to close that gap is Wagatha's Vermont-made organic dog treats. The dog treats produced by Wagatha's are USDA-certified organic, kosher, and made with 100% human grade ingredients, boasts co-founder and biscuit-baker Norman Levitz, who personally samples his product, and encourages customers to enjoy a nibble on their dog's nosh, "because we believe that your pet should eat as well as you do."

Levitz, a professionally-trained chef, and his partner Neil Reilly, established Wagatha's "to offer the best. The biggest thing is that because our standards are so high, our product is really of a high quality," Levitz explains, "and if you care about your pet's nutrition, this is a direction you should be leaning."

Why kosher? "We wanted to be 100% organic. I don't like grey areas. The motivation for the kosher aspect is we did not want any barriers for someone to have a reason not to bring the product into the household."

Additionally, a percentage of the company's profits are donated to charitable causes, so baking, selling and even buying these treats can be a mitzvah (an act of kindness or a good deed). Enjoy!



Thursday, April 30, 2009

April 24, 2009


It’s hard to compete
with Wagatha’s
dog biscuits when it comes
to ultra organic
and healthy dog treats.
This brand was founded
by a very accomplished
human chef and
these treats are USDA
Certified Organic and Kosher.

Made in Vermont
with a lot of love,
so your dog can finally
eat organic and Kosher,
if that’s important to you.
Even my picky biscuit tester
Bernard LOVES them and
begs for more.
Visit www.wagathas.com.

TUESDAY, MARCH 03, 2009

Today's Arthur

Snack Attack


The quest for snacks continues! This time I went into Got Pet Food on 14th St. in Santa Monica and came out with organic wheat-free cranberry/cheddar biscuits in a little tin from a Vermont-based company called Wagatha's. The biscuits contain salt, which I'm not crazy about, but since the salt is listed as the last ingredient, I decided to try them anyway.

Good move: look at how delicious they look, how crantastic! With little bits of spearmint! I was tempted to eat one myself. I don't love the wasteful packaging, but maybe a cardboard tube is better than a plastic bag? Someone needs to open a dog-treats co-op where you could buy all your organic biscuits in bulk.

Anyway, Arthur loved them, like he loves most treats. (And growling at your food apparently makes it taste better.)

Sunday, March 1, 2009



11

Feb

2009

Review: Wagatha's Dog Biscuits

stored in: Organic, Pets

When have a cannister by our back deck door filled with a variety of dog biscu


its, all holistic, organic or otherwise healthy offerings. Eli knows that as soon as he comes in the door, there’s a treat waiting for him. When Eli and I saw a box of Wagathas Organic Dog Biscuits arrive, we were all ears (and one of us, all wagging tail). Wagathas, a Vermont-based company, was established in 2006, as the brainchild between two guys - a chef and a former Wall Streeter. Their product line features only human grade ingredients, is all organic, and certified kosher. They have quite a wide selection available, from Cranberry Cheddar Biscuits and Tomato Herb Biscuits to even senior biscuits for the elder pup in your life. So what did Eli think?

The GOOD: Featuring all organic and human grade ingredients, these are treats you can feel good about giving your pet. I love the name, Wagatha, and the adorable containers contain fun pet quotes, letters from Wagatha and more.

The BAD: As of right now, you can only purchase the items online, so you’ll have to plan ahead. They are currently running a free shipping promotion on all orders over $50. There is a store locator on Wagatha's home page.

MONEY MATTERS: The 9 oz containers sell for $8.95 each, and discounts are available when you purchase more than three. You can browse their biscuits, accessories and other items right here.

The MOM VERDICT

Cate says: I love a company like this. One that comes together from pure passion and friendship, without such a keen eye on selling what will deliver the biggest buck on the bottom line. It’s a company with a sense of humor and a solid product, which is a winning combination. Now obviously I didn’t taste these myself (as if!), but I can tell you what Eli thought. Granted, he doesn’t have the most discerning palate, but he definitely liked these. When I first held one out to him, he stopped and sniffed, so it must smell a bit different than his usual fare. Then he dug in. And came right back for more. I was wondering if the unusual flavors (Cranberry Cheddar with a hint of Mint) would deter him, but it didn’t slow him down in the least, and he’s made his way through a variety of flavors now. Two furry paws up from this camp!