Visiting Dr. Gowri Yale, it came as no surprise when her three adopted pets – two abandoned beagles and an Indian puppy — came sniffing at my ankles.
They brightened the mood for the conversation.
Born in the UK, Gowri says that she was always crazy about pets. “We were not allowed to have pets as we live in a doctor’s housing colony in England. My mother, who saw this passion for animals in me would take me to petting farms or zoos, which I enjoyed very much,” recalls the vet who has now made Bangalore her home.
“All my life I wanted to be a doctor. When I got to know that animals too needed doctors, I decide to become a doctor for animals,” she explains.
So off went Gowri to Bidar and then to the US for her masters before returning to the city simply because “living in another country is like living in someone else’s house,” she laughs. On completion of her Ph.D., she started her own clinic and got down to practising.
“During a home visit I realised that many people are not aware of the nutrition and diet of their pets, especially vegetarian dogs. They were generally fed curd rice or idlis besides buying stuff off the shelf, which is not healthy for pets. The problem with dog food in India is that there is no regulatory body to certify it. Here, we can import anything from anywhere and sell it as dog food. They have preservatives. One of the dogs that is under my care fell sick after eating a particular brand of chew stick.”
That was when Gowri started advising people about the diets for pets.
“Being a vegetarian myself, I know that we need protein in our diet. I asked people to add vegetables and eggs with the shells to be cooked with raw rice. As they need stuff to chew, you can give them carrots - they make perfect chew sticks and are natural too. Raw bones if you are non-vegetarian, corn cobs for veggie pets, papaya and pumpkins, the outer skin of watermelon and coconut, which tastes like a candy for them are all natural healthy treats,” explains Gowri. Just being a doctor was not enough for her, so she started making dog food, the brand name for which is Slurrp!
“I saw my mother make ganji for us and our pets which was high in protein. So I started using the same for my products too. They come with ragi, a choice of dal and some spices that help digestion. It can be cooked in a jiffy. I know it is packaged food again but the product has to have the FSSAI seal, which is mandatory. My products have it.” In future, Gowri plans to start an egg variant in ganji and bring out a range of cookies that will double as chew sticks.
Gowri Yale can be contacted on drgowriyale@gmail.com
