Tibet: the greyhound on a vegan diet that recovered health after abandonment and malnutrition.

From abandoned and emaciated to healthy and happy

Tibet’s happy ending story really moved us. No matter how many photos or videos of animal abuse we see, we will never get used to some people’s brutality. Sadly, the image of an abandoned greyhound happens as frequently as many other similar tragedies that we come across daily.

But this particular story deeply moved us for several reasons:

• We just cannot understand that a human being can hurt an animal to the point of almost starving him.
• It is inspiring that on the other hand there are people willing to reach out to animals in need.
• After everything they did for Tibet, Silvia and Antonio had to suffer criticism over having chosen a vegan diet for him.

Buda, another greyhound member of Silvia and Antonio’s family, also eats VeggieAnimals plant-based foods for dogs. Feeding our companion animals a vegan diet is something not understood or shared by everybody. However, evidence shows that Tibet recovered his normal weight and perfect physical condition by being fed a vegan diet from the moment he was rescued, which would prove that a 100% plant-based diet meets all the nutritional needs for a dog to recover his strength and vitality even after a situation of extreme emaciation

In this interview Antonio tells us about their experience.

VeggieAnimals. You live with two greyhounds. Why? What are the stories of Tibet and Buda?

Antonio. When I met my wife, Silvia, she was a foster home for rescue animals so I just joined in. I had never lived with animals so her experience made everything easier for me. It was from that point on that I realized how wonderful it is to share your life with those amazing animals that give you so much love without expecting anything in return. This is the main reason we have two greyhounds at home, and it’s just two because we don’t have room for more!

Buda’s story is the same as that of many other greyhounds abandoned by hunters – everything was fine until he stopped being useful and the hunter shot him. The shot hit Buda in one of his legs, which had to be amputated in order to save his life. When he recovered and we came across his story we didn’t hesitate for a moment and adopted him. He has been a member of our family for over 3 years now and we can hardly explain how we feel about him. It’s just true love!

Tibet’s story is different but the reason behind his misfortune is the same – a story of abuse, exploitation and finally abandonment. We still can’t understand how he managed to survive. When he was found he was half dead, he weighed only 9 kg and he couldn’t even stand on his legs. He needed a home and again we didn’t hesitate and decided to adopt him.

It wasn’t easy because he showed signs of extreme stress, fear and anxiety. We knew that Tibet’s arrival would have an impact on our daily life and still today we can’t really have a normal life.

We would love to take him to the mountain but he won’t get into the car, we can’t have visitors at home, it is impossible to take him for a walk, he is terrified of children (although we believe that our soon to be born baby girl, Estrella, will help him a lot). With great doses of patience Tibet has been able to manage stress and anxiety, but we still have a lot of work to do with him regarding his fears, although he is slowly getting better.

He is a totally different dog now. He has gone from weighing 9 kg when he was rescued to 27.5 kg today. He is great, very sweet and well-behaved.

VA. Why did you decide to feed VeggieAnimals to Tibet in spite of his condition of extreme malnutrition?

A. If we have rescued two living beings, why not contribute to avoid more animals being slaughtered just to feed other animals? Why the lives of others have to be taken so that our dogs can live? We were already feeding Buda with VeggieAnimals and the results speak for themselves: beautiful bright coat, nice body odour ...

Taking all of this into consideration, we decided to give Tibet the same diet and the results soon became noticeable – he started to gain weight, his fur became shinier and soft.. Besides, he loved the food from the beginning, just like Buda did.

VA. What did people around you think about your choice for your dogs’ diet?

A. Those around us – and that includes family, friends and even people from animal charities – still find it difficult to believe that there is completely natural pet food. I think this is mostly due to lack of knowledge and information.

VA. What have been the results?

A. The results have been fantastic. As I have already mentioned, they love their vegan food but you can also see how shiny and soft their fur is. VeggieAnimals is a balanced food that helps greyhounds stay in their ideal weight range. Tibet went from 9 kg to 27.5 kg and the most conclusive evidence is his blood tests results which show no health problems at all, he is just doing absolutely fine.

It is the results of their blood tests that have helped us silence criticism because, as I said, there is a huge lack of knowledge and information on this matter, and some people thought that by feeding our dogs a vegan diet we would have to give them supplements too. But the blood tests show that everything is perfect and we are very happy about it.

VA. How long has it been since you started feeding your dogs VeggieAnimals and how would you rate the experience?

A. Buda has been with us for three and a half years and we have been feeding him VeggieAnimals vegan food for a little over 2 years. We adopted Tibet a year and a half ago and that has been his diet from the beginning. In Tibet’s case, his recovery has been amazing. We are very happy with the results and we would definitely recommend VeggieAnimals foods.