Welcome to the pack!
I’m Angela, creator of two food blogs (Divalicious Recipes & Keto Vegetarian Recipes) and lover of animals. After years of creating delicious healthy recipes for humans, I’m now channeling my baking superpowers for my beloved pets. We have travelled a lot with our pack over the last 8 years and are currently living in the beautiful island of St Lucia. Where we go, our animals go.
Living in the tropics with limited resources (a lot of produce and food is shipped in this region) I turned to making my own pet food for a healthier option. My vet also recommended homemade food as the pet food available here is not the best choice.
There are 7 animals in my pack. 4 dogs and 3 cats. We seem to have picked up them during our time in the Caribbean with 2 being from the UK, 3 from Barbados, 1 from Aruba and 1 from St Lucia!
Let me introduce you to our pack! All my dogs and one cat are rescues, so the breed is anyone’s guess!
THE DOGS
Pixie
She is our smallest dog and our first rescue. I popped into the Ark Animal Shelter in Barbados one Saturday afternoon, just to “have a look”. I went home, told my husband I had met an adorable puppy. Within an hour we were having a house visit and she was ours!
She is the most vocal of the pack and has been ever since she was a puppy. She barks into the distance at times too for other dogs. I like to think she is spreading the daily island news!
She does not like my watermelon or raw vegetable treats but enjoys the tuna treats.
Pixie is devoted to my husband, Harold, and lives for weekends with him. She has a beautiful smile when she is happy and we see this a lot at weekends!
Sasha
Sasha was the result of me looking at the Facebook page for the Ark Animal Shelter in Barbados, then showing my husband her photo. Within the hour, we had messaged the Shelter and said we would take her, subject to Pixie accepting her.
She is the greediest dog we have. She is greedy on a Labrador scale! (My grandparents used to breed Labradors, so I am accustomed to their desire for everything edible). If I go to the kitchen, she will sprint ahead of me in hope of a treat. It never works, but I admire her determination!
Sasha is also our huntress. She has the sweetest disposition but is quick to hunt anything that enters our garden. I have had to rescue a few iguanas from her when we lived in Aruba which still haunts me.
We think that she must have Staffordshire in her as she has jaws of steel. Any pet toy that declares itself “tough” has been totally destroyed by her! We give our dogs fresh coconuts, and she will always be the first to rip them apart like they are cotton candy.
She eats everything except cucumber!
Teddy (aka Bear)
Teddy is my foster fail in Aruba. We were meant to be fostering him for a few weeks but after the first week, we said we would adopt him as we could not imagine being without him. You can read the first week of our Fostering HERE
He has grown from a few days away from death to be a strong, beautiful boy with such a loving nature. He is my constant companion and is my loyal guardian, always by my side.Teddy is a natural guard dog and guards our perimeter with gusto at any passing vehicle. The police department in Aruba missed an opportunity with him!
The most delightful thing about Teddy is his various voices! He has a high pitched yip when he is demanding something, a tiger like growl when on the defensive and a happy bark when playing. He is a very vocal dog and expressive with his bear like paws!
He loves everything I have given him except for cucumber.
Rocco
Rocco is our rescue from St Lucia. I had seen his photo posted by a friend who owns an art café in St Lucia. Her son had rescued him from a litter born on a beach and he was the only survivor. I spent the whole breakfast telling my husband 100 reasons we could not have another animal (flying the pack from island to island is very expensive), only to do a 180 degree change an hour later and made the call of “we will take him”. There was something about his face that said he was meant to be ours.
He has the sweetest disposition and makes a great male playmate for Teddy without any challenge to Teddy’s position of being my protector. He has sealed the balance in our furry family and has a wonderful relationship with Sasha. He gives the best cuddles too!
He is not a fussy eater and loves all of his meals.
THE CATS
Muffin
Muffin is a thick coated black British cat with a sweet affectionate nature, coming for morning cuddles before we get up. She and Tux are the most travelled being with us from our departure from the UK to Barbados. Then came with us to our move to Aruba, and now live in St Lucia. Only these 2 cats have flown all of our travels. Exporting pets is now a second skill for me!
She is a climber and can often be found on our roof in the mornings before the sun gets too hot. She delights in the many lizards we have here and is a natural hunter. Her highlight was catching a hummingbird. They move so fast and I’m still not sure how she did it. Thankfully, I rescued it and it survived!
Tux
Tux is “imaginatively” named as he is a Tuxedo cat in markings. He came to us a week after Muffin when we lived in the UK. Tux is our biggest cat at 18lbs and cat carriers are too small for him. He has travelled around the Caribbean in a small dog carrier instead. He is bigger than most small dogs!
Tux is devoted to Muffin and is by her side for the most part of the day. I swear she tires of it and occasionally seeks us out to escape him.
After a few years of being an indoor cat (various places we lived were not safe for cats, traffic, monkeys, stray dogs…the usual island threats) we now live in a very safe place and he has blossomed in his territory and being an outside cat.
Manley (aka Gingey)
He chose me. When we lived in Barbados, there was a skinny ginger cat eating out of the nearby bins, so I started to come out every morning with cat food for him. He then appeared everyday at a certain time and we built a bond. We were moving houses and the husband agreed to capture him, get him to the vets for the necessary inspection and snip, and give him a loving home.
We named him Manley after a ginger cat we knew in the UK who was full of personality. I now call him Gingey, so he has 2 names.
This cat is part dog. He hangs out with the pack, they adore him and when Tux (who is not his biggest fan) growls at him, the dogs always rush to his side.
Much like Teddy, this ball of ginger goodness is often found by my side. He has perfected certain purrs and squeaks to get what he wants from me. Basically, he has me wrapped around his ginger paw.
We hope you enjoy the recipes. They have all been taste tested by my dogs and cats. They might possibly be the most spoilt animals on the island, but I’m here to give them the best life they can have and share the recipes with your animals too!
Happy baking!
Angela