The Rockster – A True Story

“Every Once in a While a Dog Enters Your Life and Changes Everything…”

We found and rescued an emaciated street dog from the steps of La Conca del Sogno, south of Naples during our honeymoon in May 2004. The truth is, our incredible mutt from Napoli has rescued us - we owe him both our family and our marriage.

Ours is a story where sometimes an act of compassion brings in turn a rock in life, whose love, loyalty and guardianship has been absolute.

After years on the very special food we created for him, miraculously The Rockster, aged at least 18 yrs old, became a father to 4 Pawsome Pupsters and he went on to be at least 21 years old.

It is wonderful to see the transformative powers of the miracle food we created for him, based on the theories of Sir John Vane, Zoe’s godfather who famously said, “no lion was born allergic to giraffe or wildebeest and no lion dies allergic to giraffe or wildebeest”…

Nor is any dog born allergic to poultry or beef…

The Story of Rockster’s Superfood

From the outset we could never understand why The Rockster never wanted to eat commercial pet foods, choosing to eat our leftovers or rummage through dustbins. It was not until 2013 when an expert explained that as a genuine street dog, he was genetically wired to avoid anything that could be harmful.

It was then that we learnt about what really happens in the pet food industry and what was in even the “natural” or “proper” foods we’d tried in vain to entice him with over the years.

We set about creating a food for him with a team of expert nutritionists using some of Zoe’s late Godfather’s theories on immunological responses to dysbiosis in the gut. John believed the exponential rise in NCDs (Non-Commutable Diseases – for example allergies, diabetes and cancers) was directly attributable to our food and the widespread use of antibiotics and other chemicals in unnatural intensive farming.

In the Hippocratic tradition of “let food be thy medicine…” we successfully created the world’s first superfood for our dog free from any form of chemical or antibiotic activity.

We also learned of the benefits of genuine sous-vide (under vacuum) cooking. Not only does this prevent any of the ingredients oxidising, but it also prevents the leaching of any fat or water soluble nutrients, cooking this way also enables the food to be shelf stable. We use a very special chemical & BPA free tin that is fully recyclable and has no paper label.

Instead of fillers we sourced nutritionally dense superfoods used widely in health supplements combining them in single protein recipes with a balance of only muscle meat and inner organs, mimicking the ancestral diet of dogs. We then added fermented Jerusalem Artichoke Concentrate, an incredible source of natural inulin and a prebiotic. Importantly, every ingredient had to be fully traceable, humanely raised and the best quality money could buy and certified completely free from any exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids, chemicals, or pesticides.

The eureka moment when The Rockster ravenously ate like he’s never eaten before, we started giving it to friends to try – amazingly their dogs were having the same reaction. We eventually had people knock on our door asking if their dog could try our dog’s “miracle food” too.

The Journey

Every % of the content is stated and the food is certified by some of the most stringent organic regulations in the world. We truly believe loving pet owners have the absolute right to know exactly what they are feeding their pet and which part of the animal is being used.

Together with our children, we named the recipes after places in our life journey as a family together with The Rockster. Our children helped us design the logo and the picture on the cans had been drawn in 2006 by Sophie de Carvalho, a family friend.

Our family’s commitment to innovation and helping dogs live long and healthy lives is absolute and we hope that our transparency is a step in encouraging 100% ingredient transparency in the pet food industry.  We all have a right to know exactly what we are buying.  We as a family, are passionately against the systemic use of antibiotics in agriculture and Sir John Vane’s theories about allergies and other NCDs being linked with antibiotics and the gut microbiome are now widely accepted within the scientific community.

And in life it does not matter where you have been, it matters where you are going. It’s never too late to make a change.

Even a humble street dog can ROCK the world…we truly hope he will yours.