VEGAN-FRIENDLY ICE CREAM FOR DOGS COMING TO A CHRISTCHURCH BEACH SOON

Ever feel guilty licking an ice cream in front of your dog? One owner did so much she has created an ice cream for dogs – and it’s vegan and can be eaten by humans too.

Leanne Brewer couldn’t handle the puppy eyes her dog Boo would give her while eating ice cream back in March and had just finished watching Beethoven with her 6-year-old on TV. The scene with the ice cream gave her ideas, she said.

“My dog is not good with dairy, so she was my ultimate taste tester.”

Brewer started to research dairy alternatives and noticed there was a gaping hole in the New Zealand market for dog ice cream. Not any more.

Her ice cream brand Cocomutt is the healthy alternative to dairy-made ice cream and can be eaten by humans too.

“We use all natural, human-grade ingredients to create a healthy and delicious ice cream for your dog. You won’t find harmful artificial ingredients here.

“With most dogs being lactose intolerant, Cocomutt is based with coconut milk.”

It contains blueberries, banana, peanut butter and coconut milk – much like a morning breakfast smoothie, but for dogs.

Brewer is starting small at Sumner Beach in Christchurch in the first weekend of September and hopes to target cafes and supermarkets if the uptake is big from the canine community.

“Looking at their little faces when they get their ice cream is so rewarding, it is the best thing I’ve ever done.”

She will also have regular ice cream on offer for human customers, but added her dog ice cream is fine for humans to eat too at $4 a scoop.

“It freezes hard and while you have a coffee they can just sit under the table and lick away. A biscuit is gone in two seconds whereas this lasts and is hydrating for them.”

Sadly Boo died in June while Brewer was in Bali researching dog ice cream, a more popular phenomenon over there.

“She was just really old, we were kind of thinking she maybe had a couple of years left.”

Boo’s legacy lives on in the Cocomutt label, which Brewer thinks is a fitting gesture for her loved one.

“Boo was our first CEO, our taste tester, our motivator and biggest fan.

“Our dogs are our family, so we set out to enable them to get in on the tradition of enjoying an ice cream too but … incorporating healthy and beneficial ingredients.”