Our Story
A few years ago Harley — our spaniel cross, a rescue with more energy than sense — got into a bag of biltong left on a low table. We did what everyone does: searched it, at 2am, half-panicked. The first five results disagreed with each other. One said biltong was fine. One said any cured meat was an emergency. None of them explained why, or cited anything we could check.
He was fine — the salt content was the real concern, not an outright toxin, and the amount was small. But the experience stuck with us: most "can dogs eat X" content online is written to rank in search results, not to actually help someone standing in a kitchen at 2am trying to decide whether to call an emergency vet.
So we built the site we wished existed — one that explains the actual mechanism behind each verdict, cites where the information comes from, and says plainly when the science itself is still unsettled (avocado is a good example — we go into that on its own page).
Harley — spaniel cross, rescue, the reason this site exists. Predisposed to pancreatitis, which is why you'll see fat-content warnings show up a lot on this site.
This site is maintained by two South African dog owners, not a veterinary practice. We are not vets. Every page that makes a medical claim is built from peer-reviewed research or established veterinary references (Merck Veterinary Manual, ASPCA APCC, published veterinary journals) — see how we source this for exactly how that works, and where the limits of that approach are.
Most dog-food-safety sites are written for a US or UK audience. That means biltong, boerewors, rooibos, and rusks — foods actually sitting on South African kitchen counters — either don't appear at all, or get lumped into generic "processed meat" or "tea" categories that miss the local specifics. We built those pages first.
This site provides general educational information and is not a substitute for advice from a qualified veterinarian who can examine your dog.