All For A Good Cause
Share A Meal With Your Pet Pooch
Share A Meal With Your Pet Pooch
Does your hound hang around the table begging for titbits and wishing they could eat with their humans – well, now they can! And it’s all for a good cause.
The Noodles4Noodles Cookbook – raising funds for Greyhound Rescue – is full of recipes that are suitable for both humans and hounds, from “Paw’d Thai” and “Hound-dog’s Hokkein” to “Fettucine Bark’onara”.
All the recipes are dog-safe (humans might like to add some seasoning or spices to their own serving) and were “woofed down” by the four-legged taste testers.
Why noodle dishes? The cookbook is part of the Noodles4Noodles fundraising and awareness campaign for Greyhound Rescue, an independent Sydney-based charity that ethically rescues, lovingly rehabilitates and safely rehomes greyhounds no longer wanted by the racing industry.
Greyhounds have earned the affectionate nickname of “Noodles” because they are “long, skinny and make weird noodle-like shapes”, Greyhound Rescue president Nat Panzarino said.
The charity, which relies on donations and more than 200 volunteers to undertake its important work, also needs a new home. It is fundraising to turn the old goat shed its team has been working out of into a proper office and rehabilitation space at its Greysland base in Bargo.
Ms Panzarino said the Noodles4Noodles recipes were a “sometimes” food for your dog but they do provide important behavioural enrichment. And just like humans, dogs – with their superior smell – get bored with the same food and crave something more interesting.
Why not cuddle up on the couch and enjoy a bowl of noodles with your pup, or put out fine China and make it a dinner date? Share your photos on social media, using #Noodles4Noodles and tag @GreyhoundRescue.
Ms Panzarino said the Noodles4Noodles cookbook “is a novelty and not intended to replace a regular balanced diet, however, it is important to provide enrichment to hounds and this is a fun activity for both hounds and humans”.
“It encourages the hound to try new things and allows for interaction with their humans,” she said.
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“Dogs have a vastly superior sense of smell – so powerful that studies have demonstrated dogs can smell in stereo and across time! So, exposing your hound to new tastes, textures, eating experiences, and of course, smells, can be a very exciting activity for them.”
Ms Panzarino said the waiting list of greyhounds leaving the racing industry was the longest it had ever been.
"We are now looking at a six-month wait for us to take them in and some simply won’t last that long,” Ms Panzarino said. While Greyhound Rescue has a no-kill policy, Ms Panzarino said the sad fact is many greyhounds on the waiting list face the risk of being euthanised before they can find a new home.
“We are always operating at capacity but our intake list has never been this long,” she said. “We are also fielding more calls from other rescue groups and pounds, who are struggling to keep up.
"Currently there are more than 170 hounds on the waiting list to come to us and we are getting more phone calls to surrender every day. For many industry participants, it is a continuous cycle, as soon as we take in their hounds, they have more to add to the waiting list.”
Greyhound Rescue last year rehomed 255 greyhounds but Ms Panzarino said: “Adoption rates have plummeted.” While dog ownership in Australia rose 47 per cent between 2019 and 2021, according to a recent report, the end of lockdowns and rising cost-of-living pressures are quickly reversing that trend.
The Noodles4Noodles cookbook is available in a digital version for donations of $25 or more to Greyhound Rescue, and in printed copies (posted in Australia only) for donations of $50 or more
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FUN GREYHOUND FACTS
- Greyhounds arrived in Australia with Captain Cook and are the second-fastest animal behind the cheetah.
- They have a calm and gentle nature and are incredibly affectionate.
- Despite being used for racing, they are actually a low-energy breed and suited to families with small backyards.
- Greyhounds were the chosen pets of Cleopatra and Tutankhamun, George Washington, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, Brad Pitt, Twiggy, and GR ambassador Ash London.
Share A Meal With Your Pet Pooch Share A Meal With Your Pet Pooch Share A Meal With Your Pet Pooch Share A Meal With Your Pet Pooch
