- Title: Dog's dinner: Cairo's canines receive home-cooked food
- Date: 9th August 2017
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (AUGUST 8, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OMAR THARWAT PREPARING FOOD IN KITCHEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BUSINESS OWNER, OMAR THARWAT, SAYING: "I am trying to provide food to dog owners and save them the time and effort spent cooking at home, for example, if someone is working for a living and doesn't have enough time. And in order to save him even more time I deliver the dog food to their doorstep. I go to the Sixth of October (district), I go to Maadi, I go to the downtown area and go to Madinaty. I go to every location in Cairo and deliver the food right to their doorstep." VARIOUS OF DOGS EATING FOOD IN GARDEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BUSINESS OWNER, OMAR THARWAT, SAYING: "When you live with an animal you find that the animal is a very loyal creature, so he deserves to be taken care of. Recently, when the (dog food) prices increased I didn't increase the price because I knew if the prices were raised the customer wouldn't be able to afford the cost. Any material need really doesn't matter, because the alternative would be seeing dogs suffer because of this, and that's hard (for me)." THARWAT WALKING TOWARDS HIS CAR / OPENING DOOR THARWAT PUTTING FOOD IN BACK SEAT OF CAR THARWAT CLOSING DOOR / SITTING IN DRIVER'S SEAT THARWAT DRIVING CAR AWAY THARWAT DRIVING IN HIS CAR THARWAT DELIVERING FOOD TO DOG OWNER AT GATE, DOGS RUNNING ROUND MAID PUTTING FOOD INTO BOWL FOR DOGS VARIOUS OF DOGS EATING FOOD IN GARDEN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CUSTOMER, DR. AMR AHMED HASSAN, SAYING: "Honestly, I don't really know what to say, you can't imagine how he saved me. First of all the meals are extremely clean, as you can see they're right here in front of you. It tastes great and the dogs really enjoy the food, especially my dog Icey, he is very picky and refuses to eat anything, this is why in the beginning I was really hesitant to use this service. I used to feed them home cooked meals like chicken and liver and this cost me a lot, but after I saw the advertisement on Facebook, I said why not, maybe I should give it a shot. And I didn't expect this, and from that day on everything changed." DOGS SWIMMING IN POOL, OWNER GETTING IN WATER
- Embargoed: 23rd August 2017 13:43
- Keywords: Egypt dog food delivery Cairo dog food dog food prices Egypt dog food import home made dog food Cairo
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- City: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0016TFNFBP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hungry hounds in Egypt's capital are enjoying a new doggy delivery service inspired by falling imports of their usual canned food.
Omar Tharwat, a political writer, started the new service from his kitchen after realising that the meals he prepared for his own pooches might appeal to a wider audience.
His home-cooked meals for dogs, delivered right to the door, help meet a new demand created by a shortage of foreign currency and an increase on tariffs of hundreds of products, that has not only raised prices but has decreased the quantity of products imported.
Tharwat's business, while small, aims to combat the rise in prices of imported dog food which witnessed increased dramatically after the devaluation of the Egyptian pound late last year.
"I am trying to provide food to dog owners and save them the time and effort spent cooking at home, for example, if someone is working for a living and doesn't have enough time. And in order to save him even more time I deliver the dog food to their doorstep. I go to the Sixth of October (district), I go to Maadi, I go to the downtown area and go to Madinaty. I go to every location in Cairo and deliver the food right to their doorstep," Tharwat said.
Without a local alternative, many dog owners struggle to find safe and affordable food for their pets. And despite the growing opportunity to make money from the service, Tharwat said he was most concerned about the dogs' welfare.
"When you live with an animal you find that the animal is a very loyal creature, so he deserves to be taken care of. Recently, when the (dog food) prices increased I didn't increase the price because I knew if the prices were raised the customer wouldn't be able to afford the cost. Any material need really doesn't matter, because the alternative would be seeing dogs suffer because of this, and that's hard (for me)," he added.
Tharwat buys his ingredients straight from a local supermarket and delivers his mutt-inspired meals right across the city, much to the relief of his new-found customers.
"Honestly, I don't really know what to say, you can't imagine how he saved me. First of all the meals are extremely clean, as you can see they're right here in front of you. It tastes great and the dogs really enjoy the food, especially my dog Icey, he is very picky and refuses to eat anything, this is why in the beginning I was really hesitant to use this service. I used to feed them home cooked meals like chicken and liver and this cost me a lot, but after I saw the advertisement on Facebook, I said why not, maybe I should give it a shot. And I didn't expect this, and from that day on everything changed," said Amr Ahmed, one of Tharwat's customers.
In a city of around 20 million inhabitants, deliveries of Tharwat's puppy platters are just the latest addition to the commonplace buzz of delivery men shuttling their produce throughout the capital. But for pet owners pondering their dog's next dinner, there's now a dedicated business offering special preparations for their pooch. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
