Bone appetite! Tasty treats for canines at Mumbai ‘barkery’

It’s just another day for Kat Ferrara who is busy baking ‘bone appetite’ cakes, bow wow biscottis, pupcakes and mini muttleys in her sea-facing Juhu kitchen, with her five cats watching her expectantly. In the middle of it all, her cell phone rings and the caller places an order for a 6-inch chicken ’n’ apple cake. It is his dog’s birthday.

Ferrara is no party planner. The New York-bred pet nutritionist moved to Mumbai nine years ago. She has been running the Waggy Bags Gourmet Dog Barkery with her fiancé, Akshay Jamwal, for the past five years.  “I used to keep baking these nutritional goodies for my dogs and cats. That’s when Akshay suggested that we open a bakery for animals as there was none in Mumbai,” says Ferrara, who comes from a country where dog bakeries are aplenty. Taking the suggestion seriously, Ferrara started with baking some pupcakes and muffins and sending them over to a couple of friends who had dogs at home. “They were an instant hit. That is when I realised that all hardcore animal lovers would want to feed their dogs the best meal,” she says.

But, it wasn’t an easy ride. The duo struggled to find a place for the bakery as many landlords were hesitant to let out their spaces to people who dealt with animals. “That’s when I decided to start the ‘barkery’ in my very own kitchen,” says Ferrara. This wasn’t all, many even mocked the idea. “The first reaction of anyone I shared my plans of starting a dog bakery with, was, ‘a what’?” she chuckles. Now these very people are regulars at the outlet. In fact, Ferrara has more Indian customers than expat.

Ferrara has a wide range of treats on her menu: chicken ’n’ cheese cake, chicken ’n’  cranberry muffins, beef ’n’ cheese and chicken ’n’  carrot, to name a few. What started out as experimental recipes turned out to be the mutts’ favourites. None of the goodies use sugar, salt or preservatives. “Sugar and chocolate are poison for dogs. So, I don’t use any of those ingredients. Instead of sugar, I add honey,” she says. Her official food tasters are the stray dogs outside her building.  “Whatever I make, I go feed them and observe their reaction. If they like it, then I know it’ll be a hit,” says Ferrara.

Before Ferrara bakes a cake, she makes it a point to ask the owner whether the dog is allergic to any ingredient or if the owner prefers vegetarian for his dog, she improvises accordingly. “Your dog doesn’t care what shape or how big the cake is. It’s the smell that will attract it towards the cake. The only thing a dog loves to do in the company of other dogs is sniff their butts. So, the cake has to have a strong fragrance to stop the dog from doing that,” laughs Ferrara.

Abhirama Motiani, one of Ferrara’s clients, has three dogs at her Madh Island house. “I first picked up chicken ’n’  cranberry muffins on an experimental basis to see whether the dogs would like it; and they loved it,” says Motiani. Now, for any kind of celebration at home, Motiani ensures that she picks up some treats for her dogs as well.

But, it’s not just the cakes that bring Ferrara popularity but also the way she conducts business. Ferrara not only guides her customers on the right size of the cake but also sends along a personalised ‘Yappy barkday’ card and a bag of goodies.

First-timer Nidhi Raj, who recently celebrated her Labrador Frodo’s birthday, had ordered a chicken ’n’ cheese cake from the bakery. “Kat advised me to buy a small cake to see if Frodo liked the taste first,” says Raj.

While her recipes are for canines, humans can eat the cakes too. “As long as you are not vegetarian, you can take a bite of my ‘doggilicious’ food. I don’t add any ingredients that are bad for health. In fact, a client of mine loves the taste of my dog food,” she said.

Ferrara plans to open Waggy Bags in other metros in the coming years as she has been receiving calls from dog-owners in Delhi, requesting her to courier the cakes to them. But she refuses to do that as the chances of spoilage are high.

When we left her, Ferrara was busy packing a Waggy Bag treat for a Great Dane in Powai .