Sarah Griffiths, DCH
Animal Nutritionist – Homeopath – EQ/K9 Handler
My name is Sarah and I’ve been on a mission for the last 20 years to learn how to keep animals and people healthy. My passion is learning and teaching people about the origin of species and how that relates to health. With a 20 year educational and professional background working with wild and domestic animals, I’ve gained a unique perspective on the needs of animals through studying their ancestry. I’ve been involved for many years in wild and domestic animal husbandry and handling, including wild cats, wolves, birds of prey, domestic cats and dogs, horses and more. I also spent 5 years as the Animal Nutritionist for Adored Beast Veterinary Clinic in British Columbia, Canada and became a classically trained homeopath (DCH), clinical animal nutritionist and continue my education, being currently enrolled in both equine nutrition and animal herbal medicine. I have partnered with the Adored Beast Apothecary as the Equine Director and co-formulator of the equine supplement line. I also created all of the natural animal products for my business Equus Soap Co. which can be found under my ‘products’ tab. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to learn more about my background and education. We are always learning and growing and my goal is to help animal owners feel confident about choosing integrative options for their 4-legged family members. I look forward to meeting you and your animals. Xoxox
Some of My Work
Wolves & Wild Cats
My obsession with species-appropriate animal nutrition began in 1999 when I was 17. I had the privilege of volunteering for a local wildlife centre caring for a young group of timber wolves and 2 pumas and a number of other wild animals. I fed them and handled them daily for over a year. Later on, I was blessed to work as a volunteer zookeeper at another wildlife centre caring for a vast array of wildlife including African painted dogs, hyenas, clouded leopards, asiatic wild cats, ocelots, caracal, fishing cats, and many other rare carnivores, herbivores, birds and primates. Around the same time, I got my first puppy, Kody, who lead me to the Adored Beast Veterinary Clinic (the first holistic vet clinic in Canada) where I met Julie Anne Lee. Walking past her clinic, I saw a big raw food sign in the window. I was already very interested in how to feed my puppy like I had learned to feed the wild animal and I went right in. Julie helped me with the basics and that fuelled a never-ending fire to educate myself about bettering animals through nutrition. Soon after, I began working at Adored Beast where I eventually became the nutrition specialist for the clinic, working alongside Julie and several veterinarians creating fresh food diets for dogs with health issues of all kinds. The education I gained by working alongside wildlife and in a clinical veterinary setting at the same time was invaluable and gave me a totally unique perspective on how we need to care for our domestic animals. I continue to study the ecological findings of dog’s and cat’s closest living relatives to update my knowledge on how to feed them correctly for quality of life and longevity.
Raptors
Another predator passion of mine is birds of prey. I am fascinated by them and, in 2012, I decided to contact a local bird of prey centre to volunteer and learn about these amazing birds. The wonderful thing about raptors is that they are unapologetically who they are. Handling them teaches you to be extremely intuitive. They are also classified as obligatory carnivores, meaning they need prey to survive, just like cats. After volunteering at the raptor centre for only a few months, I was invited to join the team of falconers that had a bird control contract with our city landfill here in Delta, BC, Canada. I was thrown into the fire of working on a 100 acre industrial site using birds of prey as natural deterrents for seagulls and other pest birds at the landfill. Were you aware that birds of prey are used all around the world as an eco-friendly measure to controlling pest birds including seagulls and pigeons? Cool, right?! I spent 8 years working as a commercial falconer and bird of prey educator on a number of different contracts with several species of birds of prey under my mentor, a master falconer from the UK. It was an absolute honour and I gained new insights on predator and prey behaviour, husbandry and nutrition from these mysterious and majestic animals.