Company Ethics

Our staff and company are always looking for ways to improve the way we work to lessen our impact on the environment and promote animal welfare.

Animal Welfare

Animal Welfare - Akela food

Perhaps one of the first concerns that comes to mind when thinking of animal welfare is "Is the product tested on animals?". Akela are pleased to say that we do not force feed any dogs or cats and we do not test on animals. Of course our staff pets and other lucky pets gets to "test" the food - but only in the good ways and all drool is cleaned up afterwards.

Animal Welfare - Our staff & company

Our small team pursue animal welfare causes outside of work too. They can be found volunteering at a wildlife rescue centre, helping carry out home checks for national re-homing charities and donating their time for free to assist with local dog club training classes, making training affordable for more people. All of our staff's dogs are ex-rescue or pre-loved dogs and some of our staff even have rescue rats!

As a company we have been keen to promote good pet ownership through our other websites and webstores. Our online pet retail company has long since removed products that do not promote good welfare in our eyes, such as shock collars, pet correctors and choke chains. In addition to our considerations for dogs we have also considered pet rabbits, so our hutches all have at least two levels to try and help towards the "a hutch is not enough" campaign and muesli-type diets have been removed from the menu.

We also take qualifications seriously and collectivley our staff have SQP (Suitably Qualified Person - for veterinary medicines) certification, a diploma in nutrition and an honours degree in animal behvaiour, Several members of staff are currently working towards a canine nutrition diploma and other courses are planned for the near future including pet first aid. 

Eco friendly

Eco Friendly - Akela food

Our kibble is made in Britain, something we are very proud to shout about. But not only that, the factory it is made in boasts excellent credentials in terms of eco-friendly production. The factory cleans and recycles air and water on site, and uses its award winning on site packaging recycling plant to reduce landfill waste. Add that to the benefits of the Habitat creation & management plan that it has entered into and you soon get a feel for what an excellent factory this is to produce our food.

Our 10kg bags are also recycleable (We cannot use biodegradeable due to the high oil content, so we went for the next best thing!)

Eco friendly - Our staff & company

Our staff try to keep their carbon footprint from commuting as low as possible. Almost half of our staff regularly cycle to work and senior staff will sometimes work from home to avoid unnecessary commutes.

Within the warehouse where possible we re-use packaging when sending out deliveries to customers. The cardboard boxes some of deliveries arrive in are perfectly suitable to re-use, and the pallet shrink wrap makes excellent padding. This means we can keep our prices low and also helps as part of the reduce, reuse, recycle ethos. Where packaging is not good enough to reuse we recycle as much as possible, including cardboard and plastic.

Our website is hosted by a carbon neutral company, and we also offer delivery via DPD who offset their emissions to be carbon netural too. - We encourage customers to do their bit by ordering in multiples of 30kg, making each order as eco friendly as possible.

Raw materials

Raw materials - Akela kibble

We care about where our ingredients come from for our complete dry foods.

Our Chicken & Duck are UK sourced

Our Herring comes from the Atlantic

Our Turkey, Whitefish, Trout and Tuna is EU sourced.

Whilst we want to be as specific and transparent as possible more details are not given as this would restrict supply and risk stock shortages - and no one wants empty bowls!

We source local ingredients wherever possible.

Raw materials - Treats

Some of our range of Akela fish treats have MSC certification for sustainable seafood, fantastic news if you are worried about overfishing and the problems it is known to cause.

Akela and the community

Akela Rescues Club

We offer excellent terms available to registered rescues and anyone who adopts a dog from a subscribed rescue can also benefit via our rescues club. This will help unfortunate dogs to benefit from the high quality of our food to get them back on all four paws (or three in some cases).

Akela Breeders Club

We check that all breeders who are part of our breeder club are registered with the Kennel Club in an attempt to ensure we do not support any back yard breeders or puppy farms. When giving out advice via our guides and face to face with our customers we help educate people on how to avoid buying from these sellers and hopefully ensuring they have a happy and healthy pup.