"When I was having ice cream one day with my dog and I was handing some down to her, I realized this is not really good for them," said Ice CreamPups Founder Lori Gabay.
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That's when Gabay came up with the idea of creating Ice CreamPups, her company that makes vegan ice cream for dogs.
Every Sunday, Gabay serves up the frozen treat at Sepulveda Basin Dog Park in Van Nuys.
"This is a safe way for a dog to get a treat and not have an upset stomach from it," Gabay said.
Gabay says the Ice CreamPups are non-dairy and only have four ingredients that are safe for dogs to eat.
"The ingredients are coconut milk, coconut cream, there's a stabilizer that has to go into ice cream that is also a vegan stabilizer," Gabay said. "And whatever I want to put into the ice cream, such as the peanut butter, which is just peanuts, organic blueberries, organic strawberries, organic carrots whatever flavor I'm making it's organic."
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"You don't want to give them something that's not actually healthy for them because you never really know what's in a dairy product that can upset their stomach. So, I'm pretty happy that it's vegan ice cream," said dog owner Stacy Ramirez.
For the fall season, dog owners can choose between three different flavors: boo berry, vampire peanut blood-der or sweet potato and cinnamon monster mash.
"As soon as it came out, she just started eating the whole little thing. And she loved the flavors and ate it like nothing," said dog owner Kaitlyn Bunch.
Gabay says she has been coming to the dog park for the past year and a half and will continue to do so to make dogs and their owners happy.
"It's joy, I forget about everything else in life when I'm doing this and it's just fun and a feel-good project for me," Gabay said.
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