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Month: June 2013

Get Me Some Press

Public relations, or PR, is a valuable part of your promotional mix.

Although it includes a variety of services designed to monitor and enhance your reputation, PR most commonly refers to securing media coverage.

PR can be overwhelming, particularly if you don’t have in-house resources to develop relationships with media and regularly share news with them.  It’s especially frustrating when a competitor garners news coverage with the same story you could have shared. This is often the point when a business says, “We need a PR agency!”

If you’re thinking about hiring an agency, here are some pros and cons to consider:

Pros

An Outside Perspective—It’s helpful to have someone from the “outside” looking at your business. A PR team can pinpoint what is newsworthy about your company, products or services, perhaps something you may not have considered yourself.

Many Minds—By hiring an agency, you’ll have a team of professionals, with years of collective and diverse experience, helping you promote your business.

Connections and Contacts—PR firms work with the media every day. They have connections and access to reporters, editors and producers that would take you much longer to develop.

Knowing what the media wants—PR professionals are trained to think like the media. Your news may be exciting to you, but it may not be compelling enough to be covered by the media. PR teams know how to select the best parts of your story, package and “sell” it properly to different types of media outlets.

Cons

For all the benefits of working with an agency, there are a few drawbacks as well.

Cost—Agencies aren’t cheap. And, it takes time to develop a plan, conduct outreach and manage media opportunities; so hiring an agency is not a short-term financial commitment.

Time—A PR program requires patience. Depending on your business and objectives, you may not see results for a few months, so you need to be patient while your agency plants seeds with media outlets and nurtures opportunities to fruition.

No Guarantees—No agency can guarantee specific results. Many factors play into PR opportunities that are beyond your agency’s control – timing, breaking news, even an editor’s mood.  Sometimes you may not get the results you were hoping for, but many times you’ll be thrilled by the amount of coverage you get. It’s a leap of faith for sure.

Learning Curve—You’ll likely be paying for a learning curve at first as the agency gets to know your business, your industry and your market. You can reduce this learning curve by choosing a local agency if you are focused on a specific, local market or, if you are a national brand, choosing an agency that understands the pet industry.

Good media coverage can go a long way in showcasing your business in a positive light. While hiring an agency requires time, money and energy, it’s often well worth the effort and expense you put into it. Most businesses are glad they did.

Caroline Golon is the president of High Paw Media, a PR, social media and content development firm that helps businesses and organizations in the pet industry share their stories through PR. She spends her days researching, writing about and promoting pets. She manages several of her own blogs, including www.romeothecat.com, where she’s raised more than $75,000 for animal rescues and shelters.

Sojos Introduces Frequent Buyer Program

Sojos introduced a new Frequent Buyer Program, created to reward customers for their loyalty not only to Sojos but also to retail stores where they are buying the product.

The program is easy for stores to participate in, and is available only to stores who partner with their distributors.

To participate, stores should contact their local distributor, who will supply them with Frequent Buyer envelopes, which can then be used per participating customer. Collect 12 UPCs and receipts to submit for a free 13th bag.

“Our stores work hard to educate consumers on what it means to feed the very best, so being able to offer them a loyalty program is exciting.” Maggie Johnson, co-owner of Sojos, said.

For more information, visit www.sojos.com or contact Sojos at (888) 867-6567.

Animal Causes and Charitable Giving

Animals, and their welfare, rank in the top three when it comes to the top relatable charitable causes, and in turn are more likely to donate to, according to a survey conducted by Razoo.com.

Razoo.com is a crowd funding platform for causes. Animals ranked in the top three, along with child welfare causes and causes for specific diseases, with nearly half of Americans, 49 percent, saying that they especially relate to animal causes.

“We have hundreds of fundraisers for animal welfare on Razoo, for all types of animals, and they are some of the most popular and most successful,” Lesley Mansford, CEO of Razoo.com, said. “The fact that so many Americans regard animal welfare as one of the easiest causes to relate to isn’t a surprise to us, but we are delighted to see it rank as high as it has.”

The national survey conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Razoo of 2,059 U.S. adults during the week of Nov. 8 through Nov. 12th also found that 94 percent of U.S. adults say they have donated to those in need.

It seems people find donating to others to be one of their three favorite “feel good” activities.

When asked what life events and activities give them the most pleasure from a given list, they responded to the survey by saying: Being in love, 56 percent; hugging my children, 48 percent; donating to others in need, 45 percent.

All About Natural

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The Crazy Pet Children’s Foundation Awards Grant

The Crazy Pet Children’s Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to Freedom Service Dogs of Englewood, Colo. for their “Pawsitive Connections” program, a therapeutic dog training program, established to teach high risk Colorado youth to help train the dogs as part of their rehabilitation.

The youth, ages 11-18, are taught appropriate ways of handling the frustrations and learning the patience required for dog training, benefiting both the dogs and the kids.

They work with certified dog trainers to help provide the first phase of training to the rescued dogs, and also participate in exercises that help instill respect, responsibility, empathy, positive communication, self-control and social skills.

“We’re proud to contribute to Pawsitive Connection, a program whose philosophies we believe in and fully support,” Tony de Vos said. “We’ll also be sending them Crazy Dog Train-Me! treats to help shorten the learning curve in those dog training classes.”

The Crazy Pet Children’s Foundation, established by de Vos, owner of Cardinal Pet Care in Azusa, Calif., supports groups that help promote the values and life lessons that children learn from caring for a pet, using the foundation’s “Back Bones of Character” program.

The program encourages youth to: Be caring, contribute, have courage, be dependable, be fair and have respect.  The Back Bones of Character logo uses “bones” as symbols of the character values that are part of a spine or backbone – an icon that gives kids a memorable and positive vision of the strong character they can develop.

“Helping children and pets is a goal our two foundations have in common,” Sharan Wilson, the executive director of Freedom Service Dogs, said. “It’s so appropriate that a pet company that makes dog training rewards and has such an interest in kids and pets would sponsor our youth dog training program.”

To learn more about the Crazy Pet Children’s Foundation, visit www.CrazyPetFoundation.com.

Charity Giving Goes Viral

With more than 65 percent of households in the U.S. having at least one pet and more than 8,700 businesses offering specialized products and services to them, according to recent data, Apps Genius Corp released its crowd funding platform, which is used to power GetFunded.com, a site devoted to the health and well being of animals.

Registered users have the ability to list their projects, including specifications and projected monetary goal, so that individual investors interested in supporting a specific cause can do so through donations. For example, a business owner could start a project to raise funds for helping spay and neuter feral cats or assisting a customer with the cost of their Rottweiler’s eye surgery.

Crowd funding sites offer a public a way to invest in ventures and causes in which they are truly interested, giving hands-on support to the individual, business, or pet in need, and receiving access to status updates or progress reports of the invested funds.

They also offer individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses a unique way to access funding they might otherwise have difficulty securing.
The platform is designed to power several specialized crowd funding websites, with GetFunded.com being the first of many planned category-dedicated crowd funding sites to be launched.

“As we move into 2013 with the launch of GetFunded, we are excited to see how this venture we are embarking upon will benefit the crowd funding community,” Adam Kotkin, Apps Genius Corp CEO, said. “The crowd funding market continues to grow and Apps Genius’ platform allows us to focus on certain underrepresented markets, where communities with specific interests can fund projects close to their hearts. Our platform is developed with the JOBS Act in mind and its possible future implementation to crowd funding sites and all the new possibilities that may open up ahead of us.”

Straight From Mother Nature

We recently talked with David Levesque of Kanberra Gel about how his product ended up in the pet industry and what is next for the company.

Q: Tell us about Kanberra, and how it works.

Levesque: Kanberra products feature a pharmaceutical-grade selection of Mother Nature’s own proven antiseptic tea tree oils, purposely blended in unique and effective forms.  In our initial product, Kanberra Gel, the blend is taken airborne through basic dissipation, allowing the oils to interact with mold, bacteria, fungi and some viruses to essentially rid the air of impurities and associated odors.
Kanberra Spray features the same unique blend, only here it’s immersed in a natural emulsifier that can be used for air and surfaces.  In fact, it’s so effective and natural, it’s safe for topical use on humans and dogs. Some of the benefits include air purification, flea and tick repellent, odor control and as a soothing wound healer.

Q: Kanberra Gel is made with Australian tea tree oil. What are some of the benefits of using it in your product?

Levesque:  For over 400 years tea tree oil has proven to have powerful, yet natural, antiseptic and anti-fungal properties. Many pet products, such as shampoos, use Tea Tree Oil in their formulas for this purpose.  At Kanberra the additional blend and innovative airborne delivery create a unique usage.

Q: Kanberra Gel was not originally made to be a “pet” product. How did you end up in the pet industry?

Levesque:  It comes as a surprise to many of our customers that Kanberra Gel was initially developed as an all-natural alternative to the harsh sanitizing chemicals used in the cleaning process of ventilation systems. We are part of a 20 year old indoor air quality company with a long history of being the largest ventilation cleaning contractor for the U.S. Navy. Kanberra was born from our desire to revolutionize this indoor air quality industry with natural solutions.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started with Kanberra Gel.

Levesque: I came to our parent company, Indoor Air Professionals, nine years ago with an extensive background in retail and direct sales and was hired to assist in our residential air quality division.  At that time, the product, which became Kanberra Gel, was unnamed and used primarily in-house for our ventilation hygiene service.
Several of us used the samples of the product in other areas, such as our cars, homes, gym bags and boats. After launching some exhaustive market research and brand development, we established the Kanberra division. Our first major bite was in the global mega-yacht industry, and we’ve been playing catch up ever since.

Q: What’s next for Kanberra Gel?

Levesque: At Kanberra we’re continuing to build our line with complementary products that utilize our unique blend of natural oils. We hope to launch 1-2 new products each year, and most, if not all, will be functional across all our major market silos, from pets to natural product retailers to marine and RVs.

Resting Responsibly

As the natural market continues to grow and expand, natural bedding has seen its segment get larger and larger.

Typically, natural bedding is made from either natural materials or 100 percent recycled materials.

Lisa Kniceley, inside sales rep for Vitakraft Sunseed, said they offer many eco-friendly and natural bedding produts.

“One of the natural products we currently offer is our Eco-bedding,” Kniceley said. “This unique, patent-pending paper crinkle is made from 100 percent recycled paper in the USA. Baking soda and Zeolite have been added for excellent odor control and absorbency. Eco-bedding is biodegradable, hypoallergenic and one of the best ever materials for rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters to use for tunneling, nesting and environmental enrichment.”

Kniceley said that eco-friendly products make environmentally conscious consumers feel confident that they are helping the environment when they purchase Vitakraft Sunseed’s Eco-bedding, which has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

“Founded in 1993, this independent, not-for-profit organization promotes responsible forest management and has earned the reputation for having the most rigorous and credible forest certification system,” Kniceley said. “By buying FSC certified products, we can all do our part to protect the world’s forests.”

CaribSea has two different types of natural bedding that are made from coconuts, the coco fresh for small animals and the coco soft for reptiles.

Their bedding products are made from coconut coir.

“Coconut coir can hold seven times its weight in water,” Jud McCracken, sales manager of CaribSea, said.  “The bedding is made differently than others. It is shredded mechanically instead of decomposed. It is a softer product.”

McCracken said the product has no environmental impact.

“It’s a waste product,” McCracken said. “There are no trees being chopped down. It’s completely natural, 100 percent safe for you to use.”

Kaytee  offers a pine small animal bedding and litter natural bedding. It’s manufactured with all-natural pine shavings, and provides an earth-friendly place for a pet to lie on and burrow in.

The natural pine oils suppress microorganisms and keep the environment clean and fresh. Earth-friendly, absorbent, and comfortable, Kaytee pine small animal bedding and litter is recommended for habitats that are open and well ventilated.

Another small animal bedding is Nodor Natural Bedding from Hartz. It is an ultra-absorbent, long-lasting cellulose fiber bedding for rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, mice and other small animals.

It controls odors from pet waste and is powered by Nodor, their odor encapsulating technology.

Petell Pet Products offers a cedar bedding that is an all natural, absorbent, biodegrable bedding. It is meant for small animals and caged birds, as it provides a soft, comfortable and clean nesting area for pets.

Even non-traditional pet brands are jumping on the natural bedding trend.

Arm & Hammer natural pet bedding helps keep an odor free home. It’s compressed to six liters but expands to 14 liters. It controls ammonia and pet odors with pure and natural Arm & Hammer brand baking soda locked into absorbent cellulose fibers. This helps cages to stay drier, pets stay cleaner and homes smell fresher.

Squeaky Clean

Just as the natural pet food and treat segments continue to grow, pet owners are taking notice of other natural products.

Doug Gleason, the president and founder of True Blue, said pet lovers are becoming more and more interested in natural grooming products.

“It first started when people wanted to relate to their pet’s food,” Gleason said. “They started to become aware of the ingredients that were being put into dog and cat food. When they started thinking that, it started to spill over to other product categories. It raised their overall idea about natural products, which led into learning about natural shampoo and natural bedding.”

He said people are just becoming more and more conscious of what’s in the product and wanting more natural products. The next level of this is combining natural ingredients with how you want them to perform.

“Some years ago when people wanted to move toward natural products, there was a tradeoff with performance,” Gleason said. “It was all right if the product didn’t do exactly what you wanted it to do, but at least it was natural. Now we are at the point where you want the product to do exactly what you want it to do, and be natural.”

One last big trend they are seeing is called natural pet health and beauty.

“Some of our products have a lot of wellness components,” Gleason said. “We not only want our pets to have a beautiful looking and smelling coat, but we want them to be healthier and prevent future issues. One example are our ear wipes. Ear infections are one of the leading causes to go to the vet. Our product won’t fix it after the fact, but it helps to ward off the infections. Clean ears are less likely to get infected. Ear wipes are a way to be a part of the preventative health regime.”

Bobbi Panter, owner of Bobbi Panter, has products that are salt free and tear free. She worked with a chemist for two and a half years to handpick the ingredients to go into her products.

“It’s kind of exciting and a little bit frustrating because you want it just right,” Panter said. “It’s really rewarding when you get the one you have been going for, when all the percentages come together.”

Her natural line includes puppy dog shampoo, moisturizing dog shampoo, soothing dog shampoo and rejuvenating dog shampoo. They all contain natural ingredients specific to that particular product. For example, the soothing dog shampoo contains tea tree oil, aloe vera gel, lavender, cucumber extract and oatmeal to help soothe and heal dry skin and fur.

Panter has used primarily one chemist to help get all the formulas perfect and to her liking.

“I started by mixing things in my own kitchen,” Panter said.

Fresh From the Farm

Mutt Nose Best Co-Owner Jenny Dwyer said they have a “Farm to Bottle” philosophy.

“Handcrafted in Maine, our signature is that we incorporate antioxidant rich wild Maine blueberries into our formulas to provide superior skin nutrition; after all, a major component of a healthy coat is healthy skin,” Dwyer said. “We went back to basics and let nature provide our palette. We source our finest ingredients from local farms, vineyards, and even the deep blue sea. We leave the Maine grown, organic oats in our itchy dog shampoos so that the dogs benefit from the soothing relief of colloidal oatmeal.

Dwyer said the movement toward more natural products for pets has taken the market by storm in the past couple of years.

Ark Naturals’ Neem “Protect” Shampoo is an environmentally friendly, gentle and non-drying formula for cleaning dirt, oil and sebum from a pet.

It can be used on dogs, cats, horses and other animals.

The active ingredient is Neem, which has been used for thousands of years by the people India, Southeast Asia and Africa. Their shampoo contains no sodium laurel sulfate.

Justin Jones of Espree said the company was built on its dedication to pets and their family of pet friendly customers to solve pets’ problems with effective, natural, wholesome solutions.

“Since 1989, it has been our uncompromised belief that simple, natural ingredients are gentler and safer for pets and owners alike,” Jones said. “One of Espree’s strengths is the breadth of product line. Espree manufactures more than 80 different pet products and 10 equine products. In addition, the products are solution oriented. Many consumers are looking for natural products that are effective and meet a specific need.”

Espree products are 100 percent organically grown aloe from the inner filament of the aloe plant. Aloe vera is the highest percentage ingredient in every Espree product.

“Aloe vera has so many benefits: It helps heal burns and cuts, has anti-inflammatory properties, is a cell regenerator, has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal effects, and rehydrates the skin and coat,” Jones said. “In addition to aloe vera, Espree utilizes natural, botanically derived ingredients proven to meet or exceed expectations such as tea tree oil, oat proteins, silk proteins, natural fruit and flower extracts and oils, jojoba and vitamins; the list is long.”

Aroma Paws’ CEO, Crystalyn Guzman, said the company has a full line of natural and organic grooming supplies.

“Some of our most popular are our shampoo and conditioner in ones, in 9 formulas to help solve common dog skin and coat issues,” Guzman said. “Our Deodorizing and Conditioning Coat Spray helps condition and freshen dogs’ skin and coat in between baths.”

Earthbath’s CEO Paul Armstrong said the company has a full line of natural grooming products for pets that is needs-based.

“We have a variety of needs-based shampoos that can solve itching and hot spots, deodorize, clean sensitive or allergic skin, kill fleas, and provide light coat brightening or extra conditioning and more,” Armstrong said. “We offer 3-in-1 between bath spritzers that deodorize, condition and help moisturize skin, all while leaving a show-quality shine.”

Armstrong said that Earthbath’s products are more about what’s not in them than what is. They put in the basics and nothing else.

Good For Me, Good For Them

As people become more concerned about eating healthily in their daily lives, they are wanting their pets to do the same, as more owners subscribe to the philosophy that what is good for them when it comes to nutrition is good for their dogs.

According to the Royal Canin’s 2013 Dog Owners Survey, 56 percent of respondents said that nutritional factors are the primary reason they pick their pet’s food, which means retail owners need to be knowledgable about the latest pet nutrition and food trends.

While a few years ago, talking about organic, grain-free, raw or even vegan pet food would have been out of the ordinary, these days it’s common lingo – and pet food manufacturers are paying attention.

Many, like Merrick, are taking a close look at what they currently offer and either reformulating or launching new products geared toward what pet owners are demanding.

Pete Brace, vice president of communications and pet parent relations for Merrick, said the company is in the process of a food revolution.
“We started it eight months ago,” Brace said. “We have relaunched our entire dry dog food portfolio. We know and understand what pet parents want.”

The new recipes are built on a new, five-star promise: to use local growers, use real whole foods, making food that is worthy of a fork, balanced nutrition and health you can see.

Using cutting-edge nutritional research, constantly reviewing supply partners and conducting quality assurance with their expert panel of dogs, Merrick has created 11 new recipes that coincide with an all-new packaging design and mark the beginning of a pet food revolution, they said.

But it’s not just dogs the company is passionate about. They launched a line of cat food and hope to bring a “food revolution” to that segment, too.

“We know that cat ownership is as passionate as dog parents are,” Brace said. “There are a lot of bi-pet households. It’s not that all or one. We think it’s important to serve both markets.”

Hills is another pet company, that recently launched a new line of natural food.

Their Ideal Balance line has no corn, wheat or soy, and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Natura Pet offers a large spectrum of natural pet foods that can fit a variety of nutritional needs.

Founded in 1992 by John and Ann Rademakers and Peter Atkins in California, they set out to answer one question, “How can we make pet food healthier?”

The result was a line of products that include the Innova, EVO, California Natural, Health Wise, Mother Nature and Karma brands. All of these are based on the company’s nutritional philosophy that  centers around six principles: Use only high-quality dog and cat food ingredients; use whole pet food ingredients that are nutrient rich and unaltered; use highly controlled cooking methods and quality checks to preserve natural levels of nutrients; use no artificial preservatives, colors or additives; formulate using pet food ingredients that provide the optimum nutritional profile for skin and coat and continue extensive testing and monitoring to assure optimal health and longevity of pets.

Going Raw

One trend that has surged in popularity is the raw food diet. In these cases the food is never cooked or baked. Many times, in the case of companies like Stella & Chewy’s, the food is frozen and freeze dried, which keeps it closer to its natural state.

Stella & Chewy’s offers a complete line of frozen, as well as freeze-dried dinners, for dogs and a line of freeze-dried dinners for cats. Their freeze-drying process maintains the vital proteins, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and natural enzymes cats need to thrive. Plus, the freeze-drying “locks in” the nutritional value, the company says.

MiracleCorp features the Stewart Raw Naturals food line, which offers complete and balanced nutrition for every state of a dog’s life. Bruce Flantzer, senior vice president, said the food is never cooked or baked.

“Raw Naturals is made of whole protein, fruit vegetables and other natural ingredients that are high in essential fatty acids, live enzymes, antioxidants and friendlily bacteria,” Flantzer said. “Heat processing degrades natural enzymes, essential vitamins and minerals, thereby providing less nutrition.”

Flantzer said as consumers become increasingly aware of the health benefits of feeding a raw diet more will covnvert to feeding raw completely or begin rotational feeding.

“The raw dog food category is a fast growing segment in the pet food industry, with projected sales to reach $26.6 billion by 2015,” Flantzer said. “Stewart has plans to add new protein recipes to their existing line, with additional serving size options as well as expanding their all natural raw frozen treats.”

Some of the benefits that Flantzer said a raw diet has is the dog will have a better skin and coat, cleaner teeth and healthier gums, better immune and cardiovascular system. A grain or gluten free diet may be the right choice for dogs with allergies.

Quality Ingredients

Many owners want their pets to be eating the same high-quality meats, grains and vegetables they are.

Sojos, which specializes in homemade all natural freeze-dried pet food, strives for that.

“The meat used in Sojos Complete recipes is “freeze dried” and raw, which is extremely rare because other shelf stable dehydrated pet food manufacturers, use “dehydrated meat”, which is technically cooked,” Maggie Johnson, owner of Sojos, said. “At Sojos, we freeze dry our own meat. Freeze drying is a moisture removal process that does not take place at high “cooking” temperatures, so we can control the outcome and ensure that the meat goes in raw and comes out raw.”

When comparing natural food to other kinds of pet foods, Johnson said retailers need to be able to speak to the nutritional benefits of feeding products that are really truly natural and healthy.

“When a pet is eating something that comes from Mother Nature which was meant to be eaten by them, then they are eating something ‘natural’ and they will thrive because the nutritional value present in the ingredients is superior,” Johnson said. “‘Regular’ pet food is commercial dry or canned pet food that is manufactured using synthetic nutrients, feed grade by-products loaded with GMOs, artificial flavorings and colorings, and preservatives. These products have traditionally been manufactured by very large companies that have spent billions of dollars convincing customers that their products are the solution when it comes to what we ought to feed our cats and dogs.”

Vegan Options

As vegan diets for people become more mainstream, there is an emerging trend to have their pets follow that same way of eating, too. For the most part, a vegan diet consists of no animal products at all, including dairy.

Halo offers a new vegan garden medley for dogs in both  dry and wet formulas. The food features plant protein from nutrient rich chickpeas and peas and contains no animal protein or fat and no dairy, but contains the same essential nutrients found in diets with meat as the protein source, the company says. In addition, there is no corn, wheat or wheat gluten and it has no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives in the food.

Since 2005, the family owned and operated V-Dog brand has been offering animal food without animal products. Based in California, the company offers premium products that are 100 percent cruelty-free.

Less Is Sometimes More

According to the American Pet Products Association’s National Pet Owners Survey of 2011-12, 89 percent of dog owners purchased treats for their dog in 2010. Of those 89 percent, 23 percent purchased natural treats, a statistic APPA didn’t keep before 2010.

As the natural trend gains popularity, companies continue to expand the lines they offer and improve their treats.

Sojos uses real whole foods in their treats to help optimize health and wellness.

“Sojos treats are all natural and baked to crunchy perfection,” Maggie Johnson, owner of Sojos, said. “Sojos Good Dog treats are tiny bones packed with the flavors of grandma’s home cooking; chicken pot pie, apple dumpling and blueberry cobbler are among the recipes offered. We also have Sojos grain-free treats; they are made with lamb and sweet potato and duck and cherry. Our big dog line is made using hardy recipes like beef stew and biscuits and gravy.”

Sojos uses a short ingredient list, and their treats are not made with sugar. Another important aspect for Sojos when gaining customers is their packaging.

“Natural pet food and treats attract consumers who want the very best,” Johnson said. “When you are offering premium quality products, ensuring that the packaging is also top-notch is part of the criteria.

“As for us, since we are using human-quality ingredients, we like to illustrate that through our packaging design.

“Our packaging designer does not mimic the pet food industry’s look and feel. Instead she like to reflect the look and feel of premium products you would find at the high end gourmet food market.”

Homemade Touches

Jesse Figueroa is the 22-year-old owner of Barkn Belly Bakery, a company he started when he was in high school, because his dog almost died from a reaction to a dog treat.

“We are a certified organic dog bakery that uses fondant to decorate our cakes,” Figueroa said. “No other dog bakery has created something like that. We use local organic or all natural ingredients. We are all about the healthy ingredients. My family and I are very into being super healthy, so why shouldn’t we do the same with our pets?”

Figueroa created all his own recipes from scratch and did a lot of experimentation with different ingredients to get the perfect flavor.

“I have been in business technically for four years now,” Figueroa said. “I started it as a hobby and I just created them for my dog originally.”

Jean McCarthy, the owner of New Hampshire-based North Woods Animal Treats, said the company bakes hand-made, small batches of all natural, human grade ingredient cookies.

McCarthy said that the natural section is as large a section of the pet industry as it is in other industries at the moment.

She said everyone wants to live healthier lives and leave a smaller footprint.

“The natural concept is here to stay,” McCarthy said. “We see it getting larger in areas in which we consume, so it will also continue to grow in the pet industry, in all kinds of areas.”

Annette Fry, the founder and chief canine confectioner of Biscuits by Lambchop, originally created the treats for her dog Lambchop, because of his dietary needs.

“I had to cook for him and balance his meal,” Fry said. “It took a couple of months until I was happy with it. I was doing the nutritional analysis for it all as I went along. I have a physical therapy background. At first I was terrified of making a mistake, but it wasn’t that hard once I got over the overwhelming-ness of my dog being sick.”

Going Mainstream

It’s not just small companies who are creating natural treats.

Pet Botanics has seen their Grain-Free Meaty Treats gain in popularity.

“A large majority of other dog food treats on the market are wheat, rice or corn based,” Barbara Denzer, vice president of marketing at Cardinal Pet, said. “The Pet Botanics Grain-Free Meaty Treats contain no grains and their number one ingredient is salmon. They come in two varieties, soft and chewy and crispy and crunchy, and contain Pet Botanics’ Botanifits, a special blend of botanicals that promote long term health, fitness and well being of dogs.”

What makes this better than other natural or non-natural products, according to Denzer?

“By using a highly palatable number one ingredient, like salmon, and by not including any grains, not only are the Pet Botanics Grain-Free Meaty Treats delicious to dogs, but they are actually formulated to be healthy for them, too,” Denzer said. “Ingredients such as salmon help provide omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and Pet Botanics’ Botanifits include green tea, cranberries, peppermint, chamomile and more, which help with everything from bladder health to aiding in digestion.”

Loving Pets has a vast variety of natural treats, like their Barksters Krisps, which are all natural, low in fat and are made using only U.S. farm-grown ingredients.

The sweet potatoes variety contain high levels of Beta-carotene, an antioxidant that supports cellular health and eyesight.

The brown rice variety offers dogs a good source of dietary fiber, which promotes digestive health and has been known to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Brown rice is also a good source of essential vitamins and minerals.

Whole Life Pet Products offers consumers freeze-dried, single-source treats, including chicken, turkey, beef and cod.

They also produces the only USDA certified organic line of freeze dried treats certified by the Oregon Tilth.

QT Dog offers a line of products specially designed for those who are looking for something natural, but also different.

For example, their ChurpiChews are made from milk, salt and lime juice and have no chemicals or perservatives.

And, it’s not just dogs and cats getting fed more natural options.

Peter’s Nature Treats from Marshall Pet are made with all natural ingredients for rabbits, chincillas, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs and other small animals. They are available in banana, papaya, carrot and apple.

ShopKeep POS Wins Award

ShopKeep POS, America’s leading iPad point of sale system for brick and mortar merchants, has been chosen as the winner of the Technology Innovator of the Year Award at this year’s Electronic Transactions Association’s  Star Awards.

The ETA Star Awards are designed to recognize companies that have made a significant difference in the payments.

“We are thrilled that ETA has recognized our innovative technology and we are excited to continue finding new ways to help our merchants succeed and grow,” Jason Richelson, founder of the company, said.