With all the talk about recalls, toxins in pet food, dietary concerns, home-cooked versus BARF diets – it’s enough to make a dog owner wonder if they can ever feed their dog correctly. Many feel homemade (whether raw or cooked) is best, but what about those who just don’t have time?
There is a new company in the dry kibble industry that is out to change the way we view feeding out dog commercially made dog food: Petbrosia.
Started in 2012, passionate pet owners provide Petbrosia with specific information about their animal (cat or dog). Using algorithms developed through research from veterinarians and pet nutritionists, Petbrosia can determine a pets’ distinct nutritional needs, and creates a food blend that’s customized for each animal’s breed, age, activity level and more, delivering it straight to your door.
As for ingredients, they us all-natural meats, fruits, and vegetables grown and raised in America, and no unnecessary fillers or artificial additives.
We spoke with Keith Johnson, founder of Petbrosia to find out how he is changing the future of dry dog food.
How did you come up with the idea for a custom dog food?
I was inspired to start the company after being challenged to find proper diets for my two rescue dogs, Mickey and Rosie (Jack-Russell and Beagle mixes). Although Mickey and Rosie are brother and sister, I quickly learned that not only do they have different personalities, but different nutritional needs as well: ones was too skinny, the other overweight.
My wife, being a veterinarian, became very involved in making sure Rosie got the nutrition she needed and that Mickey wasn’t overeating. As you can probably imagine it wasn’t easy. On top of carefully measuring portions at feeding time, we even tried putting them in separate rooms during mealtime so Mickey wouldn’t steal food from Rosie!
I quickly realized the problem wasn’t with our dogs; it was with the diet we were giving them. After looking into the best food options for our dogs I quickly realized that pet nutrition is often too generalized. Many brands believe in a “one-size-fits-all” but this cannot address the health concerns of most pets. This inspired me to start Petbrosia.com, so my dogs, and others, could have proper diets that are designed for their unique health needs.
How exactly does it work? How do you know what my pet needs?
Pet owners provide Petbrosia.com with specific information about their animal (cat or dog) that details their breed, age, activity level and more. Using algorithms developed through research from veterinarians and pet nutritionists, Petbrosia.com can determine a pets’ distinct nutritional needs and recommends a food and diet plan with the optimal levels of protein, fats, carbohydrates, and caloric density, all delivered to a customer’s door. The diet can also take into account any pet food allergies and allows pet owners to select their preferred protein – free-run chicken or grain-free salmon.
Petbrosia.com updates customized blends based on the naturally changing nutritional needs of your pet’s breed and medical needs, so that a Petbrosia.com diet can serve them for a lifetime.
Is this better than a raw or homemade diet?
Not only is making your dog food expensive and time consuming, there have also been studies done on homemade dog food that have found that this option doesn’t provide dogs with all the essential nutrients they require. Our foods are formulated with purpose-drive nutrition to meet the nutritional needs of pets at all life stages.
While raw food diets can have some nutritional benefits for dogs, they do come with some risks. Petbrosia blends offer all of the same benefits of a raw food diet without the risks.
All Petbrosia diets include essential fatty acids which produce a shiny coat and healthy skin, carbohydrate sources like brown rice and sweet potato to help the animal have longer-lasting energy for playtime, real fruits and veggies for added nutrients, and prebiotics and dried kelp to aid in digestion.
Potential risks of a raw food diet include:
- Threats to human and dog health from bacteria in raw meat
- An unbalanced diet that may damage the health of dogs if given for an extended period
- Potential for whole bones to choke an animal, break teeth or cause an internal puncture
Related: Top 13 Dog Food Brands with No Recalls
Is the future of the dog food industry?
We offer a product that is not currently available in the market today in terms of its convenience, level of customization, and quality so there is no direct competition. We are committed to delivering the freshest pet food possible. Unlike mass produced and distributed pet food, we’ve greatly shortened the time between creation and delivery to maintain the highest level of nutritional value and taste.
The e-commerce model is ideal for customized pet retail products, which is why traditional pet food manufacturers and retailers are suffering or changing business models as a result. In fact, we can already see this shift with big companies, like P&G, selling its pet food divisions in Europe after selling its US pet holdings to Mars, or PetSmart acquiring ecommerce company Pet 360.
About the Author
Based in Wilsonville, Ore., animal lover Kristina N. Lotz is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) and works as a full time trainer. She is the founder of A Fairytail House, a unique all-positive all-sport dog training facility that helps rescue dogs in her area and provides free seminars and training classes for the community. In her spare time, she trains and competes in herding, agility, obedience, rally, and conformation with her Shetland Sheepdogs. She smartly married a Veterinary Technician, who helps keep the fur kids happy and healthy, and provides a quick resource for articles.
Toledo, United States.
