I’ve been feeding real food to my pets for almost 20 years. Like most pet owners who go down this path, I found my way to this approach because of a pet with health problems.

In my case, the pet was Max, my Old English Sheepdog. Although he was only 10 years old, Max was so arthritic that he could barely stand up. After trying everything that Western veterinary medicine had to offer, I turned in desperation to a naturopathic vet.

Keep in mind, this was quite a while ago and naturopathic medicine was somewhat unusual for humans, let alone for pets. But I was willing to try anything.

As I now would expect, the first question the vet asked me was what I was feeding my dog. I proudly stated “the green bag stuff from Costco”, which at the time I thought was pretty good stuff. The vet wagged his finger and tsk-tsked me, explained the connection between nutrition and health, and gave me a few articles to read. More importantly, the vet gave me recipes for healthy dog food to make for Max, and told me to come back in a month.

At the end of the month on his new home-made healthy food, Max was a new dog – walking around pain-free as if he had never been ill. At the same time, his brother Casey also switched to the new food, and his chronic skin problems cleared up. Needless to say, I became a believer.

Like most pet owners who discover the benefits of feeding fresh food, I told all my dog-owning friends about it. And like most other pet owners who’ve tried to “spread the word”, I got the same response, “I get what you’re saying, but I don’t have time to cook for myself, let alone my dog.” For most people, purchasing the meals in a store was cost-prohibitive, unless they were either wealthy or had a small dog.

About six years ago, I was looking for a change in my career (having had my fill of corporate life), and decided to take on the challenge of figuring out a way to overcome the two obstacles that stopped people from feeding fresh food – convenience and affordability. I decided to begin making the meals and delivering them directly to our customers’ homes, bypassing the retail middlemen. The formula worked.

The rest, as they say, is history. It’s been a great experience – more rewarding than I could have ever hoped for. We’re feeding thousands of dogs these days (and quite a few cats), and have customers in every state in the country. Every week we get letters from customers telling us how we changed their life by helping their pet enjoy better health. For me, there are few feelings in life better than knowing that we’ve been able to have that kind of impact on peoples’ (and pets’) lives.

And Max? He lived for another five years to the ripe old age of 15. In a very real way, he’s changed not only my life, but that of thousands of other dogs (and their owners) as well.