Treat Your Pet

MOSES LAKE – Gale and Danny Wilson, owners of Treat Your Pet LLC, based in Moses Lake, went on a journey three years ago making freeze-dried human grade pet treats for dogs and cats. Their products include a wide variety of treats, and they offer them at the Moses Lake Farmers Market and expanded to the Richland Farmers Market this year. Despite high costs and fluctuating prices for the products, their business is growing, with plans to add another freeze dryer to the three they currently own to meet demand.

They spoke to the Columbia Basin Herald at the Moses Lake Farmers Market on Saturday. The business idea, said Danny, sprouted after they bought freeze dryers to make fruit for their children and then began freeze-drying treats for their six dogs. When they decided to create a business, the first challenges presented themselves, most importantly licensing and Washington State Department of Agriculture approval, which took up to six months. Once that was completed, they were ready to launch their business.

After much research, they decided to start with animal organs, like chicken and beef liver and heart. "The organ meats are the most rich in nutrients and vitamins, so it's actually a healthy treat,” Danny said.

"We looked it up and we documented everything and wrote it all down, so our customers can read everything and make healthy choices for their pets," Gale added.

 The individual care and labor of making the treats is something they both touted. "We use human-grade (food), but also it's all hand-cut, it's all hand-trimmed," Danny said. "Our salmon, for instance, it's a salmon fillet, like you would purchase wild-caught salmon to make for yourself."

The salmon is mostly from Alaska, they said. What salmon they use varies depending on the seasonal runs; however, they don't use king salmon because it is too fatty, said Danny.

That sort of attention to detail is why their products are high-end and the incentive for customers to pay a premium price, he said. They have a variety of bag weights for their products ranging from 1.5 to 3 ounces. Salmon is the highest priced treat with a 1.7 once-bag costing $12 and $20 for a 3-ounce bag. 

"You'll see our (salmon). It'll be cut in different sizes and stuff, because it's all hand-done," Danny said. "I've seen salmon product in a feed store, and it was all uniform pink. There were no skins on it, so I'm assuming (it washmachine-processed. Ours is all done by hand; we cut it ourselves."

The fish treats also include tilapia and tuna, not something you'd typically find in the pet section of a grocery store but in the fish section for people. 

The list of products is varied. Danny gave a rundown of the entire product line. 

“We have three fish, we have the beef, we have heart and liver, and the chicken, we have heart, liver, and breast," he said. "And then we do sweet potato, and we do pumpkin, and we also do toppers to sprinkle on top of their kibble or cat food, and in those we do chicken liver, beef liver, goat milk, which is really good for the digestive system. We do fresh farm chicken eggs from our own chickens, high in protein, and we do pumpkin as well."

The beef liver and heart cost $8 for a small bag and $12 for a large bag; sweet potato was priced at $6 for a 1-ounce bag; the tilapia was $11 and $15 per bag, and $12 for a 2.5-ounce bag of chicken heart. They were running low on products at the Moses Lake Farmers Market that day, but people were enthusiastically buying what was on hand, with conversations lingering about the products and their benefits, and questions patiently answered by Gale.

"We found out the fish has had an omega three, so it's really good for coats and skins for your pets," Danny said. "So we started with just adding the salmon, and then later on the tuna, and a lot of it comes from people asking if we get repeat requests, and it's something that we can get and do, and hopefully make a little money on, then we give it a try."

Aside from the quality of the treats, is the freeze-drying process, offered in a sealed bag, which allows for the products to last for years unopened and up to six months or more once opened. 

"The freeze-drying process leaves over 90 percent of the vitamin nutrients in it," Danny explained. "Essentially, it's still raw, it's just easier to handle and store. So, if you put water back into it, it reconstitutes into what it originally was, just a raw piece of liver or heart or fish."

Gale works full-time operating the business. They have eight children, five are still living at home, and seven grandchildren, so Gale is very busy, Danny said. Danny assists when he can while working full-time for the Western State Dept. of Transportation.

"Right now, she's up to three freeze dryers, and it's looking like we're probably going to have to invest in at least one more just to keep up with the demand,” he said. “She has a website she created; we've got QR codes, so orders have been picking up. It's still growing, that's for sure, so I don't know what the end is, but I guess as long as we keep growing, we'll keep moving along."

They have been approached by numerous business owners to offer their product, but they've held off on that at the moment, Danny said, as they work on expanding the business at a pace they can maintain. They do offer it at CJ’s Meats and at Camas Cove Cellars winery in Moses Lake, which holds events and has a retail store.

"It's just a matter of being able to produce enough product," Danny said, "and then looking more into the profitability, because our line isn't as big as a lot of people's profit margin."

He added that he is thankful for the Moses Lake Farmers Market offering small businesses an outlet to sell their products. 

"First of all, I'm very appreciative of the Farmers Market; it's a wonderful opportunity to get our product out there," he said. "The community is extremely supportive. Just in the three years we've been here, we've seen the market grow tremendously, and I think that goes back to the community supporting small local businesses.”

For more information or to order, visit www.treatyourpetsfd.com.

Treat Your Pet products offer a variety of human grade freeze-dried treats for dogs and cats.