Like many foodies, Michelle Burt started her culinary career experimenting in her own kitchen, creating high-quality meals for family members with fresh, organic ingredients purchased from local farmers and co-ops.
But in her case, the family members were adopted “fur kids,” Clyde and Sally, Yorkie-Schnauzer mixes who Burt had picked out at the pet-adoption Web site Petfinder.com. Clyde arrived as a pup with a face to melt the sternest heart—and a failing liver. A few years later, Sally was added. In addition to a bad liver, she also had failing kidneys. Burt knew what she was getting into. “I completely believe in rescue,” she says. She set about creating wholesome, nutritious diets for her adoptees. But “when I looked at commercial dog food, there were so many additives and preservatives,” Burt recalls. “I didn’t want to feed them junk food.”
Burt began working with a veterinarian to develop some recipes that could help regenerate Clyde’s liver function. Today, the jaundiced pup is a healthy 13-year-old senior citizen. Sally, originally given a month or two to live by the vet, lasted more than a year on the same home cooking. Over time, Burt’s friends began requesting her homemade food for their pets, either because their animals also faced health problems, or because they wanted to feed them high-quality food, with ingredients they could identify (and pronounce). Word of mouth brought more customers.
In December, Burt started Well Pet Foods out of her own kitchen, a self-funded start-up. About the same time, reports came out about thousands of dogs and cats across the country getting sick and dying from what was found to be a massive contamination of pet food. Canada-based Menu Foods, North America’s largest producer of pet food (it subcontracts for numerous brands), began a recall of 60 million containers of food in mid-March. “I had started to ramp up production when this thing hit,” says Burt, whose recipes are approved by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Burt shops the farmers’ market in Prior Lake for the bulk of her ingredients to assure a wholesome, organic product. Well Pet’s frozen entrées include “Egg-ceptional Eats,” with hard-boiled organic, free-range chicken eggs, yogurt, chopped carrots, puréed pumpkin, squash, asparagus, greens, rice, oat germ, and oat bran. Burt also makes “Chicken Casserole” with organic chicken, and “Beef Well-ington” with beef purchased directly from the farm. She works with owners and vets of dogs with food allergies or sensitivities to create customized diets.
Until recently, pet stores didn’t have freezers for stocking specialty food and treats. That’s changing. Burt currently supplies Urbanimal pet stores in Minneapolis and the Lulu & Luigi shops in the western suburbs. She says her prices are comparable to those of “high-end” canned food, and adds that pet owners can mix her products with a good-quality kibble to stretch their dog-food dollar.
