Natural, human food-grade nutrition for pets is most definitely a thing, ICYMI. And two local entrepreneurs, the Fur Babes, are doubling down on the true meaning of “fresh” and “small batch.”
According to the American Pet Products Association, Americans will spend a projected $157 billion on their pets in 2025, up from $103.6 billion in 2020, and a mere $90.5 billion in 2018. The Association estimates that about 48 percent of those billions is spent on pet food.
Some of the bump is no doubt a reflection of a rise of cost of goods, way before anybody was talking tariff. And many of us seem willing to spend what previous generations would have considered an absurd amount on pet food.
If you own a television, you’ve probably seen the ads which query, “You keep dog food in the fridge?” This question immediately ends the conversation, and in some cases ends more than that. The advertiser there is Freshpet, founded in 2006, which now produces several different categories of natural, human-grade pet foods under their umbrella, offering their refrigerated products in an array of national retailers, as well as through the popular subscription / delivery model.
The Farmer’s Dog was founded in 2015, and was praised by Forbes in 2019 for its business acumen. Ollie Pets jumped into the crowded space in 2016, claiming “vet-crafted,” customized, personalized in-app health recipes. Other competitors include Sundays for Dogs, Portland Pet Food Company,and Heckova. Many longer-established, more mainstream brands like Blue Buffalo also make the human-grade, all-natural ingredients claim.
And then there’s the local gourmet option.
“We taste-test everything ourselves,” says Maria Melograne, one of the co-founders of Fur Babes Gourmet Dog Treats and Charcuterie Boards, a truly “pupscale” natural, deluxe dog treat brand created by Melograne and her friend and business partner Genna Sandler Samaniego in 2023.
Like everyone we can think of, the #furbabelife was turned upside down by the fires, even though Melograne’s Altadena house was smokified but spared. “One hundred bags of our best-sellers stored in my house were ruined,” says Melograne.
Melograne adopted a new dog on January 1st, right before the fires, and it’s been a bumpy ride for the new arrival, to say the least. “We’ve all been bouncing around from place to place for several weeks,” says Melograne.
From Entertainment Industry to ‘Pupscale’ Charcuterie
As dog-lovers, the business partners who met more than a decade ago while both worked in film and television industry are philosophical, reasoning that we need our emotional support where we can find it, in our dogs, if we’re dog-people, and in each other’s empathy. The persistence required to give any entrepreneurial enterprise its wings, not to mention staying power, is evident in both Melograne, who hails from Pittsburgh, and from Samaniego, who’s from Boston.
“We worked together in production for 10 years,” says Samaniego. “Then the business changed, the strike happened. And we were eating breakfast and going to Pilates together, and as dog-people, just had the realization that it was time to do something more creative, and more rewarding.”
While Melograne masterminds the recipes, Samaniego builds the brand through design and photography. A visual merchandising standout, the Fur Babes Charcuterie boards are crafted from sustainable bamboo in two styles: one shaped like a cartoon doggie-bone, one shaped like a canine paw-print.
Nestled sweetly in the company Web site’s photos of the boards is a rosette formed of thinly sliced cucumbers. Samaniego, who’s fostering a rescue dog, says “I have to tell people, yes, dogs can eat cucumbers.” Melograne adds, “Owners need education.”
Among Fur Babes fan faves are deep-pink, pureéd beet-based heart-shaped dog cookies (a great canine Valentine, or anytime gift for a dog and its human), and other healthful dog snacks made from apples, carrots, blueberries, bananas and other vegan ingredients Melograne sources from Trader Joe’s and other markets where humans buy their food, with rolled oats versus wheat as the basis for most recipes.
Going Against the Grain
Dogs have developed the ability to digest starches, while their cousins, the wolves, cannot. Scientists think that this physiological change helped dogs evolve alongside humans, helping to cement the inter-species bond.
Wolves typically don’t consume a lot of plant matter, instead relying on prey’s protein and fat for sustenance. Dogs, on the other hand, have become more adaptable, and do benefit from small amounts of dietary fruit and veggies for vitamins and fiber, although neither canid is a true omnivore like ourselves. It’s fair to say that 30+ millennia of warming up by our human hearths and campfires and trotting beside us as we hunt have shaped dog identity in physiological terms, and perhaps they have become a bit more accustomed to our culinary preferences as well.
But lately (as in, since about 1980), humans have come to view grains, once the so-called “staff of life,” as the enemy of health and, above all else, slenderness. In the Paleo-Atkins-Keto camp, many nutritionists agree, especially when it comes to the two major “white poisons:” ultra-refined white sugar and ultra-refined white flour.
But is wheat actually bad for dogs? It can be, but not for the reasons you may expect. Remember that according to the American Kennel Club, wheat gluten is 80 percent protein and is 99 percent digestible, with “…an amino acid profile similar to meat proteins.”
Some humans align with the leaky-gut syndrome theory in their own eating, believing that GMO grains cause tiny fissures in the gut lining, resulting in a flurry of unpleasant autoimmune responses, and then extend this concern to what they feed their pets. Less popular grains like barley, oats, millet and quinoa are less likely to be genetically modified than wheat.
Grains also got a deserved bad rap in pooch circles in 2007 when a supply of imported wheat gluten was spiked with melamine — an industrial chemical used to make plastic — to boost protein-level readings. Pet foods containing the contaminated gluten were recalled, but not until pets had died as the result of kidney failure from eating them.
But the real reason that your wheat-based pet food may be kicking up allergic reactions including itching, skin irritation and respiratory problems is not the wheat. It’s the storage mites. Mites are eight-legged arachnids, like spiders and scorpions. Storage mites (Lepidoglyphus, Tyrophagus, Glycyphagus, and Acarus) are almost microscopic.
These despicable specks thrive on cereals, flour, other grains and dry pet food, and consuming trillions of these mites and their teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy mite poo over time can set Rover to scratching. Mitigation tips include washing food and water bowls daily, and keeping the floor area around pet’s feeding station clean and vacuumed. Completely eliminating grains can be a solution, while being vigilant about tightly sealing storage containers holding dry kibble, nibbles and snacks is another.
“All options create issues,” says Melograne. “Including raw and vegan options.”
Melograne says “I’m second-generation Italian, so food is love. My mother was an amazing baker, and since she’s passed away, I feel I’m channeling my mom, so it’s really enjoyable.” Melograne and Samaniego are in the kitchen once a week. Samaniego packs while Melograne bakes, producing an average of 100 bags a day of eight to 10 pieces per bag.
The duo taste-test every product on their own dogs, and also taste them themselves as part of the process. With Elvis-ready flavors including banana-peanut butter and bacon-cheddar, that’s no hardship. Many of the snacks are shaped like hearts, and paws, and Fur Babes creates recipes in tune with the calendar by using seasonal ingredients. Doggie “gingerbread” is a holiday favorite.
Their dream is a storefront with a kitchen in back, but the Fur Babes aren’t sold on the idea of scaling up and going huge since doing so would limit their creativity and diminish the quality of the fresh product. For now, they create deluxe custom-orders for “Bark” Mitzvahs and delight in meeting dogs and their humans at local events around the greater Los Angeles area. They regularly contribute (“Cash, not dog treats,” clarifies Melograne) to reputable local pet rescues including Hit Living Foundation because, says Melograne, “When I was a kid, dogs were pets. Now they’re family.”
Samaniego says, “I really want our story to encourage people to take a chance on the unknown, and to take a chance on themselves. A lot of people don’t do what they truly want to do because they’re afraid. It’s human to be afraid, but great things can happen if you do it anyway.”
Melograne adds, “Once you find joy, it’s hard to leave.”
