Interestingly, pets seem to follow the health patterns of their owners. Thus one of life’s realities has been an increasing sensitivity to allergens in both humans and their pets. This irritating problem has spawned an opportunity for pet food companies to make food for dogs and cats that are free of long-standing fillers, grains and gluten.

But RedMoon, a Canadian company, goes beyond just the issue of allergies, creating and mass marketing a line of custom pet food for dog and cat owners who want to mix up a special formula that meets the specific needs of their animal. The company says it has figured out a way to produce small batches of pet food with specialized equipment, much like “a microbrewery for pets where quality and taste are the goal, not producing large volumes.”

RedMoon’s custom pet food isn’t just for health-conscious pet owners – it also represents one company’s fight against the one-size-fits-all approach of mass produced pet food.

Why hasn’t one of the big brand pet food manufacturers thought of this? They have, but only to a point. A number of companies offer pet food products that follow animals’ life stages, or address specific health issues, but RedMoon says its approach is different, because it is “crafting each individual bag of pet food only once it’s been ordered.”

And ordering is really simple, even though the process of creating custom pet food is complex. On the company’s website, a customer who owns a dog, for example, first selects a “base formula” of high, medium or low protein (two flavors are available), and then selects an “energy level” that matches the animal’s life stage or activity. The customer picks a bag size and kibble size, adding two free supplements as a bonus. (Additional supplements are available at an extra cost.) The customized bag of food is then shipped to the customer, free of charge. A similar process takes place with cat owners.

Founder Jason Bailey, who launched the company last February, says he worked for other pet food companies and, just like any consumer, became frustrated because he couldn’t find the perfect mix. “Most pet foods out there are created on a bell curve so they are made to look after most pets 90 percent of the time,” says Jason. “And we saw a real opportunity to look after individual pets.”

It took over two years and a cash infusion of $700,000 from AVAC Limited, a Calgary not-for-profit investment firm, for Bailey to get the business up and running. Ross Bricker, president and CEO of AVAC, says, “This investment recognizes the convergence of two major North American trends: Double-digit growth in premium natural pet food sales, and an over 10 per cent per year growth in Internet purchasing.” Since the company’s launch, RedMoon has expanded from a single Canadian production facility in Crossfield, Alberta to another facility in the U.S. (Brainerd, Minnesota).

As for building the brand, RedMoon just made two moves designed to raise awareness. First, it agreed to sponsor the upcoming “Cesar Millan Live Canada Tour.” Millan is the internationally known “Dog Whisperer” who has written numerous best-selling books and stars in his own weekly television series on the National Geographic Channel.

Second, RedMoon started a tongue-in-cheek campaign announcing it had hired a talking Boston terrier named Rex who “had suddenly developed the ability for human speech” which, he suspected, had something to do with eating RedMoon custom pet food.

“This food is so good, after eating it for a month, I began to experience a change,” Rex says. “So I sat my human down and got him to shoot a video on his handheld so I could tell the whole world what every dog and cat owner needs to know – ‘this stuff is supercharged.’” Needless to say, Rex has his own website. However, “RedMoon scientists note that they cannot guarantee that other canines and felines consuming their products will develop the power of speech.”

With the Cesar Millan sponsorship and a talking spokesdog, RedMoon should be well on its way to garnering attention for its fledgling brand. Obviously, the company would like pet owners to believe that, when it comes to pet food, their dogs and cats never had it so good.

Barry Silverstein has been a frequent brandchannel contributor since 2007. He has thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and is currently a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He founded and ran his own direct marketing agency and held executive positions with Epsilon, a leading database marketing firm and Arnold, a major ad agency. Silverstein is the author of three marketing books, including the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand, which he co-authored with Arnold CEO Fran Kelly.