Winners' Stories - Eden Dog Food
In a series of Blogs we turn the spotight on some of the recent winners of our first eDogAdvisor awards and find out more about how their business started and what it means to be an award winner. This time it's Eden Dog Food, winner of Best Dog Food, owned by Paul and Carol Conquest.
The story of Eden Dog Food begins with two people Carol and Paul, who started their married life together in 1997. After a short time Carol started to become ill, “I was lethargic and tired all the time with no energy at all, my joints ached and were puffy”. After 7 years of visits to doctors and specialists Carol was finally diagnosed with Lupus, an auto-immune disease which had serious detrimental effects on her health and her life in general.
Concerned about his wife Paul studied nutrition at Manchester University to try and help with his wife’s disorder. It was during his studies that he discovered a simple change in diet could have a huge effect in health in general and, under his advice, Carol switched to a clean, healthier diet. The affects this had on Carol’s health were astounding and Carol quickly began to not only recover from her disorder, but soon began to thrive as well, “The change in me was incredible. From having no energy whatsoever, even to carry out even normal daily tasks to now having energy that goes through the roof. I can run rings around my adult kids now!”
The recovery of Carol was the prelude to the founding of Eden Holistic Pet Foods, however the company wasn’t formed until both Carol and Paul (both of whom have always had a deep and close relationship with animals) lost three of their dogs to tumours. Needless to say the loss of their beloved pets deeply affected them both. Carol in particular was extremely hurt by the loss of one of their dogs – a Maremma Sheepdog named Lottie. “I slept with her for her final two weeks, massaging her with aromatherapy oils (we are both qualified Aromatherapists) with soothing music on and cried myself to sleep every night knowing that our very resilient, intelligent, feisty and independent girl was soon going to leave us, and she did”.
It was after this devastating loss that both Paul and Carol began to seriously look into what it was exactly they were feeding their dogs (which was a well-known and supposedly top quality brand name at the time). However it wasn’t until a conversation with their local vets that they discovered the ‘Ancestral Diet’. The principle was very simple; feed your animals what they would have historically eaten in the wild. “Both cats and dogs are carnivores and, although selective breeding means that they do not look like their wolf and wild cat ancestors, they share 99.9% of the mitochondrial DNA. In other words, from a nutritional perspective, todays pets and their wild ancestors require similar food”.
Armed with this new concept (and drawing up their own personal experiences with eating the wrong foods) the owners decided to make their own food for their pets, one that was completely free of all the harmful ingredients that were present in their previously fed food. Working with animal nutritionists and vets, the aim was to make a dried complete food that mirrored the biologically aligned "Ancestral Diet" of their pets, whilst using the very best nutritionally aligned ingredients.
As it had been with Carol; the effects of feeding Eden to their pets soon became apparent as their dogs health began to quickly improve, their appearances and moods improved and they were soon getting constant compliments about their state and health of their dogs, as well as being asked “what do you feed?
From there the company began to snowball. What first began as selling to neighbours and friends had become a fully staffed company of dedicated enthusiasts that now ships the food to stores and owners all over Britain, and even to a few select international countries. Naturally as the company has grown it has found itself needing to expand and change. Initially when Eden started it only had the one formula, now two more have been introduced and in the future we hope to have more formulas available. We are also exploring the possibility of expanding our products range with market leading ingredients and innovative ideas, as well as other products. All of these ideas are a little daunting, however it is our primary goal to be able to offer quality products that are suitable for all pets, so that Eden can help improve the lives and health of as many animals as we can.
It is not just new food that is changing within the company. For the first time Eden is managing to make regular appearances at many champ and agility shows throughout the year and we have been able to sponsor a few of shows and competitors in the country “It has been very exciting to be able to take these steps as a company, and it is also wonderful to be able to meet many of our customers in person and hear in person about their own experiences using Eden”.
As well as shows we have also been able to sponsor many agility competitors as well as several well deserving charities; such as the Rottweiler Welfare Association and Huskies in Need.
Naturally winning the eDogAdvisor award has meant a lot. It was hugely gratifying to hear all the wonderful reviews that we got from many of our loyal customers and to know that our hard efforts are helping pets all over the country. Since Eden has pioneered the way in 2011 there has been an general improvement of foods on the market, however it is both humbling and gratifying to know that Eden is still seen as the best by many people. It is something we’ve worked very hard to achieve and the feedback has made our journey truly worthwhile.
For more information on Eden Dog Food please visit the following:-
Website - http://www.edenpetfoods.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EdenHolisticPetFoods/?fref=ts
Twitter - https://twitter.com/EdenPetFoods
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