Fangs & Fur

Good morning, Tri Village Chamber Partnership. This is Dave Polakowski, the president and CEO of the village chamber. And this morning I am here with Danielle and Anthony Santilli. Did I say that correctly? You did? Yes. Yes. From things and first. So I think they are married and have known each other for a little bit. Correct. That is correct. Yes. Confirming. Yes. OK, yeah. They did both look at each other like we hit a pause. So. Yeah. What do we say exactly. What do we say.

So tell me about you guys. Tell me about how we got to things and further and just I mean because we've done several things together and it's really an exciting concept to me. But yeah, absolutely. I'll start. So my name is Danielle. Beside me is my husband Anthony. So him and I met in Seattle. We lived on the West Coast for eight or 10 years, I don't know, a long time. And when we had gotten together, he kept on.

I had a little dog and he had the dog and he kept on saying, oh, you know, you should really switch her to Roddy. And I said, what is what does that even mean? So we made the transition, did wonders for my dog, and he'll get into kind of the benefits and all of that. But when we are in California, he kind of spoke and said, my dream would be to make this a store, make this a concept out here. And that did exist in California. Life happened. We had our second child.

And with that, we decided he's from Columbus, Ohio. His family did a great job in encouraging us to come back here, to be near family, to help us with our kids. And he said, if we're going to do this, like I'm going to open this store. So I'm like, OK, let's do it. So fast forward. We've been here for two years. We just opened things. And for last year, February twenty twenty, we are a family owned business and I will pass it over to my wonderful husband to kind of explain the concept.

But I will just say that we are not your typical pet food store. No or not. So this idea started, I guess, about ten years ago with my dog Mozi and when I got him as a puppy, I got him in Bellingham, Washington, so kind of close to the Canadian border in Washington and he just had all kinds of issues, just cannot digest his food whatsoever.

We tried all different kind of diets from avocado based, not vegan, but like avocado based kibble to the prescription diet, which is like one hundred dollars for, you know, a bag of food, which is ridiculous. For what what's inside of it is I soon learn, learn from. Buthe just couldn't do it. He would even touch that food. And so it was just a it was a learning process. And I remember I walked into a really cool pet store out in Seattle.

And the lady that was working there was like, well, if you had a pet snake, what would you feed it? You know, I was like, I guess like a mouse or something like that. She's like, yes, why wouldn't I wouldn't you, you know, feed a more appropriate diet, your dog? And that's when it kind of clicked to me. Oh, yeah.

Like our dogs are our carnivores and we've kind of been, you know, brainwashed over the years, actually, post-World War Two, that, you know, our dogs are supposed to be eating this this Kibler, this extremely processed food. But when you look at the numbers, you look at the statistics of what's happened since the development of KeBAL post-World War Two, we diabesity has skyrocketed. Obesity has skyrocketed. The cancer rate, we've gone from one percent to over 60 percent, 60 years.

Dogs actually know the most cancer species on the planet. And, you know, it's our belief that that's a large part of that is due to the diet. Just like if we were eating McDonald's three times a day, every single day for, you know, our whole entire lives, we'd be we'd be in bad shape. So this idea kind of I've been wanting to do it for a long time. I want it to be different in most pet stores. We don't have you know, you don't walk in and it's just, you know, stacks of dry, processed pet food.

It's a row of four double door freezers with, you know, fresh fruit in there and then some locally dehydrated food. There was source here in Ohio, but it's just a whole different concept. It's just it's a really welcoming vibe when you walk in the door. And our big thing is education. So just making sure there's a lot of misinformation out there. We work with a couple of veterinarians here in Columbus as well who are huge proponents of raw food.

And it's it's it's really cool to be a part of this this kind of movement right now, because it's a it's a it's a huge portion of the pet food market right now is raw food. It's growing really fast because people are starting to see the data. The anecdotal evidence is really clear. I mean, when you start feeding your dog species of.

For every diet or your cat, dogs are facultative carnivores, cats, ugly carnivores, you start feeding them the appropriate diet also and you start seeing all the benefits from from team to tail. And so it's fun to be a part of it. And we love educating people. You walk in, you kind of know our thing is education and getting, you know, just getting the right information into your hands so that you can make an educated decision on how to feed your dog.

And so so with the products that you're providing, are they outside vendors? Do you guys work with someone to create and come up with the different products that you have? A little bit of both. So we are a retailer, so we partner with all of the big broad brands that we believe in. But then we've also partnered with a girl on a Madinah who does are dehydrated treats and some frozen duck necks. So, you know, again, local community is huge because we are local.

So supporting anyone that we can with that. We even have a girl who is 12 years old, a student at Grandview or in Grandview, and she has started to make dog treats as well. So we brought her in. She reached out to us. But yeah. So a little combination of both. Yeah. And the companies we you know, we have in this store, we've we've researched quite a bit and they all have really good reputations here, all extremely safe. And they've all been around for a while.

And you can read the ingredients on the box and know exactly what it is. Yeah. And you know, the diets we sell, the raw food diets they're trying to meet. You know, our dogs and cats have been eating their ancestral diet for about ninety nine point ninety nine percent of their evolution. They have been eating kibble for I think it's like one point zero zero zero one percent know. So it's this is food that they've been eating for millennia and thriving off of for a very long time.

Soit's really cool. I can see every day people come in and just absolute amazement that their dog or cat is like a whole different animal after a couple of weeks of eating their food. But yeah, anyway, so we get, you know, so and a lot of the stuff that we partner with Lauren Vecsey does who does grow is going to grow pet food and or pet health. And she gets all these well their their body parts and animal parts from from all over mostly northeastern Ohio.

But what's really cool about what she does is she's actually you know, these animals are being raised for human consumption and there's parts that humans don't want, for example, you know, necks or feet or chicken. Next, you can feed things like that that are really beneficial for dogs and cats. I mean, they're like nature's toothbrushes, a really awesome balance of calcium and phosphorus college. And, of course, I mean all those things in there.

So we're able to utilize those kind of leftovers so you don't go to waste. So and you talked about transitioning your pet. How do you transition your pet from this? You know, the typical, I guess we can say food to what you guys are providing. Yeah, I you know, I always tell people, like, you don't have to go. I mean, obviously, my my recommendation is for, you know, but I always tell people, even if you did a quarter raw food, there's so there's so many studies and so much research coming out.

Now, there's one out of Helsinki University of Helsinki in Finland. Dr. Borkman interview with Walkman and her team of veterans have been doing a long term study on raw fish pets compared to to get well fed pets. And they did a little breakdown. They actually fed. So there's kind of four categories of raw dogs are fed raw through this data on raw food. Dogs are fungible. That went to raw food dogs and went from raw food to kibble and then kill it. And they don't kill.

You know, it's cool because what they found was that the dogs that were eating raw food full time had a ten times decreased amount of homocysteine in their bodies, which is a disease marker. So they had ten times less of that in their body than the dogs are feeding kibble. And then the dogs that went from kibble to raw had a five times decrease when they went to raw food.

So essentially what they found out was that twenty five percent, if you did well, about a quarter of the diet, raw, fresh food, it's going to have a huge impact on not only their decreasing their chance of illness and disease, but also increasing longevity. So I always tell people like even if you just start with a little bit. A little bit, because long way, if you're eating McDonald's every day and you said, you know what, I'm going to take out one meal and switch it up with like a whole four.

Salad, obviously, is going to have a huge impact, so transition, you know, it's every food, every dog differently. There's no cookie cutter approach to it. I think that, you know, the owner usually knows their dog the best. I usually kind of go with, you know, if it's if it's a healthy animal and pretty young, middle aged young, I'm like, well, let's just do a cold turkey. It might have some loose stools, but that's you know, that's pretty normal.

If it's an older dog or a sensitive dog, which is do one quarter of food for a few days, once everything's good, schools are good. We do half and half do that for a few days or being good three quarters and one quarter and then four off. So but yeah, we just move at the owners pace and at the dog's pace. Gatsby's gas can take a little longer. They're their imprimatur. So they want whatever they had as kittens.

It's hard to get them off of it, unfortunately, because cats are they need moisture in their diet. There's one thing I can really drill home today is get moisture into your dog or cat bowl. So but yeah, well, and that's the thing, because I think, Danielle, you were we talked about this. You were in the hospitality industry, both of you guys, and you got here today because of your research and your pet. So, yeah, I've done a lot of it's done a lot of online courses and certifications.

I'm actually doing a certification right now for my canine nutrition certification through the Animal Institute Science Institute in Canada. But, yeah, it's just it fascinates me. It's like I just learned it's like the more it's one of those things and we learn about it, the more you learn it, you need to learn more. And so and it's it's it's been really helpful. There's a lot of like minded people out there, too. And I was kind of worried about coming to Columbus.

And I can say this because I'm for America. We're kind of behind the times a little bit. Sometimes it takes a while. You know, a lot of people on the West Coast are already feeding. Most of them are feeding raw food or at least a portion of raw food. And but sometimes it takes a little we're kind of lagging here a little bit. And I was worried about partnering with vegetarians here for the same reason. And still, you know, we've we've gotten some.

Flak from that, but for the most part, it's been really positive working with some awesome veterans who have done their research and that's the important thing is, is, you know, at the end of the day, vets are awesome people and they do some great work and they have a ton, ton of knowledge when it comes to, you know, treating the ailments and illnesses. But nutrition is something completely different and there's not a whole lot of training they're on on their part.

So partnering with veterans who have taken the time to do their due diligence and do their research and then, you know, not just take in the propaganda fed to them from, you know, all these big box cable companies. So it's been it's been fun. Yeah. So what's your biggest selling, most sought after item? This is probably the milk we sell raw milk, which is a good it's kind of like the gateway drug, if you will, to our raw food. It's superior. It's really palatable to dogs like it.

I mean, also, you know, you have to imagine stores getting the same kibble every day, this dried process, you know, processed food, it's cooked three times over at three and fifty degrees. And it's it's there's no enzymes. There's no probiotics. It's just it's just a bag of corn, essentially. And now you're introducing this, you know, this high moisture food in there. But what's really cool about it is it's really, really bioavailable to them because it's raw. It's not it's not pasteurized.

This doesn't lactase in there the breakdown of lactose. So like a lot of people who have a lactose intolerance, watching raw milk without any issues, the protein and fat molecules are really small, making it really bioavailable. But what you're doing is you're getting moisture, you're adding enzymes and you're adding probiotics. So probiotics obviously really good for their gut. Good health is the base of health, really. And so you're adding that did the enzymes. There's no food there.

Sorry, there's no enzymes in there. Processed food and kibble because it's all it's cooked out of there. And so what happens is their pancreas is now forced to produce these enzymes, but we start seeing health issues around six to eight years of age in dogs because all of a sudden they're Pincus's. I can't do this anymore. You know, I give up like, you know, I've been doing this for six years, seven years, eight years. You know, we as humans, we get enough fresh food.

We get enzymes naturally in our diet, but they're just eating straight processed foods. So we had to go into your adding the enzymes and help them break down the food and assimilate the nutrients better. So that's probably the biggest selling because even even people feeding dry food can that is something as small as that can be extremely beneficial. So so what about the wet food that's out there, like the patties and the shredded? Because that's what my cat and dog. Yeah, I know.

I've tried and I got to keep trying more with you guys to get them to the healthier side. But it depends on what food, honestly. But I do like that there's at least moisture in there. Yeah. I mean, and that's that's important, especially for cats. I mean, like I said, cats are being obligor is really cool about cats, is they've all evolved from desert dwelling cats. It's a desert dwelling. Cats evolved to get their moisture from their food or prey animals, about seventy five percent moisture.

So there's not a whole lot of water source out in the desert. So they've evolved naturally to get their moisture from their food. So when we developed kibble, we started seeing all kinds of issues and we still do. I mean, juvies, stones and crystals and urinary tract infections and kidney disease and all these things happen because there's no moisture in their food. So, yeah, Canford is definitely a step above KeBAL, in my opinion.

But they're still they still put a lot of carbohydrates into the food and sourcing. Sometimes the sourcing is as sketchy as well. But what we really want to get away from is, is carbohydrates. So there's no dietary requirement, is no absolute dietary requirement for carbohydrates, for dogs or cats. And so they're extremely, extremely inflammatory, just like they are for us, even more so for them and really bad for their health.

And that's the thing is, you know, kibble is about 50 to 60 percent carbs. So you're feeding 50 percent sugar, everything. You're just feeding information. You're feeding yeast, you're feeding cancer. And cancer feeds on sugar. And so it's just it's an extremely inflammatory diet. So, yes, I do like the cat food better than to kill, but yeah, they're good. With all that being said, though, I do, we want to make it clear that things infers an inclusive place.

We it's a safe space. There's no shaming. There's no judging if if that is what is within your budget or whatnot of feeding the kibble. I think our main thing is because we are so passionate about this, it's just the education, but trying goat's milk or we have treats or we have CBD, we have leashes, collars. So again, I think.

That it's just important to know that you don't have to go all in on this, but let us help you guide you in some other alternatives that maybe just didn't even know about, because, like I said, I had my foxe for four, six years and I had no idea that this even existed. My veterinarian never explained anything like this. It was the food, the dry food that was outside that, you know, she was trying to sell to me. So knowledge is power.

And I think that that's important to know that, you know, you may not even know that this exists. So that's what we're here for. So final words. I mean, one, feel like you give a damn. But, you know, and it's funny, you talk about the carbs. I think that's our problem as humans, too. Trying too hard. They're hard to get away from it. They're everywhere. They're extremely accessible. It's easy. They're delicious.

You know, it's it's it's tough in a lot of dogs and cats are now addicted to, well, the sugar. Sometimes it's really easy to transition a dog. Well, usually a dog to raw food. Sometimes it's difficult because they're so used to they're called junkies. All right. So like, they want all those cards and they spray that kibble with a bunch of pelton's like to make it extremely more palatable. So, yeah, it's kind of what we're up against.

But yeah, that's like my dog and they don't like they have kibble for a snack on occasion. Yeah. But they want their pet in the wet food. Yeah. They turn their nose up at everything else so hopefully we can get this going. So I think final words for me would just be now that you heard this and maybe it piqued some curiosity, come and check us out or call Anthony. He's amazing. And like, his brain literally impresses me on a daily basis. So that for you, that's about it. That stops.

It stops. They're not. So talking about kids and everything, we have to I know that much, but. Yeah, so. So he's super passionate. Of course we are. You know, we want to make this community healthy and bring knowledge. So it's worth the conversation and it's worth knowing what is out there and what's available to make your pet thrive, not just survive. Yeah, that was part of our business model was really to to educate pet owners on how to properly feed their dog or cat.

But also, it goes beyond that. I had a conversation with a girl that came in to shop the other day. She's like, you know, out there seeing what's happened to both my dogs after transitioning to a fresh food or raw food diet. Like she's like my my boyfriend. And I started looking at what we're eating and like we've also started, you know, taking care of our bodies better and working out more and making sure we're eating right and exercise in moving.

So it's kind of our model was kind of to build a stronger community that in that way. And it's actually it's cool because it's happening. So. Right. Address where you guys look at it. Seventeen, twenty four and Northwest Boulevard. So we are at the corner of Chambers and Northwest. It's called the wedge apparently. Oh, it's the shape of a wedge. It's right across in the Crispy Cube and Kroger Burger down in Grandview.

So you can find us on Instagram at things and for pets, find us online things for dotcom Facebook. Don't know our number, but put your email info at Fang's for dotcom. It is perfect. Yeah. So so again, we're Anthony and Danielle Santilli. Yes. And thank you. So thank you. This has been great. Yeah. Appreciate it. And we'll have to follow up some. Maybe we'll get someone to follow through that we can track them down. So because, um, we're here for anything you need.

All right. Thanks so much for being here. Talk to you soon.