The success of Annamaet Dogfoods includes a Rob factor, as shown in the above equation. Mr. Downey came to work as a graduate student in my laboratory, testing commercial dogfoods on the University of Pennsylvania Racing Beagles. He was a good student for eight months every year, but went sleddog racing for the other four months. He won a few races, my abiding friendship and a substantial knowledge about feeding dogs.

Our research was sponsored by a company that suffered a change in management and ceased its support, leaving Rob with an incomplete degree and no source of funding. I suggested that he try his hand in the dog food business -- the time was ripe. The easy route to take would have been to start a distributorship but no existing products could match the foods we had been developing. Instead, Rob decided to create his own dogfood.

A stellar specialty petfood company had asked me to develop a formula that was, at least on paper, scientifically superior to any dogfood on the market. The formula was rejected because, according to the company's marketers, it was too expensive to be profitable. It wasn't too expensive for Rob, however, who was willing to get by with a margin too slim for a larger company -- in part by minimizing marketing costs. He used this formula as a basis for his own dogfood.

From the beginning, the founding principle of Annamaet was the desire for a superior product that would appeal to dog lovers who would perceive a dogs' response to its diet.

We found a custom manufacturer who had an excellent reputation. The trial run produced a product that looked good, smelled good and utterly bombed when offered to the Downey Racing Sleddogs. They didn't like it and it didn't like them. My science had failed. This is where Rob came in -- he fiddled with the percentages of ingredients and changed the cooking times, temperatures and pressures, until both the mixture was right and the cooking was right. Most importantly, the sleddogs approved of the final product. The first batch of Annamaet 32-20 [Ultra] was born.

This dry product, Annamaet 32-20 [Ultra], has been fed as the sole source of nutrients to racing sleddog teams. This equates to between one and one and a half pounds of food a day -- as much as twice maintenance intake. Even the best of the other dry dogfoods that we had tested should not be fed above one and a half times maintenance to hard working dogs. For most, about three quarters of a pound of maintenance intake is enough, and the extra food needed to support hard work should be supplied as meat and fat. Whether used as part of or all of the diet, Annamaet 32-20 [Ultra], remains unrivaled as the dry food basis of a hard working dog's ration.

The racing dog is not the only one that benefits from the use of Annamaet 32-20 [Ultra]. The expecting female should start receiving this superior food when she is halfway through pregnancy and should also receive it throughout lactation. When moistened, Annamaet 32-20 [Ultra] is an ideal creep feed for weaned puppies that are replacing milk teeth and have sensitive mouths. It should be fed dry to the pup from the time it has its permanent teeth until it reaches its desired mature weight.

Upon reaching maturity, a dog's weight may be easier to control with a less potent food. Other Annamaet products were developed for dogs that are not dealing with the racer's edge and other higher stress activities. Annamaet 26-12 [Extra] was also designed with active dogs in mind while Annamaet 23-10 [Adult] was designed for less active dogs with slower metabolisms.

After 40 years of work in Nutrition and Veterinary Medicine, I have a genuine faith in the value of science in improving the quality of life for people and their pets. My experience with Annamaet has taught me that something more than science is often necessary to obtain desired results. Art and craft still account for a substantial part in the creation of a superior dogfood -- this is one of the places where Annamaet Dogfood stands out.

David S. Kronfeld, DVM, PhD, DipACVN, DipACVIM
The Elizabeth Clark Professor Emeritus of Nutrition
University of Pennsylvania