20 Years of Bringing Out The Best

It all started with one simple question, what would a dog instinctively choose?

Twenty years ago, our founder didn’t set out to create a pet food company, he was simply trying to do right by one dog. His own. A retired police dog who'd spent his working life giving everything he had, and deserved the very best in return.

That search for better nutrition led back to something simple: look at what pets would eat in nature, and build from there. High in meat. Minimally processed. Made with only what they need, and nothing they don't. Using premium New Zealand ingredients, because if you're going to do it, you do it properly.

That belief became K9 Natural. And it's the same belief that's carried us through two decades, half a million bowls, and supporting pet parents around the world to give their pets the very best in nutrition.

Twenty years, one belief

A lot has changed since that first bag of food. What hasn't changed is the foundation behind it, that pets thrive when they're fed the way nature intended.

Along the way, that belief has pushed us to do some firsts. We were one of the first to pioneer freeze-drying for pet food, a way of locking in raw nutrition that is easy and convenient without the mess of raw. We became the first New Zealand pet food company to send freeze-dried nutrition out into the world. We brought the same high-meat philosophy to cats with Feline Natural, because cats deserve the best nutrition just as much as dogs. We rebuilt what a can of wet food could be, stripping out the gels and the fillers. And we have kept adding ways to make feeding well simple with our Boosters, Treats and Pouches ranges, all without compromising on our core belief.

Holding ourselves to high standards has always been part of who we are, whether that's the food we make, the ingredients we source, or the impact we have beyond pet nutrition. Most recently, that commitment earned us certified B Corporation status. A milestone we are incredibly proud of. It means the way we run this business, how we treat our people, our planet, and the pets we make food for has been held up against a rigorous, independent standard. And it's held up. Because for us, bringing out the best has always meant thinking beyond the bowl - about people, the planet, and the pets behind every scoop.

Inspired by nature, crafted our way

Every recipe we make starts with the same questions: what would this animal choose for itself, if it could? Is this best for the animal? Not what's cheapest to produce or what looks good on a label, but what a pet’s body actually needs, going all the way back to what it would hunt, forage, or find in the wild.

That's why our food is high in quality meat and why processing is kept to a minimum. Why every ingredient earns its place, and nothing is in there just to bulk things out. Why so much of it starts here in New Zealand; grass-fed, free-range, ocean-farmed, sourced from land and water we trust, with the standards and transparency that give pet parents the visibility they need.

It's a lot of effort for a bag of pet food, but we know pets are worth it.

Bringing out the best in each other

Twenty years on, the thing we're proudest of isn't the awards or the export numbers, although we're proud of those too. It's the small, daily stuff. The dog who's still keen for a run at ten years old. The cat with the shine back in her coat. The pet parent who tells us their fussiest eater finally cleaned the bowl.

Because that's really what this has always been about. Feed a pet what it would choose for itself, and you don't just fill its tummy, you support whole-body health, more energy, more good years. More of those small moments that we know pet parents cherish.

That's the bond we set out to support twenty years ago with one dog, and it's the same bond we're backing today for dogs and cats around the world.