A man marketing a new line of bottled water for pets says he got the idea from his finicky dog. Now he's marketing flavored water for dogs, cats, birds and rodents.
Before this idea came about, Jason the dog wouldn't drink water that came from the tap. "He wasn't drinking water period — out of the toilet, anywhere," Bill Fels, founder of Pet Refresh, told Theron Zahn of the ABCNEWS affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle.
But when Fels took Jason camping, he discovered the pooch loves stream water.
"I took him to the vet, figuring there was something wrong," Fels said. "The vet said he just doesn't like the taste and flavor of city water."
Fels started purifying mountain water for Jason, and then his friend's dogs, and soon Pet Refresh was born.
Fels said the bottled water is just hitting stores, and he is marketing it for dogs, cats, birds and rodents.
He drives to the Carbon River near Mount Rainier in Washington state to fill up, filtering out the natural bugs and bacteria before adding his special flavors.
Those include "beef and chicken, right now," Fels said. "I'm working on a chlorophyll [version] for nervous dogs with nervous stomachs and bad breath."
But do pets really need bottled water?
Veterinarian Ann Brudvik said tap water is safe, but she knows people often hate the taste.
"There are some pets that find it that way, too," she said. "On the other hand, if we're talking about dogs, they generally will eat or drink just about anything."
So, who would pay about $2 a bottle for dog water?
"For all the other things we get our 13-pound little Shih Tzu, bottled water wouldn't be out to the question," said one dog owner, Emmett Garbett.
"They're part of the family," he said of pets. "I don't believe you scrimp on your family."
Source: ABCNEWS.com
