Built on safety, powered by people
At the forefront of the foundry industry’s future
February 19, 2024
MAUSTON – Fueled by a desire to pass their healthy lifestyle down to their three Maine Coon cats, Nathan and Tina Miller, co-owners of Natural Carnivore Pet Food & Supplies in Mauston, said they wanted to get back to the way pets were intended to be fed.
“Feed your carnivore as nature intended,” Nathan said.
Natural Carnivore, located at 651 N. Union St., Suite 7, is an all-natural and raw pet food store, in business for less than a year.
“You won’t find any of your standard commercial brand (pet) foods here,” Nathan said. “We have a motto: ‘When in doubt, keep it out.’ Any kind of food, treat, toy, etc. – if it has too many ingredients we don’t like, we don’t put it on our shelves. Our primary focus is to encourage and educate people about raw feeding.”
Nathan said there is much more to raw feeding than “simply throwing your pet a hunk of meat.”
“It’s not just raw, it’s a complete raw – you’re not just giving your pets meat alone …,” he said. “They need vitamins, minerals, etc. It’s about educating people about the biological needs of their pets.”
Nathan said most of the pet food in the store comes in two forms: frozen or freeze-dried.
“We also sell some wet and dry foods – we keep it as close to natural as possible…,” he said. “The best possible brands with single-source proteins and low ingredient counts. You won’t see the unnecessary fillers other commercial brands use. We consider even the best dry foods in the world for pets comparable to maybe the healthier fast food choices for humans.”
When it comes to treats, Nathan said Natural Carnivore stays away from rawhide.
“All our treats are freeze-dried or smoked animal parts,” he said.
Cost misconception
A common misconception about raw food, Nathan said, is its price.
“Our frozen raw food is less than half the cost of most canned foods,” he said. “People can save money by switching to raw (from canned), and it’s healthier because there are zero preservatives.”
As far as commercial-brand kibble, Nathan said he can’t argue the cheaper cost and convenience.
“That’s a fact – it is cheaper and more convenient,” he said. “But people tell us all the time that when they switch from kibble to raw food, their animals poop less. Why? Because their pets’ bodies are absorbing more of the nutrients from the raw food diet.”
Over time however, Nathan said pets end up eating less, which can help offset the higher cost of raw food.
“For example, if you’re feeding your dog two cups of commercial brand kibble per day, you might eventually end up knocking that down to a cup a day if you transition (to raw food),” he said. “So, even though the food is a higher price, it has a higher quality. We always encourage people to raw feed (their pets) as much as their budget allows, even if it’s introducing some high-quality treats.”
Feeding raw, Nathan said, can also help reduce larger pet medical bills.
“If your pets are less obese and eating healthier food, it also might lead to fewer medical bills/vet visits down the road,” he said.
Another important step in the raw feeding process, Nathan said, is education.
“Too many people try a raw food diet on their own and get the proportions wrong – too much of one thing, not enough of another,” he said. “They have good intentions, but they can give their pet an unbalanced diet, which can be problematic. We take the time to chat with people when they come into the store to educate them.”
Another positive, Nathan said, is Natural Carnivore doesn’t focus just on dogs – which a lot of pet food stores do.
“Both my wife and I love dogs, too, but our lifestyle is not conducive to owning dogs at this point,” he said. “In many stores, you’ll see six rows of stuff for dogs and half a section for cats. Our store is a 50/50 blend for dogs and cats.”
How it started
Before moving into the raw pet food industry, Nathan said they were experiencing health issues with their own Maine Coon cats.
“When we researched (raw feeding), it was eye-opening,” he said. “When we put our pets on a complete raw food diet, it was awe-inspiring – we saw the transition in their health. If clean eating is important to humans, why is it not important for pets? It’s equally important. The proof for us was in our pets and how much healthier they became.”
Though they had been feeding their cats a raw food diet for about two years, Nathan said they never thought it would lead to opening a store.
“We’re a small store and have been in business for less than nine months, but we love it,” he said. “I taught martial arts for about 30 years, so when we first opened the store, it shared the location with my martial arts studio.
For the first six months, because the store shared space with his martial arts studio, Nathan said it didn’t allow for much flexibility.
“We had limited hours because it was a shared space,” he said. “When I retired from teaching last December – I closed both of my locations – we focused on the store full-time.”
This, Nathan said, has allowed the shop to expand – offering more space and more items.
Though the business started small, Nathan said it was intentional, “because we didn’t take out any loans and used our own money.”
“We’ve built the store as our budget has allowed,” he said. “Every couple of weeks, we try to add more inventory to the store. Slowly, but surely, the store has been growing. We both had full-time careers when we started this nine months ago, so we were quite limited at that point in terms of inventory.”
Catmosphere projects
The Millers, as self-acclaimed “crazy cat people,” said they like to pass that love onto their customers in the form of “catmospheres.”
“We love to work with wood, and because we raise Maine Coons – they can reach up to 35 pounds – the standard cat trees you see in the store don’t cut it, they’re too small and not strong enough,” Nathan said. “We wanted to create cat furniture that is aesthetically pleasing to humans and functionally solid for cats.”
Instead of particle board, Nathan said they use solid wood in their cat trees.
“We will also torch the wood to add to it,” he said. “Even in our home, surrounding our TV, we have actual trees found in the woods, wrapped in twine with baskets wrapped around them. We mount them on a stand, mount them to the walls, light them up, etc. The cats have this catmosphere where they run, jump and have fun. Part of our entertainment is sitting on the couch watching our cats run up and down these trees and across the boards.”
Nathan said the store also has the same setup.
“We have trees and walls all over the store where the cats can run around and have fun,” he said. “We’re working on putting catwalks and runways along the ceiling.”
Passing that knowledge down, Nathan said they offer catmosphere building services to their customers.
“If they have space in a room where they want a catmosphere, we’ll take custom measurements and use a 3D software program to create and design a few layouts,” he said. “Once they pick a layout, we’ll put it together and do the install (if they’d like). It’s all hand-built with solid wood.”
Hours for Natural Carnivore are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The store is closed Sunday and Monday.
For more information on Natural Carnivore, visit homesteadalchemist.com.
