Vibrant Pets History

The idea of Vibrant Pets really started the day my wife, Irina (an award winning Nationally Certified Master Groomer) and I purchased the bankrupted Doggie Wash in Purcellville, VA in 2000. The Doggie Wash was a self service and pet grooming shop with at very bad reputation. Within a year, we were voted in a newspaper poll the number one grooming shop in Loudoun County Va. Unlike most groomers who do not like to carry retail products in their shops, we thought that we had a duty to provide our clients with the best pet products we could find. In 2001 we started limited retail and in 2005 (after the introduction of Vibrant Pets) expanded The Doggie Wash, brought in all natural products which were made in the USA and that first year we were also voted the number one independent pet retail store in Loudoun County VA.

As most groomers will attest, most of the dogs and cats they groom and care for have health issues. We surely noticed that at The Doggie Wash. To better serve our clients we searched for products that would help these health issues and to our surprise we found none. Oh, there were bunches of product that were selling buzz words, but none that really showed effectiveness. Indeed, other than general guarantees, none gave effectiveness guarantees. In addition, the labels were confusing at best and it was like comparing an apple to an orange. So, a pet owner was left with buying a supplement, feeding it to their pet, and hoping that over time it would work. Sort of like we humans do.

In frustration, we introduced some supplement products for sale in 2002 and were not pleased with any of them. So we knew we had to do something. I called my good friend (and now business partner) Mike Marshall and discussed the problem and we agreed to see if we could find a solution.

In researching a solution to the pet’s heath problems we were surprised to find just how confused and void of solutions there were in the supplement market. We started to talk to our clients at The Doggie Wash and were really surprised to hear their pets health problems, Well over 80% of our clients had health issues with their pets. What really floored us were the Vets. It appeared to us that they were putting a band aid on a gushing artery. The use of steroids was rampant and we all know that steroids are used in most cases as a quick fix and in the long run shorten a pet’s life. In addition we found that pet owners knew little about pet nutrition and got most of their information from mass market advertising.