Who are we?
I am an ex BBC TV producer, pet owner and animal lover. For a few years there I made food and science based programmes, among other things, and I have always been interested in what goes into our human food and the interaction between conventional and alternative medicines and therapies.
My stance is people and animals should be free to use whatever works for them; 
if I’ve broken a leg I’m going to hospital, if I’ve put my back out it’s the osteopath and a mental pledge to get off my backside and do more pilates. Equally, if I eat rubbish I will feel like rubbish and my body will let me know it doesn’t appreciate the rubbish I’m piling into it!
So why should it be any different with our pets? As far as I am concerned, vets, proper, healthy pet food and natural treatments for dogs and cats that work can rub along together quite nicely, thanks.
Equally, there’s no room for quackery, just good old fashioned research and a common sense approach to animal health and welfare.
Why start a business though?
I started the business in 2007 when I had an ever growing cat who kept begging for food and had scurfy, itchy skin. When I realised what was in her food (poor quality meat and lots of sugar) it was hardly surprising she wasn’t in good nick. Then the family Bedlington, Ronnie (the one on the right in the photo) developed a flea allergy which no one seemed to be able to treat, except with steroids, which surpressed the symptoms for a short while without actually treating the allergy. We wanted high quality pet supplements and great food but it was a real problem finding natural products for skin conditions all in one place even three years ago, hence MyItchyDog came into the world in 2009 and has been growing ever since.
Why only Itchy Dogs? What about the Itchy Cats of the world?
Simply put, it seems to be more of a dog than a cat problem, although many of our products can be used effectively on cats too (assuming you can catch the buggers.) I do use Yumega for our cats, Pearl and Dave, and the Billy No Mates Tincture flea treatment, they just about wear those! So I save a bomb on Frontline or Advocate and don’t have to inflict pesticides on them, or pull on welding gloves just to apply it to the back of their necks. Dogs are far, far easier!
Why do we do it?
Why not? I get the challenge of growing a business I’m passionate about, providing products to customers who are usually at the end of their tether after coming to the end of the conventional route. Then they send me comments like this:
From Trevor:
Just to let you know of the success we are having with billy no mates, we have two Yorkies and we live in the country, a good combination for ticks, we have been using Frontline from the vets for some time and still Molly was getting the ticks, Penny the other Yorkie had two fits and her stomach turned black. We took them both off the Frontline and put them on billy no mates, Penny’s stomach went back to her usual pink and we have had no further trouble with ticks on either dog.
And Julia wrote:
I have been using these Pet Munchies since the Royal Veterinary Hospital put my 15 year old Whippet on a single source protein diet, as a result of IBS and having her spleen removed in February this year. They are the only Duck treats on the market and she absolutely loves them. They are natural, easy to carry around and not too expensive. I would certainly recommend them to anyone whose dog suffers from an delicate tummy or IBS in fact I haven’t yet found any dog yet that doesn’t like them
Which just spurs me on. We know our products work, healthy treats make healthy dogs (that common sense again!) and a de-stressed customer is a happy customer, whether canine or human!
