Adelaide Elliott// Associate Editor// February 20, 2023

Learn How and Why These American Made Dog Treats Put Health First

Botanical Bones was inspired by a food is medicine philosophy and a pandemic puppy named Carnaby.

Adelaide Elliott// Associate Editor// February 20, 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic led a lot of people to get in touch with new hobbies. And while everyone else was baking bread and tending to new gardens and DIY projects around the house, Botanical Bones Founder Rachel Meyer was perfecting dog treat recipes for her family’s pandemic puppy, Carnaby, who joined her family in April 2020.

An animal shelter rescue, Carnaby was an extremely anxious puppy, so Meyer had turned to food to help him just as she did for herself and the rest of her human family’s ailments.

“We always start with the ‘food is medicine’ philosophy and look for optimizing health benefits and flavor,” explained Meyer.

Using human-grade ingredients from her own pantry and copious amounts of research, Meyer soon found a winning treat combo of peanut butter, superfoods and adaptogens that Carnaby loved to eat and that soothed some of his anxiety.

Following that success in her own home, Meyer didn’t stop experimenting, pressing on to create new flavors and addressing new issues in dogs like longevity and digestion, eventually launching her superfood dog treats as Botanical Bones at a local market in the company’s home base of Asheville, N.C., in the summer of 2020. Ingredients used include things like pumpkin, chia seeds, hemp seeds, ashwagandha, lemon balm, red clover, flaxseed, turmeric, chaga and reishi.

Today, Botanical Bones brand has three treat flavors available — Balance + Calm for mood, Flower Power for longevity and Inner Glow for digestion — with plans to expand and the brand can be found across the country in-stores and online. Despite all those changes in a relatively short period of time, Meyer has remained committed to maintaining Botanical Bones’ health-focused, locally made ethos.

“Our treats are made in North Carolina, all the ingredients are sourced from U.S.-based suppliers and even our packaging is made in the U.S. from recycled plastic,” Meyer said.

A true family affair, Meyer’s husband helped bootstrap the business and assist with finances during the company’s start, and just recently left his full-time job to be more involved in operations. Their son helps at markets, too, and Carnaby — who Meyer says has mellowed out significantly over the last couple of years — is still the official Botanical Bones taste tester.

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