Healthy pet food firm chews on bigger market

Kendra Locke and Corene Petitpren first met while on travel health care assignments in Michigan, where they’d frequently see each other walking their dogs. The lifelong animal lovers are now married and living in Cape Coral — where their four-legged friends are at the center of their burgeoning business venture, The K9 Kitchen.

It all began when they were working in California several years ago and observed their dog walker making her own dog food. They wanted to get out of health care (they worked in sterile processing in operating rooms) and thought something dog-related would be a good move. So they began playing around with their own recipes for dog food and trying it out on their pets.