The best product in our store and we make it!

Has your dog or cat tried our "Just Chicken!" yet? It's amazing stuff! Just Chicken is exactly as it sounds - just white chicken breast meat - that has been gently freeze dried into a light and airy consistency. Pets that "don't like treats" go nuts over this one. It's our go-to treat for picky dogs that visit us in our retail store. But it has so many other uses as well!

If you've got a new puppy, you'll definitely want a few jars of this. Use this treat ONLY as a reward for going potty outdoors and your pup will catch on incredibly quickly. When I've had puppies in my house, I keep a jar in my bathrobe pocket. I then just need to stumble outdoors in the middle of the night and shake the jar for instant success. Once your dog has mastered potty training, you can transfer this to anything else you're working on... sit, stay, down....

If your cat is picky and routinely turns her nose up at her food, consider trying a jar of this. My cat is generally a good eater but she occasionally walks away from her food. On those nights, I crumble a piece of our Just Chicken on her food and she comes running back to try what she just turned down. This trick works great for picky dogs as well!

Is your dog getting a little too chubby? You know you need to cut back on treats but you just can't bear to do it. Our Just Chicken is incredibly low in fat and high in protein. It's the perfect "diet" treat for any size dog. Because it's such a high-value treat, your dog will feel special regardless of how much he gets. It's a great cure for that age-old guilt trip that our dogs are so famous for giving us.

Does your cat go outdoors and refuse to come in at times? Try offering our Just Chicken to kitty every night when you let the cat in. Cats can hear the jar shaking hundreds of feet away and come running - literally! I've occasionally "lost" my cat, wondering what room she's shut in or where she's hiding. All I have to do is pull the jar out of the cupboard and she's instantly at my feet.

How are your pets' teeth? Contrary to a well-publicized and effective marketing campaign that a well-known company created, chewing crunchy biscuits DO NOT clean your pets teeth. How many of you eat a graham cracker before bed instead of brushing your teeth? Dogs that eat a lot of carbs, especially processed carbohydrates like gluten meals tend to have terrible teeth and breath. They will be much better off eating a high-protein, carbohydrate-free treat instead. Just Chicken fits that bill perfectly. The incredible taste will get those salivary glands working, helping to improve your pet's breath!

Our Just Chicken can be found in our Denver boutique, myriads of other small pet boutiques throughout the country and on our website. If you're lucky enough to live in the Denver area, pop in our store for a free sample. If you're not in the Denver area, ask your favorite pet retailer to get it for you! Your pet will thank you for it.

Budget-friendly nutrition

You can't turn on the television lately without hearing just how bad our economy is. News like that has us all nervous about our budgets and we've got you covered at our store. You might be surprised to learn that while we carry lots of "high-end" food with impressive ingredients, we carry just as many competitively priced food with equally impressive ingredients. Couple that with our Barker's Dozen frequent buyer program that gets you the 13th bag, case of cans or frozen food free and you've got a budget-friendly combination. Just because a food is expensive or cheap doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good or bad food!

Studies show that feeding a healthy, nutritionally dense food is actually cheaper than feeding a junky pet food that is loaded with by-products and corn and wheat glutens. Yes, the bag costs more initially, but you don't feed as much so in the long-run, it's actually cheaper. Even better - your pet will be healthier and have a better quality of life.

Our staff is highly trained and we are very adept at helping you find a pet food that will work well for your pets and your budget. Don't be shy about what you're looking for. Pick our brains and tell us your limitations. Our goals are the same - healthy, happy pets. We're here to help!

First Friday ArtWalk Features Dog and Cat Artists

We are so excited to be featuring work from some of Denver's leading female artists during this month's First Friday ArtWalk at Mouthfuls! You'll find original art from Julia McClurg (lulubellaart.com), Karen Windness (mudpuppystudios.com), Jen Sebastian (scoutdogstudios.com) and photography by Heather Green (studiobellaonline.com).

Julia McClurg is well-known in the Denver area for her Lulu Bella series of art. She can be hired to create custom contemporary paintings of your pet or you can peruse her many prints already available. Julia has a series of cards, her very own wine label and has illustrated a children's book named Zooch the Pooch.

Karen Windness' art is also recognizable in the metro area. She can be hired to create custom modern paintings of your pet or you can choose from a wide range of originals available. Her designs can be found on onesies for babies and wall tiles. She has written and illustrated one book and is currently working on her second.

Jen Sebastian's art can be found just around the corner from Mouthfuls. Her studio features commissioned work, stationary, pins and prints available in various price ranges. She is known for creating images of dogs and cats without eyes. Humorous and entertaining art.

Heather Green is a photographer with The Colorado Dog Magazine. She has an amazing gift of capturing the dogs' personality on film. Heather can be hired to photograph your own dog in both color and black and white with a contemporary edge. You'll drool over her photos in the store.

Thanks to Heather and the editor of The Colorado Dog, the first 25 visitors to the store will receive a free copy of The Colorado Dog Magazine. Stop in and enjoy some dog art on Friday!

The Cat House is Open!

When we first opened the store, the vast majority of our offerings were for dogs. We had the obligatory cat "shelf", which had some great foods and a few treats on it. We started to notice early on, however, that we had a lot of cat owners in the neighborhood. We continued to add to our cat section and the number of cat owners that shopped with us increased tremendously. By popular request, we have now officially opened our "cat house" in the store. We had devoted an entire room to our feline-loving customers. We are adding several new food lines for kitties and lots more treats and toys! My kitten is a willing and anxious tester for all the treats we consider. Come visit us soon and let us know if we're missing your favorite cat products.

Mouthfuls' Pet-friendly Community Gathering Space Available

After much anticipation, we have finally finished our back patio. This patio originally was conceived to be an area to offer birthday parties, puppy & kitten showers and seminars on nutrition and training. After Denver began issuing warnings to local coffee shops and bistros for allowing dogs on their patio, the patio took on a whole new meaning. It seems Denver's health department codes are violated when one sips coffee with their canine on the patio of the restaurant. We are appalled.

Because we don't cook food at Mouthfuls, however, that isn't an issue for us. Instead, we've gathered take-out menus from most of the restaurants on Tennyson. You're welcome to call in an order while you shop, pick it up and return to dine with your dog in back. The area is completely fenced, so your dogs can romp to their hearts' content while you sit back and relax. Or, bring in the Sunday paper and a cup of coffee and enjoy some time to yourself while your dog makes new friends.

We also gladly offer the space for parties, meet-ups and other gatherings at no charge. Just sign up in the store for the space and we'll hold it for you. Your guests will even receive goody bags from Mouthfuls!

This space will appear in a popular magazine next month, so hurry in to reserve the space before the whole world finds out about it!

Freddy the Cat is Free!

First of all, let me thank all of you for all your creative suggestions, well wishes and support. We are happy to report that as of yesterday (August 15th), Freddy was officially free.

For the uninitiated (and those living under a rock), Freddy the cat took up residence in my business partner's rental home. Unfortunately, however, Freddy's owner packed up his toothbrush and left everything else behind, including his cat. Freddy was distraught and hid deep within a hole behind the bathtub, refusing to come out when humans were present. For 13 days, Freddy foiled every treat, trap and idea that we tried. He is truly the smartest animal I've ever crossed paths with. (That, and he was scared to death!) We finally called in an animal communicator for assistance and that evening, Freddy was caught. You can read all about the detailed trap that his new owner set on various news stations including channel 9 and 31.

The happy ending to this story is not just that Freddy is out of the wall, but that the 4 1/2 year-old feline is safely embedded in his new home across the street. His new owner had lost her cat in the Spring and was ready for another bundle of joy. She's a patient, wonderful cat lover and she and her husband wanted Freddy very much. Even more touching was the fact that the couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary together on the day they brought Freddy home. Freddy couldn't be in a better place.

As promised, Mouthfuls will provide Freddy with food, treats and toys for a full year. We brought him a new leopard print bed and fresh litter box as a welcome home gift.

We are so thankful that this story had a happy ending and that we learned so much from Freddy in the process!

Adding to the family!

I am pleased to announce the arrival of my new baby. This weekend I'll be bringing home Tatiana, our 12-week-old Siberian kitten. This Russian forest breed doesn't trigger cat allergies in my family and we are all so excited! I was completely impressed when I found out that the breeder was feeding her Innova EVO canned food. That's what I'll keep her on for awhile, but ultimately I'd like her to eat raw, just like our family dogs.

When we opened our store, we focused primarily on dogs and had a small shelf with cat products tucked in the corner. We soon learned that there were a TON of cat owners in the neighborhood so we began to slowly add to the cat section. After four store "rearrangements" in two years, we've now increased the cat area tremendously. We carry a very wide variety of cat foods and have a great selection of toys and treats. Something tells me that by adding a cat to my household, we'll soon be devoting even more room to them.