uPetsia, comes from eupepsia, meaning “good digestion”
uPetsia takes natural bacteria from dog mouths, screens them to ensure they are safe and effective, and then modifies them to produce pleasant aromas.
uPetsia focuses on keeping your pet's breath fresh in between regular dental cleanings. Bad dog breath may indicate a serious health risk, with the potential to harm not only your pets' teeth and gums, but also their internal organs.
Dog breath as good as your dog.
uPetsia is dedicated to making your dog's breath as good as your dog. Existing products work for a short time, measured in minutes. uPetsia's bacteria safely and effectively produce pleasant mint aromas for hours, giving you and your furry companion plenty of time to cuddle.
uPetsia focuses on keeping your pet's breath fresh in between regular dental cleanings. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, regular dental exams are an important and primary component of a pet's overall health care and can help prevent more serious health problems.
Like all good origin stories, our company started over a round of beer...
Our founder (Eric) had the idea for uPetsia while sitting with friends and family after Thanksgiving dinner. They each had a dog in their laps and began discussing which dog had the foulest breath. While the rest of the group was conversing, Eric began to consider solutions to the problem. The next day, Eric continued to work on the problem and came up with the technology's core concepts. Over beers, he pitched the idea to his long-time friends, co-founders Scott and Dave. The core working group was formed following the second round of beers.
In 2019, uPetsia's business model was refined through the NSF I-Corps program, and the core technology was developed through a grant from Tech Launch Arizona. Tech Launch Arizona advisor Allen offered to help and later joined as a Founding Advisor after seeing a few pitch presentations and deciding it was a doggone good idea.
Turning an idea into reality…
Tech Launch Arizona awarded uPetsia an Asset Development Grant to create a working proof of concept . The team swabbed the mouths of their family's dogs to harvest naturally occurring bacteria with the support and supervision of the University of Arizona's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The ones that were the safest were chosen and enhanced to make mint aromas. The team fed the dogs treats containing the modified bacteria and successfully recovered the bacteria up to two hours later. Over this time, human smell and gas chromatography, a highly sensitive piece of laboratory equipment, detected mint aroma.
This initial success encouraged the team to continue improving the bacteria so that it would last longer and produce more mint aroma.