Next-Level Pet Parenting: Because Fur Kids Deserve the Best Nutrition

A sit-down interview with Valerie Amintohir

 

Modern pet parenting has evolved far beyond how things were in the past. Today, pets aren’t just companions—they’re cherished family members. Pawrents are determined to give their fur babies the very best, from nutrition and health to overall wellbeing. Yet many are also juggling busy lives, struggling to balance hectic schedules while still providing top-notch care. We spoke with Valerie Amintohir, a canine nutritionist and co-founder of Pawmeals—a brand creating easy-to-prepare, freshly cooked meals packed with optimal nutrition for dogs and cats. Join us as we explore what modern pet care truly looks like.

 

Hi Valerie, could you briefly introduce yourself and your role at Pawmeals?

Hi there, I’m Valerie Amintohir, and I’m the first canine nutritionist in Asia. My role at Pawmeals is being the nutritionist and the formulator for all of Pawmeals’ foods and products.

 

What inspired you to become a canine nutritionist, and how did that journey begin?

Because of my babies—all of my dogs. I have a French Bulldog, and for all the French Bulldog owners out there, you probably already know the struggles and challenges of having this breed. They have all kinds of diseases and are prone to skin issues and digestive problems. There was even a time when I kept taking my dog back and forth to the vet, and the vet told me that this specific breed would have to be on medication for the rest of its life. 

 

I know Indonesia is a tropical country, and there are lots of external factors. But I’d already made sure the room had an air purifier, I kept the AC on 24/7, and I’d tried using special shampoo for sensitive skin, but the skin and digestion issues kept coming back. I kept thinking: my dog eats well and is super energetic. It likes to play around like a little twister, so what’s wrong?

 

That’s when I learned about pet nutrition online. I looked into programs in veterinary schools in Indonesia, but unfortunately, they don’t offer nutrition classes for small animals. The classes are more focused on livestock like cows, goats, and chickens. So from there, I started digging deeper to figure out where I should study, and I found that the best option was actually in Canada. And so I went there to study pet nutrition.

 

For those unfamiliar, what exactly does a canine nutritionist do? How does your expertise influence your approach to pet food?

It’s actually quite similar to human nutrition, but dogs require nutrition that’s a bit different from humans. Dogs have very specific nutritional needs that must be met, and giving them foods that tastes good for humans doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for them. 

 

There are many categories and classifications based on life stages, from puppies, to adults, to seniors, and even dogs with certain medical conditions like heart disease, liver problems, or kidney issues. They need tailored nutrition, so my job is to make sure we meet those standards and provide what’s most biologically ideal for the dog itself.

 

How do you utilize your expertise to develop products in Pawmeals?

Pawmeals don’t just sell a product just because. All of our products come with a function, and I think we are the first and most complete pet cooked food brand. While other brands categorize their products by the protein or flavors, we have specific categories like puppies, adult, senior, and pet exclusive. 

 

We have 56 different SKUs just for Pawmeals alone. That’s very intentional because rotating between different proteins is important, and there’s no such thing as a single food that covers every nutrition needs. We offer a complete range of proteins from chicken, beef, lamb, mutton, rabbit, duck, pork, turkey, buffalo, and wild boar—it’s very complete.

 

 

Out of your 56 SKUs, what are your best-selling items?

There are five menus that rotate as our best-sellers each month: chicken, beef, pork, lamb, and rabbit. Actually, Pawmeals is one of the cooked food brands offering the widest range of rabbit dishes—we have four types. We have rabbit for adult dogs, rabbit for seniors, single-protein rabbit for sensitive skin, and rabbit skin reset for our vet-exclusive line.

 

Are the products catered to the dog’s breed and size as well?

Yes, exactly. We have a nutrition calculator on our website, where pawrents can check their pet’s nutritional needs. Even if the breed is the same, their nutritional requirements will be different if their age or activity level is different.

 

Pawmeals offers natural, freshly cooked meals for dogs and cats. Are Indonesian pet owners familiar with that concept?

I think when we first started Pawmeals back in late 2020 during the early pandemic, the concept of cooked or fresh food wasn’t that common yet. At the time, most people thought ‘fresh food’ meant raw. There were a few brands doing cooked food, but mostly as toppers or fun treats like beef pie or chicken satay. But a fully cooked, nutritionally balanced meal? That only started gaining real awareness during the pandemic. That’s when people really began to catch on.

 

Are there any common misconceptions that people have regarding pet nutrition?

As a nutritionist, I’ve been developing products for five years, and I’ve come across a lot of cases where the pawrents actually have good intentions. They want to give their pets all kinds of healthy things like probiotics and supplements, but I always emphasize: too much of a good thing is no longer good.

 

Some pawrents go overboard giving their pets calcium powder and supplements, forgetting that these are meant to help only when there’s a deficiency. If the pet is already healthy, supplements are optional, and excessive use can actually harm the dog’s health.

 

Another example is giving fiber. Even for us humans, there are rules for how to consume fiber. But some pawrents keep giving it all the time, and it ends up making their dogs either constipated or have runny stools instead.

 

The most crucial example is broth or treats. Giving broth or milk every day or even twice a day can lead to liver problems, like fatty liver, because of all the saturated fat that the dog’s body can’t process. It builds up in the liver. So even though the intention is good, without proper knowledge and information, it can actually be harmful.

 

 

How have things changed over the past five years of building Pawmeals? Do you feel pawrents today are more knowledgeable and better informed about their pets’ nutrition and wellbeing?

When it comes to food, I’d say a lot of pawrents have shifted. Before, people would just feed their dogs table scraps or certain commercial foods that were cheap and widely known. But now, I feel like thanks to education and growing awareness—especially because people spent two years intensely at home with their pets during the pandemic—they try to learn and feel the need to do more for their pet. 

 

Even the kinds of questions I get during consultations have completely changed. In the past, it was just, “Oh, as long as my dog likes eating it, right?” But now, it’s things like, “How much protein is there on a dry matter basis?” or “Is there taurine in this? And if so, how many percent?” or “I want to give vitamin C, but does my dog really need it?” The questions are much more detailed now.

 

(For the record, dogs can actually synthesize vitamin C and taurine on their own, so they don’t really need additional supplements. Cats might need them, though.) 

 

The questions I received have become much more advanced, to the point where sometimes I have to pull out my old textbooks and review what I learned before. They even know the difference between Omega-6 and Omega-3, and that Omega-6 can be more inflammatory, so it should be balanced with Omega-3. So for me, pawrents these days are not only more open to trying cooked food. They’re also more critical and want to know whether cooked food really is better.

 

Wow, the questions people ask now are really in-depth!

Exactly. That’s why Pawmeals might be one of the brands that people see as truly trustworthy. Pawrents feel welcome to discuss things with me anytime. Sometimes they ask questions so deep that they can’t find answers from other brands, or they look it up online but wonder, “Is this really true?” But I’m able to justify and provide the correct answers. I always include the sources on my Instagram content. That’s how seriously we run our business.

 

Are there any unique or interesting types of customers you’ve encountered during your consultations with pawrents?

There are pawrents who are very critical and curious, which are the type I love the most. 

Some of them care more about how many calories, vitamins, and minerals are going into their pets’ bodies than what goes into their own. Sometimes I even ask them, “Do you track your own food intake in this much detail?” And they say, “Well, no! For humans, as long as it tastes good, that’s enough.” It’s amazing to see how much love they have for their pets. 

 

How does Pawmeals gather feedback from customers, and how do you take that into account for developing new products?

When we’re about to launch a new product, we let customers vote on our Instagram page. First, we’ll give them categories—like whether it should be for puppies, adults, or seniors. From there, we’ll see if people say, “Oh, we need a senior product made from fish,” so that’s what we’ll launch. There have also been times when customers said, “Why don’t you have a single-protein option with rabbit? My dog can’t handle mixed proteins anymore.” So we launched it this past February. We really trust our customers and try our best to cater to their needs.

 

 

We also do market research with in-depth interviews to find out what we can do to help make things easier for them. That’s how we ended up creating our catering subscription service, with freshly cooked food delivered straight to their doorsteps.

 

We noticed that a handful of customers panic when they run out of Pawmeals and demand to have it delivered right away. It’s pawrents who panic because they don’t know what else to feed their ‘kids’. That’s why we created our catering subscription. With customers so busy handling work and life, they don’t want to worry about running out of dog food. So we thought, “Okay, let’s create a subscription service.” Every two weeks, we send their orders and confirm the delivery date, the products, and make sure everything arrives at their home.

 

Oh, so the catering isn’t daily then?

Our catering runs either every two weeks or monthly. It’s been proven to work because hundreds of people have used our service since the launch in September 2023. People love how they don’t have to stress about what their pets will eat. And before we send out the food, we can even recommend which menus are most suitable for their pets.

 

I’ve noticed you’ve been referring to pets as “kids”. In your opinion, how do you see the role of pets evolving in households in the future?

Nowadays, dogs and cats are no longer just pets or animals wandering around the house. They’ve become emotional support. Some pawrents even tie their identity so strongly to their pets that they go to extreme lengths for their comfort. And this isn’t just happening in Indonesia—it’s worldwide. I recently read an article about someone in China who was willing to pay $64,000 to clone their dog that had passed away because when the dog died, they went through an identity crisis.

 

But I’d say pets are truly the best emotional support. Especially now, with how busy and exhausting life has become, coming home and being welcomed by unconditional love makes such a difference. For me personally, my pets absorb all my anxiety and discomfort. It’s incredible to have this little creature looking at you as if you’re the most precious thing in the world. Even though it means waking up earlier, rushing around before work to feed them, put diapers on them, clean up their poop, it’s all worth it for me.

 

From an industry perspective, since you’re seeing pet parents become more attentive and caring, what innovations are you hoping to make in the future?

I’m looking forward to seeing innovations that make pet food even more convenient. Right now, Pawmeals is still fresh frozen, which means logistically it’s a bit more challenging since we don’t use preservatives. But hopefully, in the future, there will be innovations that make fresh food more accessible for pawrents out there who want better nutrition for their pets.

 

 

People truly love their fur babies like family, and for some, pets have even become an alternative to having kids. In Wonderwhy’s Childfree Neighbor magazine, you’ll find over 20 stories from diverse voices across Southeast Asia exploring the childfree phenomenon, including those who’ve found joy and fulfillment sharing their lives with cats and dogs.

 

Curious to learn more? Discover Childfree Neighbor and check out our list of stockists here.