Robert Kovler, CEO of New Rochelle’s Animal Nutrition Products (ANP), wants to provide the “Rolls-Royce of pet supplements” to pet owners at “a Mazda Price.” Drawing on his more than 20 years at ANP along with extensive work in sales for veterinarian medical companies and his own study, Kovler believed he has achieved the right balance of price and quality for Therapetixx, his company’s new consumer retail line of pet supplements.
“My background is in pharmacognosy, which is the study of medicinal plants,” Kovler explained. “I’ve known quite a few doctors over the many years that I’ve been around and enlisted them to give me some guidance on developing products from a holistic standpoint, which most people want these days.”
Kovler described providing that holistic help as a driving passion.
“When I help out a pet, I also help out an individual, a person,” he said. “They don’t want to see their pets in pain. So, I actually feel that I’m helping out two entities, the human and the pet.”
The Therapetixx line is similar to the products sold to veterinarians under the ANP name. The line ranges from a mushroom-based immunity booster to a product for dogs suffering from urinary, kidney, and bladder infections. Other products promote joint health for both growing puppies and elderly dogs.
“We also have a calming product for dogs that have separation anxiety,” Kovler said. “During Covid people were home, dogs, cats, even mice – they all became used to their owners being home and not being outside for a long time.”
“The majority of the products are for dogs, and we have a couple of products that are for cats,” Kovler added, noting of the line is in liquid form, so they can be applied to a pet’s favorite food more easily. This is especially important for dogs, which rely on their sense of smell rather than taste when deciding what foods are appealing.
“I know a lot of doctors and I know a lot of people that own pets, so we always test the product out for that specific reason,” Kovler said, “We test the product out and make a determination if we need to tweak the formula. We test anywhere from 100 to 150 pets.”
Kovler stated the products address the issue of palatability. Since dogs can’t be convinced to take medicine for their own good, even the most effective medicines or supplements are less useful if a pet refuses to touch it.
Kovler stressed that for best results Therapetixx products are ideally used with a veterinarian’s oversight, adding it could be possible to reduce or revise the use of pharmaceuticals with support from Therapetixx products.
Kovler plans to sell Therapetixx through boutique pet stores and a standalone Therapetixx.com website, bypassing some popular avenues for pet product sales.
“People are sensitive to pricing, and we feel that we have established this as something that is going to be sold retail out of stores at the present time,” Kovler explained. “We’re not looking at Amazon or Chewy because those companies are not favorable to any products. Those companies take money out of these products where they have to be sold for more money. We want to make sure that we have the company running smoothly with good cash flow. So, we decided to go direct to the consumer, not to the middleman.”
