For Finicky Drinkers, Water From the Tap Isn't Tasty Enough
Bill and Rhonda Fels could never get their 3-year-old, Jason, to drink enough water, and he was chronically dehydrated as a result. So they were delighted when Jason finally found water he liked, from a glacier-fed river Mr. Fels crossed during a hike with Jason in the mountains.
Mr. Fels made regular trips to bring back more river water for Jason. When neighbors started mooching his supply for their own problem drinkers, Mr. Fels spotted a business opportunity and started a bottling company to sell the water.
Jason is now healthy and hydrated. As a bonus, he has stopped drinking from the toilet. The spaniel-retriever mix is now chief product tester for the Felses' company, Springmill Products Inc., which ships a line of bottled water called PetRefresh for finicky critters nationwide. From their new headquarters on a former tobacco farm in Lawsonville, N.C., the Felses sell their pet water for $1.49 per 20-ounce plastic bottle.
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Question of the Day: How much of the water that you drink comes from the tap?
People have developed a big thirst in recent years for bottled water, many of them because they don't like tap water. It seems their pets are no different, and entrepreneurs like the Felses are jumping in to serve the creatures.
A Wallace, Calif., company named Pawier Inc. pioneered the industry in 1990 with a vitamin-enriched water for dogs, which it has now replaced with a water-soluble vitamin supplement. Dog Ventures LLC of West Palm Beach, Fla., sells "DogWater" in containers that double as throwing toys. Then there's K9 Water Inc., a Valencia, Calif., start-up whose catalog lists products such as "Gutter Water" and chicken-flavored "Toilet Water."
"I came up with 'Toilet Water' because my dog would only drink out of the toilet," says Susan Goldberg, a 40-year-old accountant who started K9 in 2003 with an associate, Don Magier.
The Felses sell PetRefresh not only for dogs, but also for cats, birds and hamsters. They claim their water is healthier because it doesn't contain chlorine or fluoride. Those chemicals added to tap water can hurt animals' kidneys, urinary tracts and bones, they say. Tap water "also gives them bad breath, and causes hair loss," Mr. Fels says.
Some veterinarians question claims by Mr. Fels and other pet-water salesmen. "Aside from an Erin Brockovich situation, I'm not aware of any tap water being bad for pets," says Kim Nicholas, a vet in Renton, Wash. He says his yellow Labrador retriever, Sarah, imbibes from the toilet with no discernible consequences.
It's also costly to slake a pet's thirst from bottles. With the average 60-pound dog drinking a liter of water a day, that's a roughly $400-a-year habit at $2.29 per 2-liter bottle of PetRefresh.
Pet-water purchasers say the investment is worth it for a pet that won't otherwise drink properly. Keris Eure, a Southern California artist, says her miniature pinscher Yenta was fading fast after diabetes soured the pooch on tap water. Ms. Eure discovered K9 water at a pet event near her home two years ago, and says Yenta has been slurping it up ever since. "It's such a relief," she says.
Pet preferences may have something to do with water's temperature. Toilet water is cooler and potentially "more refreshing" than water from a bowl, says Bill Burlingame, a veterinarian in Marysville, Wash. An unclean bowl may also offend a pet's sense of smell. "Do you like your glass washed after using it?" asks Dr. Burlingame. "Same thing."
Lori Loveless, a 41-year-old marketing executive from Tampa, Fla., says her cats Sassy, Myrna and Pepper would never drink much water out of the bowl they share. Instead, they sprint to guzzle water out of the faucet. Then she bought PetRefresh, and the cats were suddenly drinking from their bowl. "The reaction from my friends ranged from, 'Oh, please,' to, 'Where can I get some?' " says Ms. Loveless.
Kathy Dawson, a 40-year-old law clerk from Everett, Wash., became a convert after she offered PetRefresh to her hamster, Chester. The rodent hadn't drunk much water before. Now, she says, "I have never seen a hamster drink as much as he does."
Mr. Fels, 49, stumbled across his first pet-water source three years ago at the Carbon River on the flanks of Mt. Rainier in Washington state. There, Jason drank deeply for the first time Mr. Fels could remember. Mr. Fels filled several bottles to take home to nearby Everett.
Soon after, a friend named Gene Pittman took some of Jason's new water to his aged Chihuahua, Dixie. "I came back and told him, 'My 14-year-old acts like he's 8,' " recalls Mr. Pittman.
Quitting his computer consulting job, Mr. Fels went into business. He set up a small water-purification tank in a rented warehouse and drove a flatbed truck to the mountains to pump river water into a 300-gallon plastic container. He made 1,440 cold calls to veterinarians, pet shops and other potential pet-water retailers. There were few takers. His wife expressed misgivings over his business scheme. "I thought, 'Who is this man I married?' " recalls Mrs. Fels, a 42-year-old technical writer.
A bottled water being marketed for dogs, cats and other pets. Available flavors include beef and fish.
Undaunted, Mr. Fels began diversifying his product, introducing some flavored variations. "I was filleting a fish one day and an eyeball popped out," Mr. Fels recalls. "Jason gobbled it up and I said, 'Fish Flavor.' "
His breakthrough came at the Cat Fanciers' Show, a breeder's event outside Seattle in early 2003, where cat owners mobbed his booth. They bought up his stock of 64 bottles and an additional 200 his wife had to rush in. The Felses began advertising on the Internet, and sending mailings directly to licensed-pet owners. They say they went from filling about 1,300 bottles a month to more than 50,000 a month by the middle of last year.
With Washington state law limiting how much water Mr. Fels could take from the river, the couple decided to relocate to a state with higher limits. They thought they had found a promising source in Cottage Grove, Ore., a quaint town in a mountain valley. Jason nixed the move. "I just loved the town," recalls Mrs. Fels. "But Jason didn't like the water. I said, 'Please, please drink.' But he wouldn't."
They then looked to the water-rich hills of North Carolina, which they had once visited. They turned Jason loose in a plot they found on the Piedmont Plateau. He eagerly drank from five creeks and springs that percolate out of the wooded ground, so they bought the 40-acre plot. "If Jason doesn't like it, we can't even consider it," Mr. Fels says.
After suspending production for a few weeks to move, the Felses resumed operations. They recently introduced a new pet-water flavor, "Parsley-Chlorophyll ," and hope to launch a new product called EquiFresh, a vitamin and mineral additive for horses' water buckets.
The couple says their water is safe for people, even though they label their product as "not for human consumption." Mr. Fels says the labeling is necessary to avoid strict regulations related to human health. In a recent sampling, unflavored PetRefresh served by Mrs. Fels in a chilled bottle tasted just like mountain spring water.
专用瓶装水给宠物解渴
家里三岁的小狗詹森(Jason)从来不好好喝水，比尔?费尔斯(Bill Fels)和朗达?费尔斯(Rhonda Fels)夫妇也对此束手无策，结果这只小狗患上了慢性脱水症。一次，当费尔斯先生带詹森到山里远足时，詹森终于在一条冰川融水汇成的河里找到了自己喜欢喝的水，令费尔斯夫妇欣喜不已。
从此以后，费尔斯先生定期到这个地方从河中取水给詹森喝。后来那些家里也有宠物不好好喝水的邻居们开始向他讨要这种水，这让费尔斯看到了一个新的商机。他组建了一家瓶装水公司，专门出售宠物饮用水。
现在，詹森身体健康，不再脱水，也不再喝马桶里的水了。这只小狗目前是费尔斯公司产品的主要品尝鉴定者。这家名为Springmill Products Inc.的公司生产一系列PetRefresh品牌的瓶装水，专门提供给全美那些对水过份挑剔的宠物。公司总部新址早先是一座烟草农庄，位于贝卡罗来纳的Lawsonville，公司一瓶20盎司的宠物饮用水的售价为1.49美元。
近些年来，人们对瓶装水表现出了极大的兴趣，因为许多人不喜欢自来水，现在看来宠物也不例外。像费尔斯这样的一些企业家纷纷投入了这个市场，为宠物提供服务。
加州华莱士的公司Pawier Inc.于1990年率先将一种富含维生素的狗饮用水投入市场，现在该公司改生产水溶性维生素补充剂了。佛罗里达州西棕榈滩Dog Ventures LLC生产“DogWater”牌的瓶装水，它还可以充当抛投玩具。随后，加州Valencia又出现了一家名为K9 Water Inc.的初创公司，其产品目录中列有诸如“排水沟水”、鸡肉口味的“马桶水”等产品。
苏珊?高德伯格(Susan Goldberg)说：“我提出了生产‘马桶水’的主张，因为我家的狗只喝马桶中的水。”40岁的苏珊是一名会计，她于2003年与其合伙人唐?麦吉尔(Don Magier)创办了K9。
费尔斯夫妇出售的PetRefresh牌宠物饮用水不仅适用于狗，也适用于猫、鸟类和仓鼠。他们宣称，自己公司的饮用水更有利于健康，因为水中不含有氯或氟化物。这些在自来水中添加的化学物质会给动物的肾脏、输尿管和骨骼造成损害。费尔斯先生还说：“自来水让动物口中产生难闻的气味，还会导致脱毛。”
一些兽医对费尔斯先生和其他动物饮用水销售商的此类说法提出了质疑。华盛顿Renton的兽医金?尼古拉(Kim Nichol)说：“除了电影《永不妥协》(Erin Brockovich)外，我从没听说过到自来水对宠物有任何危害。”他说，他自己养的金黄色的拉布拉多猎狗萨拉(Sarah)就喝马桶里的水，也没有出现什么明显的不良反应。
拿瓶装水给宠物解渴也要付出高昂的花费。一条体重60磅的狗，日平均饮水量在一升，若按照每瓶容量2升的PetRefresh水售价2.29美元计算，一条狗每年光喝水就要花掉400美元左右。
宠物瓶装水的购买者表示，对那些没有瓶装水就不正常饮水的宠物来说，这项投资是值得的。南加州的艺术家凯利斯?尤(Keris Eure)说，她的迷你杜宾犬Yenta因为喝自来水而患了多尿症，日见憔悴。两年前，尤女士在她家附近买到了 K9公司的宠物饮用水，从那以后，Yenta每次都把水喝得精光。她说：“这可让我松了口气。”
宠物对水的偏好可能还与水温有些关系。华盛顿Marysville的兽医比尔?伯林盖姆(Bill Burlingame)说，马桶里的水更清凉，大概也比盛在碗里的水“更新鲜”。如果碗不乾净，可能也会影响宠物对水的兴趣。伯林盖姆大夫说：“你在喝过水后是不是喜欢刷杯子呢？宠物也是一样。”
来自佛罗里达州坦帕的41岁营销管理人士罗里?洛夫莱斯(Lori Loveless)说，她的猫儿Sassy、Myrna和Pepper在共用一只碗喝水的时候从来喝不了多少，它们总是窜到水龙头前大喝特喝。后来，她购买了PetRefresh的宠物饮用水，猫儿们一下子变得喜欢喝碗里的水了。罗里说，朋友们听说她给宠物喝瓶装水后反应大相径庭，有人的反应是：“天呐，别逗了”，有人则问：“我在哪里能够买到？”
华盛顿埃弗雷特40岁的法律工作人员凯西?道森(Kathy Dawson)在给自己的地鼠Chester喝了PetRefresh的水后，对宠物饮用水的态度发生了转变。道森说，这只地鼠以前从未大量喝过水，而现在，“我从没见到过地鼠如此地能喝水。”
三年前，在华盛顿州雷尼尔山(Mt. Rainier)一侧的Carbon河边，49岁的费尔斯先生偶然发现了他的第一个宠物饮用水水源。那是他记忆中詹森头一次喝得如此香甜。费尔斯先生装了几瓶水，带回附近埃弗雷特(Everett)的家中。
此后不久，一个名叫基?皮特曼(Gene Pittman)的朋友把詹森的饮用水带给了他那条很老的娃娃狗Dixie。他回忆说：“我回去以后告诉费尔斯，14岁的Dixie喝到水后，兴奋得看起来像8岁一样。”
后来，费尔斯先生辞去了电脑咨询的工作，投身宠物饮用水产业。他租了一座仓库，在那里建起了一个小型的净化水储水池，还开著平板卡车到山里，用水泵将水抽到300加仑的塑料容器中。他给各个兽医站、宠物商店和其他可能的宠物水零售商打了1,440个推销电话，但很少有人愿意接受他的产品。42岁的费尔斯太太不禁对丈夫的商业计划产生了怀疑。她说：“我那时候想，我嫁的究竟是怎样一个人啊？”
费尔斯先生开始大胆地扩充产品种类，给产品中添加了各种口味。他回忆道：“一次我在切鱼片的时候，一只鱼眼珠掉了出来，马上被詹森吞吃掉了。这时我就想到了制造鱼肉味的水。”
2003年初在西雅图城外举办了一次名为Cat Fanciers' Show的爱猫者聚会活动，这给费尔斯的公司带来了突破性的转机。在这个展会上，猫的主人们将费尔斯的售货摊团团围住。他们将费尔斯先生的64瓶存货和费尔斯太太额外送来的200瓶水一抢而空。费尔斯夫妇开始在网上刊登广告，还直接发邮件给合法饲养宠物者。夫妇俩说，到去年年中，公司月销售量已从1,300瓶增长到了5万瓶。
由于华盛顿州法律对费尔斯先生能从河中取用的水量有限制，这对夫妇决定到一个用水许可量较高的州重新安家落户。俄勒冈州Cottage Grove是山谷中的一个小镇，夫妇俩对那里的水源十分看好。但詹森却不愿搬到那儿。费尔斯太太回忆说：“我很喜欢那个小镇，但詹森不喜欢那里的水。我对它说，喝吧，请你喝点吧，但它仍然不肯。”
后来，夫妇两人开始考虑北卡罗来纳州水量充沛的山丘，以前他们也曾来过这个地方。他们把詹森放在皮德蒙特高原的一块地皮上任它自由活动。这里有五条小溪和泉水，从树木繁茂的地面流出，詹森喝这些水都喝得份外香甜，因此费尔斯夫妇买下了这块40英亩的地皮。费尔斯先生说：“如果詹森不喜欢这里，我们根本不会考虑。”
在因搬家而停工几周后，费尔斯夫妇恢复了正常生产。最近，他们引入了一种新的宠物饮用水口味，叫“欧芹-叶绿素”(Parsley-Chlorophyll)，并且还希望推出一种叫EquiFresh的新产品，这是一种维生素和矿物质添加剂，添加在马的饮用水中。
费尔斯夫妇称，他们的水产品对人也是安全的，尽管在产品标签上写著“动物专用”。费尔斯先生称，这样做是为了规避有关人体健康方面的严格规定。在最近一次抽样检查中，费尔斯公司的原味PetRefresh水产品喝起来与一般山泉味道没什么两样。
