Doggie Deli Lava Paws

02/14/2025

Love is a four letter word and do you know what else has four letters? DOGS.

Love is going outside in extreme weather to exercise your dog

Love is making a cranberry/sardine mousse for your dogs

Love is petting and kissing those soft heads on bad days

Love is saying “biiiiigg stretch”

Loving a dog is something so special. That bond we have with them is not comparable to anything else in this world.

DOGS = LOVE

02/13/2025

Community and Success

Recently, I’ve been thinking about what is community. I’ve realized over the years that community is what makes a business successful. Hands down, this dog community propelled Lava Paws to success over the years. Since moving to the mainland a few months ago, I'm holding onto this community. You, your pets, and the Volcano community that supported me for almost 20 years.

Unfortunately, since June of 2024 we have seen a downward trend and had a significantly lower number of sales. We’ve had to make some really hard decisions over the last 8 months and I fear we may have to make more. We challenged ourselves by opening a second location, Buddy’s Beastro, in Kona April 2024. To be honest, we can’t quite crack and reach that community. We’ve tried a lot of different approaches like offering chiropractic adjustments, dog training classes, and more.
Kona dog people… where are you? To my surprise, we are barely making it in Kona. If you have advice, I’m always willing to hear ideas and discuss options with our customers, are you interested in a collab? If so, please don’t be shy.

Important Updates

With that being said, we are cutting down our Kona store hours to only be open 3 days a week. Effective February 18 OPEN Tuesday and Friday 10am - 5pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm.

Additionally, we are making changes to our loyalty program. Since we opened our doors almost 5 years ago, we have had an amazing loyalty program. Due increased program fees, increased operating costs, and lower number of sales, starting March 1, 2025 we will require customers to obtain 250 points to receive a $10 off coupon.
Also, we will be sending out text campaigns starting soon. Currently, we cannot send text campaigns from our marketing account due to laws pertaining to selling CBD.
Furthermore, we are looking to expand our wholesale client list and are searching for new clients in all of Hawaii.

New Treat Now Available

This past week we officially named our new treat, Fishin’ for Chicken. True to our ethos of incorporating community and farmers into our business model, Fishin’ for Chicken is a blend of chicken livers from Puna Chicks Farm, steamed ulu from Hawaii Ulu Co-Op, and Limu from UH Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center.

Help this Community

While this email is extremely hard to write, I know 2025 will be a year to fight and grow more as a community. It is my wish to continue to support Hawaii’s pets with some of the highest quality pet foods and treats, but we do need help and support as we navigate these hard times.

Ways you can support the Lava Paws Community:
Coconut Wireless - share and spread the word about why you Love us.
Leave us a Review - reviews on Google (https://g.page/r/CdN-eXOpfJ8hEBM/review) let people to find us.
Email Suggestions - Reach out to me [email protected] with ideas, suggestions, collaborations, potential wholesale clients etc. I know with the amount of stress I’ve been under, sometimes I don’t see things clearly and may have blinders up.
Shop - Either in store or online. Don’t see something in stock? Email me and let’s see what magic our team can create.

Click here for an update from Lava Paws!

02/12/2025

Congrats to ._ for the excellent name.

Fishin for Chicken is officially available for purchase. You can also stop in our stores for a sample.

So far no dog has snubbed this treat!

Fishin for Chicken is crunchy and savory treat that is a mix of Chicken Liver from Steamed Ulu from and Limu from UH Hilo Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center.

Truly an all encompassing treat that really supports our business model.

Mahalo nui loa to all that participated in the contest. I loved seeing all the engagement and creativity.

02/10/2025

Voting is now open .Share, share, share! The most hearts/likes wins

Our new treat is a combination of chicken liver, ulu, and limu. Here are the top 5 names.

Voting ends Wednesday 9am

Chicken and the Sea
Fishin for Chicken ._
Gimme Moa’ulu
Island Crunch
Island Trio Crunch .elima

Good luck! And I just loved reading all the responses.

02/08/2025

7 years thriving with an autoimmune disease. Gracie went to the vet for labs and to get the ok for a dental. At 9 years old she’s happy and healthy (once that tooth comes out).

She is Lava Paws. She survived and went into remission because of fresh foods, herbal support, and preventative pet care. No big pharma, No ultra processed foods.

02/05/2025

Coming hot like an at dinner time. Name our new treat has officially started. From now until Sunday you can enter your best names for our chicken liver, ulu, and limu treat.

Winner gets a free bag if the new treats plus a $30 gift card.

Rules
Can enter as many times as you want.
The top five names will be selected and then a voting system will be in place.
Most votes is the winner.

You can and it’s encouraged to share and especially share to get votes when that time comes.

Good luck and we can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with.

02/03/2025

Naming Contest starts TOMORROW!

Our treat new treat is a mix of chicken liver, steamed ulu (breadfruit), and limu (seaweed). It’s light and crunchy and comes in small, square pieces.

Winner gets a free bag of the new treats and a $30 Lava Paws gift card. You can enter as many names as you want. Our staff will pick the top names and then we will put it out on the internet for voting.

Things to consider when entering a name… Keep the Lava Paws Brand in mind. Pics included of my mutts living the best, happiest, and healthiest lives through nutrition and holistic care.

We also work with other small, local businesses and farmers to produce our superior products.

Good Luck and I can’t wait to see the responses.

02/01/2025

First off, notice how I said “Animal Flu”. If it’s not bird flu, it’s swine flu etc. Every animal has the ability to contract and distribute viruses. It’s nature.

Right now all you hear about is bird flu. Bird flu has been around for a long time and goes through flare ups. Bird flu has been found in poultry, dairy cow beef, raw milks, and in the wild with most bird species.

We know that to kill the virus in our food sources internal temp has to reach 165 degrees. Which for the most part puts a lot of dog treats and raw foods into question.

What this really comes down to is knowing your pets supply chain. If you feed dehydrated or freeze dried treats and/or raw food, feed the highest quality foods from reputable brands that are 100% transparent with you.

Lava Paws prides itself on working with small, local farmers. We built relationships over the years and most of these farmers are like family. That being said, we are extremely picky with what YOUR pets eat. We NEVER accept diseased animals and honestly our farmers know to never even try to give us low quality animals and meats. The meat and produce we source are raised with compassion, regenerative ag practices, on pastures, and more. By supporting these practices and small farms, the animals live healthier lives. It’s also easier for a small farms to implement a biosecurity program than large operations.

IMO what we should be asking is why are we letting these huge corporations and industrial ag raise animals in such horrendous conditions? Let’s address the root of the issue.

We need to ask Mars and Colgate (the majority of the pet food industry) and AAFCO why they are allowed to use diseased animals, harmful dye, and any byproduct in pets food? Pet food isn’t regulated and it’s up to the consumer to do their research.

A month ago we did check in with our farmers and producers and it’s business as usual.

So keep on feeding your dogs the good stuff (Lava Paws). And if you feed other foods, just ask the company.

01/26/2025

Pinky and I have been hanging out with Max lately.

Max is my mom’s dog that were helping get his diet and coat in check and we’re working with him in training.

You can see the different in coats between his and Pinky’s. And right now Max is very scent and independently driven and dog focused. Which isn’t a bad thing at all but we working on my mom and him bonding and working together.

I think Max and Pinky are such an odd couple. It’s really funny bringing them places together. Very different types of dogs but still very much companion dogs.

01/24/2025

So here I am going to rant.

Recently, I ventured into a corporate pet store to grab training treats. Yes I did. I bought two freeze-dried options that are some of the “best” foods and treats on the market.

Back story, I’ve been a label reader my whole life. While eating breakfast I read every damn cereal box so cue reading the entire package of treats and food.

What got me are these labels, Made in the USA, sourced World Wide. Naturally I want to know where the ingredients are coming from.

Ok fair enough most of the Nulo ingredients are coming from New Zealand, Australia, and France. And Acana very similar. BUT and this is a HUGE BUT to me. The vitamin mixes… the vitamin mixes that balance and preserve the food and treats are manufactured and distributed by China.

So I dug around the internet, which didn’t take much, and found that China controls most industrial vitamins mixes GLOBALLY. Vitamin mixes for our pets and livestock. There are a few US manufacturers but it is a very small market and when googling very hard to find.

To me this is extremely startling. So much so I want to do a docuseries on this topic. And they should get to do it. Our food supply and systems are already in distress but here we have a country that can furthermore control our food systems.

So to end my rant it’s really hard being an “aware” person. That being said, if you’re like me and don’t trust China in our affairs, and want trusted pet foods, you’ll have to buy from small companies or make your own. Support companies that care about your pets and you. Companies that use minimal vitamin mixes or preservatives. Companies that use whole foods to meet your dog or cat’s nutritional requirements. These are the people making a difference in the pet industry. Not corporations that spend more on their bag design than the food put into the bags.

01/22/2025

This is an exciting week for restock. We have limited supplies hitting the shelves starting today throughout the week of steak crisps, prosciutto crisps, beef lung and more raw food.

Want to make sure your pup snags their favorites. Call the shop or order ahead online.

01/20/2025

Just a friendly reminder the Hilo store is open today from 10-5.

Whatever you may be feeling today, dogs make our world a better place. So pick up a special treat to show them the love that exists.

01/19/2025

When Buddy jumped on the coffee table because I had a treat in my hand, I knew I had to do something for him. And this behavior is probably from agility.

Dogs aren’t easy and what is easy for one isn’t easy for another. For instance, my mom thinks Buddy hastoo much energy whereas I love it and work with it.

Dogs have high demands like energy, behavioral issues, physical issues etc. sometimes you get lucky and have a very low maintenance dog for your lifestyle. But the majority of dog ownership is a lot of work that is super rewarding.

We have snow once again and starting tomorrow we are getting into extreme temps. So the next 3 days aren’t really for being outside. I had library books to return so we strolled over to the library and went on a once mellow walk where Buddy could sniff, p*e, work his mind. Because a 1 mile walk will do nothing for him. lol

Now I gotta find a way for Pinky to tire herself out and not be so bitchy lol

01/14/2025

Today we had an oopsie moment. When I left our home before sunrise it was in teens. By the time we got to my mom’s which is closer to Appalachia it was around 5. The dog’s paws were definitely stinging and hurting. It’s similar to walking your dog on hot pavement or even long walks on the lava.

As soon as I realized it, we went back inside. Really the only two that can withstand extend periods in the ice/snow and that type of cold are the herding dogs Buddy and Odie.

Those that know cattle dogs and in Buddy’s case, border collie x cattle dog X catahoula, know there really isn’t much that will stop these types of dogs.

The Bull Girls can handle the 20 degree temps and Pokey doesn’t mind the teens. But single digits, nope.

After we got back, everyone got nice restorative paw balm spaw treatment. Luckily we don’t got places with salt treatments, otherwise we would be doing paw treatments every day.

It’s just a friendly that we’re not perfect and it’s always a good idea to listen to the dog in front of you.

01/10/2025

We have a small restock of items! More to come next week.

01/06/2025

Hey Y’all. The Holidays really wiped us out! We’re working really hard on restocking raw food and treats but it may take us awhile. So thank you!

We may even close down the shop for a week to regroup. If that does happen please know we can do online orders and meet folks for order pick ups.

In meantime, we’re open with very limited supplies. Please@message me here or email [email protected] with your requests and we’ll try to get it filled for you.

01/01/2025

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!

The amount of love and support we received this past year has my heart bursting. Thinking of all our customers and their pets is what kept me going through the hardest year yet.

We’ve had a lot of setbacks, but with that comes growth. I’ve had a lot of chances in 2024 to reflect on what it means to have a small business and if I truly wanted to continue. Creating, running, and maintaining a small business is life altering. This past year, I sunk into a deep, dark place.

The past few months I’ve realized and have accepted a lot about myself. Yesterday morning, the first time in a while, I woke up anxiety free. I didn’t even want coffee. I looked out our kitchen window and we had the most magical 🌈.

As I closed the difficult chapter of 2024, I walk into 2025 with a sense of light, achievement, gratitude, and love… firstly for myself, secondly for Lava Paws.

I think this is going to be our breakout year! #2025

12/31/2024

Today is the last day to get our products and CBD for a few days. We will be closed Wednesday and Thursday this week to rest and spend time with our dogs, friends and family.

Please take advantage of our 10% off CBD products for NYE prep. We still have a few bottles of CBD oil and treats left. Also don’t forget enrichment items like lick mats, snuffle mats and slow feeders.

I hope you can exercise your dog, stay at home with them, and you have a nice relaxing night.

Our pack went to the horse farm and ran in the mud and rain. They loved every minute. Soon they’ll get some raw meaty bones to drain them even more mentally. Dinner will have CBD in it.

Finally about an hour or so before midnight, they get a CBD infused lick mat or toppl to occupy them.

Stop in today, our supplies are very limited.