Whether you’re looking for a new toy for your furry friend that will inevitably be torn apart in seconds or a grooming set to keep them from resembling a wild creature, the first name that comes to mind when it comes to pet care is Pets At Home.
Just over half of UK adults own a pet, from loyal canines to spiky-legged bearded dragons, so if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve visited Pets At Home recently. If you have a keen eye for what lines the shelves, you may have noticed a few products promising to help dogs regain the mobility they desperately need.
AniVatio Pro-Joint and Pets at Home’s own-brand Pro-Joint Supplements for Adult & Senior Dogs have become standout additions to the store’s bustling shelves. While the packaging may differ, these products have ‘substantially’ more in common than you might think.
AniVatio is part of the Natural Science Group, a company revolutionising the pet supplement industry by creating products that are both highly palatable and clinically proven to work. Using the group’s patented UC-II, a groundbreaking ingredient that stimulates cartilage growth in joints within as little as seven days, AniVatio’s ProJoint soft chews are giving dogs the chance to rediscover the mobility they once had.
As the co-founder and managing director of Natural Science Group, Lisa Hilton is the innovative mind behind AniVatio. Her formulation, powered by the patented UC-II, has been proven to be so effective (in fact, 2.3 times more so than leading joint care supplements) that it wasn’t long before other companies took notice and began approaching her with one key question: Can you make us a product?
One of those very brands, as you may have guessed by now, was Pets at Home. When Lisa met with their purchasing team in November 2023 to present the AniVatio range, they not only expressed interest in stocking AniVatio but also asked if she would be willing to create a Pets at Home own-brand version, to which she gladly agreed.
As a result, if you visit Pets at Home and pick up their Pro-Joint Supplements, you’ll notice on the back that it’s ‘powered by Natural Science Group.’
After conducting a six-month survey to gather customer feedback on joint supplements, they discovered that many consumers didn’t fully understand how these products worked. A common belief was that the products were just a mix of ingredients thrown together and rebranded, with little distinction between them. It was based on this insight, that they decided to approach Lisa and AniVatio to develop an own-brand joint supplement that would stand out.
After collaborating with multiple departments at Pets at Home to design the packaging and advise on the claims that could be made about the patented technology, the Pro-Joint Supplements launched in September 2024; right alongside AniVatio’s debut on the shelves. The key difference between the two? AniVatio is a cold-extrusion soft chew, while Pets at Home opted for an air-dried soft chew.
Both products immediately began to fly off the shelves, with the first purchase order of AniVatio ProJoint selling out in just two months. While this is an impressive feat in itself, it is all the more staggering considering it did so without any marketing behind it!
Lisa and the Natural Science Group team are excited to see this partnership grow and look forward to strengthening it by developing more own-brand products and expanding AniVatio’s presence in-store. Make sure you’re the first to hear about any future developments by following AniVatio on LinkedIn.