WHEN NAVY VETERAN Ron Holloway was diagnosed with PTSD after he’d served two tours in Iraq, a counselor recommended a therapy pet. Holloway brought home a French bulldog, which he named Latto, but soon noticed that his furry friend was sluggish and having digestive issues. As an experiment, Holloway’s wife, Solo, an electrical and biochemical engineer, started serving Latto fresh food she made herself. Almost immediately, Latto had noticeably higher energy and no more digestive problems. He even started shedding less.
“He was like a whole new dog,” Holloway says. “That led us to ask, ‘How can we teach what we’ve learned?’”
In 2017, the Holloways launched another experiment in canine nutrition: a food truck for dogs. Today, Brooklyn-based Woofbowl makes all-natural dog treats cooked from scratch and served fresh, mostly at street fairs, private bookings, and corporate events. The meals are made to look like human foods—tacos and cheeseburgers—and come in packaging that is mostly compostable, biodegradable, or recyclable.
While the Holloways have acquired a
