How Sundays’ Vet Founder Created the Healthiest, Easiest Dog Food

Being a vet has always been my dream job. Like so many kids, I adored animals. Growing up, we always had a family dog, and my first ever job was working as a lifeguard at a dog beach — I hope to be rehired when I retire!

My passion for animals carried me through years of school, majoring in animal science, interning at a dog genetics lab, all the way to practicing veterinary medicine in NYC. Being a vet even brought me my own dog, Mabel, when she showed up at the emergency room as a stray after being hit by a car (she was fine but definitely scraped up). 

Sundays’ story also started in the vet examination rooms. Dog parents would often ask me about the new wave of “elevated” kibbles hitting the market in the late 2010s, looking for something healthier than the standard options for their pups. 

Premium kibble is "premium" in name only

I began digging, and it turned out many of the new brands were just breakthroughs in marketing rather than dog nutrition. They had prettier bags and more enticing claims — but as a court case proved, the new guys were offering practically the same product, just for a higher price. 

But the common sense question resonated with my husband (and co-founder) Michael and me: If a technically balanced, but highly processed diet of kibble is like eating fast food nuggets and a multivitamin, surely a diet of whole foods, meat, and vegetables would offer more nutritional benefits? 

There were no perfect existing solutions. Home cooking for dogs is an admirable decision, but a big, time-consuming, labor-intensive commitment (not to mention the difficulty of ensuring nutritional balance after all the effort). As a veterinarian, owner compliance and a pet parents’ ability to carry out any recommendations is just as important as the decision itself. Even getting fresh food delivered frozen still asks a lot of dog parents to manage; from playing freezer tetris to store everything, to remembering to thaw food daily, and then deal with the mess of getting it into the bowl. And while raw diets sound appealing, there are real risks to both the dog and human health of a household.

Why air drying is an ideal recipe for dog food

To ensure the health, safety, and trustworthiness of our food, we voluntarily worked to human-grade standards. These are far stricter than the feed-grade standards pet food is legally held to, and regulates everything from the quality of the ingredients to the practices through the cooking and shipping processes. 

But our real breakthrough came with the method of air-drying. It allowed us to gently cook the food to the point where any potential pathogens were eliminated, but naturally preserve all of the nutrients in the whole ingredients we were using. 

We flew all the way to New Zealand (with our 4-month-old daughter, who slept the entire 17 hour flight!) to learn about the techniques, before finding jerky manufacturers in the USA who could deliver what we wanted at home. It took over 100 iterations before we landed on an air-dried recipe we — and my dog Mabel, our chief taste tester — were satisfied with. 

Sundays is the dog food of tomorrow — and today

Our first orders were shipped from our own garage by Michael, myself, and our moms. Sundays’ official launch was in February 2020, which coincided with our fulfillment center shutting down for COVID. Fast forward to now and while we’re feeding thousands of dogs, I still feel the same care and connection to the product like when I was just making it for my own dog. Every single batch of Sundays we still make for Mabel, and now feel lucky enough to share it with other dogs as well. 

This is another thing which sets Sundays apart from the rest! Being a vet-founded company from day 1, every decision we’ve made about the product has had a vet in the room advocating principally for the health of dogs. And we’ve built an incredible team equally dedicated to the same mission. 

We’re excited to keep developing our recipes, leading toward a better industry standard, and discovering the future of dog food! 

Every day spent with your dog should feel as easy as Sundays. Maybe even a Sunday spent at the dog beach.  

Where can I try Sundays?

I’m so glad you asked! We’ve made it truly effortless to feed your dog the best nutrition. Just share a few details about your dog to build their profile and select the air-dried recipes that work best for you from turkey, chicken, and USDA beef. All that’s left to do is serve, and we provide portioning guidance too!

Our all-star customer service team is available to support you, whatever you need — and if for any reason you’re left hungry for something else, we offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.