Health Mutt Caters to Needs of Local Canines

Itchy skin, digestive issues and dental woes don't just plague humans.

Fido needs some TLC, too.

That's where Health Mutt comes in. The Seminole Heights business at 6116 N. Central Avenue, which has been open for a year, services the needs of canines across Tampa Bay.

We recently talked to owner Kendra Bailey, a Brandon native who owns a dog named Jethro, about what she loves about the community and how they can participate in Health Mutt's one year anniversary event on Nov. 10.

On why she opened her business: A few months after graduating, I was thinking of how to harness all of my strengths and do something productive. I went to school for art, so it was a lot of event planning, self promotion.  I realized I liked the business aspect of that. I worked at a holistic pet store in college.

What services are offered at Health Mutt:  We have a variety. The most popular is the self service dog wash area, where we provide everything you need for the bath. You don’t have to bend over and break your back. It's warm water, spa like experience. We also have nail trimming here twice a month and host anesthesia-free dental cleaning sessions.

We have a low cost vaccine unit here. And our main thing would be the retail section, focusing in all natural products. Our speciality is the food. If anyone has a dog with itchy skin, a picky eater, digestive upsets. We give you samples and knowledge.

On what she likes about Seminole Heights:  The demographic. A lot of people that come in, I guess I relate to them. I fit into that demographic with everyone else. I feel comfortable.

It’s a laid back community. It's very accepting, very forgiving, easy to work with. A lot of people are in the service or environmental industry. It's nice. All of these people are my neighbors. Support for small businesses has been good. It's more liberal of a community, so they tend to understand concepts like how small business works.

What customers can expect at the one-year anniversary event on Nov. 10: We are going to have cake, wine and beer, pizza, four adoption groups here, and huge raffle prizes, two of them being a year supply of dog food. The raffle goes to rescue groups. We are going to do sales and have a bunch of food reps here talking about food, and doing samples. We’ll do giveaway bags, too.

For more information, call 813-231-3137.