 In 2017 Steph started to explore feeding their dogs and cats a raw food diet to meet their dietary needs. It allowed her to feed them real, natural foods, with daily variety while also giving her control over the contents. “When we adopted our second dog, he was very overweight and it was a lot easier for me to control what was going into his food,” explained Steph. “But I could bulk up his food with things like vegetables so he wasn’t just starving and getting into things all day long.” Steph spent lots of time researching raw food diets, their benefits, and what was needed to make sure the food would be nutritionally balanced. Two of her dogs have kidney disease and liver disease, and Steph likes how she can adjust their meals to help support their needs. After starting the raw food diet, Steph and her husband Scott began to explore making dehydrated treats for their pets. The treats were a hit, and Steph began to send out some samples to friends to see if their pets liked them as well. “My dogs will primarily eat anything so they aren’t really good judges,” Steph said with a laugh. After a few years of doing dehydrated treats for their animals, they purchased a freeze dryer in 2021. Steph and Scott had originally planned to use the freeze dryer to preserve their four and a half acre garden. “We just wanted to be able to preserve it for the year,” Steph said. “But then in our downtime when we didn’t have a garden, we started doing stuff for the dogs, and then it just kind of spun off from there.” Her cats love the treats as well, and they have developed a preference for it over the years. “They know the sound of the freeze drier and they come running as soon as I am bringing the trays into the kitchen to package them,” Steph smiled. Yeeter Snax officially started in March of 2022, making freeze dried treats for cats and dogs out of whole foods. They purchase all of their meat from human grade processing facilities from between Windsor to Toronto, and they purchase vegetables in bulk from local farmers when they can, which allows Steph to do mass quantities of freeze drying to hold them over until the next growing season. They live on a farm in Blenheim, and Steph personally drives out to each processing facility to pick up meat cuts. “We don’t process quite enough to justify the shipping costs of a chilled transport truck,” Steph said. “So it’s easier for me to just throw on audio books and hit up all the processors in one day.” The chicken eggs come from their personal chickens, and the chicken broth powder comes from the meat chickens Steph and her husband raise every year. All of Yeeter Snax’s treats are made with simple ingredients, which means even dogs with allergies can have their treats. “We do an entire beef run, or an entire chicken run and then package those so people can safely give the treats to their pets,” Steph explained. No kidney, spleen, or liver is ever used in their treats, as they can easily cause digestive upset. But Steph tries to make use of other organs and extra cuts which aren’t typically used in North American cooking to help cut down on the amount of byproduct and waste from animal processing. “As much as I would love to raise all of the animals that we could for our treat business, it’s just not possible for two people,” Steph said. “But at least this way we’re making sure that the commercial animals are getting used as much as possible.” If the organs make you feel a little funny, Steph always makes sure she also has strips, veggies, cheese curds, and different options. Steph and her husband currently use a workshop on their farm to house their freeze dryers, and everything is done by hand, from slicing up ingredients to packaging and labeling. Their packages are also made from completely recyclable bioplastics, made from plant materials, and their labels are printed from fully recyclable paper with soy-based inks. You can order their treats online, including monthly subscriptions, which come shipped with fully recyclable shredded cardboard to protect the treats during shipping. In the same year that Yeeter Snax started, Steph started coming to the Horton Farmers’ Market, making this year their third market season. What initially drew them to the market was the timing, because it allowed them to still have time to tend to their farm animals and garden. But after going to the market a couple of times, Steph knew they would continue to come back because of the customer and vendor environment. “All of the vendors are great, I talk to so many of them and see them at other events I go to,” Steph said. “This year we have someone running our Saturday Horton booth for us, and when I told other vendors that was happening, they all said if she needs anything just tell her to come find us. That hasn’t happened at other markets, which was just cool.” Yeeter Snax also attends dog events and fundraisers, attending Pet Fest in Dorchestor and a Greyhound fundraiser this August. They try to also attend Second Chance Animal Rescue (SCAR) fundraising events in London. Having adopted all of their pets, attending events and helping with donating treat bags and prizes is important to Steph, and she was one of the wonderful prize donors for the inaugural 2024 St. Thomas Puppy Parade; a fundraising event for the new St. Thomas Animal Shelter. The Yeeter Snax logo is actually modeled off of one of Steph’s dogs, Zipper, who came from SCAR, and her other two dogs came from another rescue and the Windsor Humane Society.  As for where the company name came from, Steph smiled as she told us the story about Arrow, their feral kitten who came to them through the cat distribution system (if you know, you know). While they were trying to come up with a company name, Steph and her husband were living in a two storey house, and Arrow's favourite thing was to fling herself off the stairs. “She’d be like six of seven stairs ip and would fling herself off through the banisters,” Steph laughed. “You would just hear a thump, and she would be fine, but we began to say she was yeeting herself everywhere, and that’s how it came about.” Yeeter Snax can regularly be found at the Horton Farmers’ Market on Saturdays throughout the market season, so bring your dog out to say hello and chat with Steph! Our market is always dog friendly outside, and will have another by-donation dog photo booth running on Saturday August 24 from 8am until noon, with proceeds going towards the new St. Thomas Animal Shelter. We hope to see you there!
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