AUBURN — After thousands of dogs got sick and hundreds more died from eating recalled dog treats, Shasta Moschetto worried about what her dogs were eating. 

So she turned on her oven and started baking.

“I wanted to make a treat that I knew myself was healthy and what was in it,” she said. She didn’t want her three dogs — Sheeba, Peaches and Rocko — to become ill. 

Making dog treats began as a hobby. It’s turned into a business.

Moschetto, 33, owns Perfectly for Pooches and makes organic dog treats out of her Auburn kitchen and caters to canines with allergies.

“I spent a few years working in a veterinary facility, and I currently work in a doggy day care, and I realized there is an increasing number of dogs that have food allergies right now, especially to grain,” she said. “So I love to do no-grain treats. I can also do no-protein. Certain things like that, whatever. And I don’t use wheat, so they’re gluten free.” 

Moschetto spends 12 to 16 hours a week baking Blueberry Breath, Peanut Butter Crunch and Munch, Bacon and Cheddar and other biscuits in her kitchen. She uses only fresh ingredients — organic blueberries, real cheddar cheese, organic peanut butter sold at a local health food store for humans — and tailors the biscuit base to the dog’s dietary needs. Traditional flour is out; oat flour, flax seed meal and garbanzo bean flour is in.  

The biscuits have proven popular among the canine set. Her own pudgy pug, Peaches, tries to climb into the oven when Moschetto opens the door to check on a batch. 

“Somebody told me their dog keeps picking up the empty bag and bringing it to them,” Moschetto said.

The treats are pretty popular among humans, too. And not just because they make Fido happy.

“Because it’s all human-grade ingredients, there’s nothing wrong with them. I’ve had friends and family try them as well. Like the Bacon Cheddar, people say it (tastes) like a smokey Ritz cracker. Or the Sweet Potato Cranberry is pretty much like a pie flavor,” Moschetto said. “I did have a friend who I gave some leftover to for his dog. He (the friend) ate the whole bag.”

Moschetto recently tried adding cat treats to her dog biscuit repertoire. They haven’t proven quite so successful.

“Cats are a little more finicky,” she said. “Some cats are like, ‘Yes!’ Some cats are like, ‘No.'”

Moschetto makes about 20 kinds of dog biscuits, including special seasonal flavors. A 50-biscuit mixed bag of her five most popular flavors — Peanut Butter Crunch and Munch, Blueberry Breath, Sweet Potato and Cranberry, Bacon and Cheddar, and Banana Bread — sells for $5. Custom orders sell for $4 to $6.

She averages three or four orders a week.

Moschetto sells Perfectly for Pooches biscuits at animal shelter events across the state. Perfectly for Pooches also sells through its Facebook page, with cartoon versions of Sheeba, Peaches and Rocko on its a logo. Moschetto plans to move the business to its own website soon.

“I love that I get to make pets happy and their parents happy as well,” she said.

Have an idea for Animal Tales? Contact Lindsay Tice at 689-2854 or ltice@sunjournal.com.