Swimming With The Sharks and Taking Their Temp, Too!

Hi! It’s Ben, Anya, Daniella (and the entire Mella team)

DID YOU JUST SEE THAT? 🙀

When we conceived of Mella Pet Care years ago it wasn’t a pet health ecosystem, it wasn’t an underarm thermometer, heck - it wasn’t even necessarily a pet health company! But we always had WILL. And where there is will, there is always a _____. 😉

Renowned veterinarians from around the world told us, “You will NEVER be able to achieve accurate temperature under the foreleg.” Others said, “Pet parents will never care to monitor their pet's health from home.”

We let all that roll off our backs and used it as fuel. Today, Mella is in 1300+ veterinary clinics in 15 countries. We’ve won too many awards to count (14). And now we’ve done a deal with MARK CUBAN ON SHARK TANK! 

We’ll tell you how it felt to do a deal. First, let’s rewind a bit… Getting The Call 📞

The Shark Tank carpet is on the bucket list of almost every entrepreneur. We never dreamed of the opportunity until it happened. 

Upwards of 40,000 applications are submitted each year and about 88 actually make the show. Let’s do the math:

88/40000 = 0.002% 

With odds like this, we had to seize the opportunity…. 

But we had to keep it A SECRET. Which was fun, but also difficult. Check out this video of us basically for the past several months:

Getting Ready 👷‍♂️

The preparation had multiple aspects: we watched lots of Shark Tank episodes, Tabby being our favorite. We studied what questions were frequently asked and prepared accordingly. Where there is a will ….. There is a way!

Then, we teamed up with our #1 pet friend, Obie, out of Las Vegas. Obie most recently joined our booth at Superzoo in Las Vegas.

And boy, does Obie sell thermometers! He stole the show and we knew we had to bring him to Shark Tank. 

To the green room… ✅

Is any Mella Pet Care green room complete without a pet bowl? No. The team at ABC, Sony, and Shark Tank did an incredible job taking care of us and most importantly, Obie, the star of the show!

Obie on a walk with his mom, Laura, around the studios. It was a beautiful day indoors and out! They drove all the way from Las Vegas to be in LA with us.

Fast Forward ⏩ to The Present 🎁

Mella's journey has gone from a simple idea, to revolutionizing pet health monitoring, to appearing in a nationally televised event on Shark Tank! It is SURREAL.

Now, WE’RE READY TO TALK. Here is our very own Daniella, Chief of Staff, and host of our Vet Pet Exchange podcast, who you likely just met on the tube, talking about her journey.

Here is us fresh out of the tank. After we dried off, of course. Exhausted and on cloud nine, all at the same time!

After a long wait, we got word that our episode was going to air! We were beyond excited and immediately got to work, planning watch parties, and making sure our shark outfits fit.

Biggie, the namesake of our Biggie Body Condition Scale, and Ben’s dog.

If there is a will, there IS a way!

It all began in 2019 when our CEO and Co-Founder, Anya’s rescue dog, Mella, suffered from kennel cough. The absence of a simple thermometer to ease Mella's discomfort sparked the inception of our mission. Witnessing Mella's aversion to vet visits and rectal temperature checks ignited the drive to create a fear-free alternative.

Fast forward to 2024 and our ecosystem of pet health technology has graced the screens of millions nationwide on Shark Tank.

As Biggie said, it was all a dream! And it still is.

We’d like to say a special thank you to everyone - our day one supporters, our incredible team, our family, our customers, and so many others without whom this day would not be possible.