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<\/a>Founded in 1996 in Del Mar and with another store in Carlsbad, Dexter\u2019s Deli has grown to become one of the county\u2019s leading natural health food stores for dogs and cats. Dexter\u2019s is proving to be the \u201cnext\u00a0generation\u201d of pet-supply stores, proving the best in natural alternative diets, up-to-date nutritional information, fresh homemade foods and snacks, cool collars, and the wildest toys and gifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a species-appropriate diet,\u201d Rosay said of the growing trend in the pet industry away from serving dogs and cats processed foods and toward using raw, freeze-dried and other more natural alternatives.<\/p>\n
Noting that Americans have been \u201cculturally conditioned\u201d to serve pets processed foods, Rosay said pets, like people, sometimes pay a price for not eating a better diet in the form of health conflicts like \u201cdiabetes in cats; chronic, irritable bowel syndrome in dogs; allergy issues; etc.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosay named Dexter’s for a past pet that was the inspiration for her 20-year-old business.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a human nutrition background and I was living in St. Louis and I had a dog who was really sick with horrible allergies and it was like, ‘Duh, if this stuff (healthier more natural food) works for humans \u2014 let’s do it for pets,\u2019\u201d Rosay said, noting her dog lived to a ripe old age eating only fresh, raw food.<\/p>\n \u201cFresh food is powerful,\u201d Rosay said. \u201cIt does cost a little more. So we teach people how to do it affordably.\u201d<\/p>\n Dexter’s has just about everything imaginable for your dog or cat, from toys and chews to leashes and collars, and all the other accoutrements.<\/p>\n Why should people go to Dexter’s rather than any other pet-food store?<\/p>\n \u201cBecause they’re going to find foods that are more independent and more top of the line, coming out of Canada, because they have better regulations on how they handle their meat,\u201d Rosay said.<\/p>\n Rosay\u00a0is also all about using local and regionally sourced food and other products whenever possible. In 2014, she launched her own line of locally sourced fresh, raw food for dogs and cats called “Dexter’s Naturals<\/a>.\u201d She recently added original,\u00a0all-natural dog biscuits and\u00a0doggy pup-cakes to her product line that is being locally fresh-baked in Oceanside.<\/p>\n Following a natural holistic lifestyle in all aspects of her life and\u00a0her business, Rosay believes Dexter’s Deli has taken on a life of its own because of the amazing customers who are just as passionate about their pets as she is.<\/p>\n Consequently, coming to North Park, for Rosay, was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n \u201cNorth Park is a do-it-yourself community,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are more into going to the farmers market, going organic and farm-to-table. It’s super community-oriented here. We already had customers driving from this area to our Del Mar store. So it was time to find something down here.\u201d<\/p>\n Dexter\u2019s location in a strip mall fronting on 30th Street \u2014 between North Park Way and Gunn Street \u2014 is \u201cperfect,\u201d Rosay said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got a parking lot, lots of owners and dogs walking by, and two dog parks nearby at both Morley Field in Balboa Park and Grape Street,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rosay said natural and other alternatives to processed foods are a lasting trend in the pet-food industry.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers are going to start demanding their (pet) food be made with real food, not leftovers,\u201d she said adding, \u201cThat’s how pet food was born \u2014 to get rid of waste material from processed food.\u201d<\/p>\n The pet-food purveyor said it’s a fun business to be in.<\/p>\n \u201cYou make a difference in people’s lives, and their relationship that they have with their pets,\u201d Rosay said. \u201cFor some, dogs and cats are the one living thing in their household that is happy to see them. They treat their pets like regular family.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>