. >> reporter: maureen moody founded stella & chewy's in 2003, a pet company named after her two rescue dogs. the idea came to her after receiving devastated news from her vet. >> chewy was a once-in-a-lifetime dog, your soulmate dog. when i first got chewy, i was working with the fashion industry. and he was sick. and the vet said, this dog is not going to make it. and i sorted got this epiphany. i started doing research on food, so their dna is still not 99.9% wolf. it made a lot of sense about how they went back to eat in the mild. >> she met chewy meat, fish and vegetables. how did chewy respond? >> he got 100% better. not slightly, but 100% better. and he lived to be almost 17. >> when dud you realize that this is something other people want? >> i think i started to realize this when i saw how much better chewy got. if you love to your dog, feed it a high-quality diet. >> reporter: she spent six months drafting and what were the early days like? >> i had industrial freezers for years. i did deliver by taxi and then i got a minivan and turned that into a dlufry vehicle. >> so you we

. >> marie moody founded stella & chewy's in 2003, a pet food company she named after her two rescueogs. the idea came to her after receiving devastating news from her vet. >> chewy was a soul mate dog. when i first got chewy, i was working in the fashion industry and he was sick and the vet said this dog's not going to make it. i sort of had this epiphany. i started doing research on pet food. even though we've domesticated them, their dna is 99.9% wolf. it made a lot of sense to go back to how they used to eat in the wild. >> she fed chewy a raw food indict, meat, fish and vegetables. >> how did chewy respond? >> he got 100% better, not even slightly, but 100% better. he lived to be almost 17. >> when did you realize, okay, this is something that other people want? >> i think i started to realize that when i saw how much better chewy got. if you really love your dog, the single most important thing you can do is to feed it a high quality diet. >> she spent six months drafting a business plan. launched her new company in her kitchen. >> what was it like? >> i had industrial freezers

. >> marie moody founded stella & ch chewy's in 2003. the idea came to her after receiving devastating news from her vet. >> chewy was one of the once-in-a-lifetime dogs. when i first got chewy, i was working with the fashion industry and he was sick. and the vet said, this dog is not going to make it. and i sort of had this epiphany and started doing research on pet food. because even though we've domesticated them, the dna was 99% wolf. it made a lot of sense to go back to how they ate in the wild. >> she fed him meat, fish and vegetables. how did chewy respond? >> he got 100% better. not even slightly but 100% better and lived to be almost 17. >> when did you realize, okay, this is something that other people want? >> i think i started to think the most important thing you can do is feed it a high-quality diet. >> she spent six months drafting a business plan and drained her savings account. what will the early days like? >> i had industrial freezers in my living room for, like, four years. in the beginning it delivered by taxi. i did