THE JUMP
MANUFACTURING
NATRIXONE LETS THE DOGS OUT IN OAKLEY
The camelina oil formula supports joints, muscle recovery, and immune system as well as the dog’s coat. With two separate formulas, Huttenbauer split his company in two: Excel — SARAH M. MULLINS Supplements for horses and NatrixOne for dogs. Their camelina sativa is grown, picked, they were willing to try our camelina oil,” he and squeezed in Spain, and the byproduct is says. “We knew there was something special shipped to an Oakley warehouse for bottling with it right away.” and shipping. The plant is native to Europe Huttenbauer eventually was inspired by his and Central Asia and traditionally has been dog, Cammy, a Great Pyrenees who was 130 cultivated to produce vegetable oil and animal pounds with two knee surgeries and strug- feed. Huttenbauer says he’s inching closer to gling to get up as she aged. After taking the being able to grow the crop locally, and he camelina oil, Huttenbauer says wants to become a greater part of Cammy’s quality of life greatthe community by hosting ownerly improved, with a decrease NatrixOne’s and-pet “yappy hour” events and in shedding as a side benefit. facility tours. “We want something camelina Horse owners using the oil also that has more of a local vibe to it,” started asking if they could use oil is an he says of the decision to focus all it for their dogs, so Hutten- anti-inflamproduction in Oakley after consolbauer’s team researched and idating warehouse functions from matory tweaked the formula for dogs’ St. Bernard. “We’re hoping to be able to expand that over the next specific needs, including a 100- treatment dog, six-week study at the local for dogs six months.” Four Paws Animal Hospital in NatrixOne is currently sold by and horses. Lebanon, where veterinarian Kroger, Amazon, Pet People, and Rich Coleman looked at 50 Tractor Supply, and it recently bedogs that had skin issues and 50 dogs with came available at the online pet supply store joint-related issues. He found improvement in Chewy. A puppy-specific formula blend is excoat quality and activity levels. pected to be released soon.
The pet supplement manufacturer creates a healthy and sustainable formula from plants. As with human healthcare, interest in natural and alternative medicine continues to soar for pets, and agrobusiness entrepreneur Sam Huttenbauer caught on to the trend early. Supplements have worked their way into pet care over the years from anxiety-relieving remedies to digestive cure-alls, but he found a sustainable way to develop an anti-inflammatory formula specifically geared for horses and dogs and to manufacture it in Cincinnati. Huttenbauer worked in the food and healthcare space for more than 30 years and was introduced to the camelina sativa plant while with a biotech company. Since the resulting oil included anti-inflammatory compounds and what he calls “the big three” fatty acids (omega 3, 6, and 9), Huttenbauer dug deeper to see how the crop could rival unsustainable options like fish oil. He initially tested its efficacy on horses, and the results were overwhelming positive. “A lot of these horses were on their last legs, and owners had already tried conventional medicine and been recommended to put the animals down, so
18 REALM SUMMER 2021
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E SY N AT R I XO N E
