Keeping pets happy and hunger-free

Meet, Dia Sheth, a 13-year- old young entreprenuer who has designed Slurrp-y, a unique hydrating water bottle for pets. She has faced a unique problem while taking her puppy out for walks, to the garden, or on long drives.

"He used to get extremely thirsty and so I couldn't take him anywhere far or play outdoors with him for a long duration. Thus, the idea of Slurrp-y, the pet hydrating water bottle, was born in 2019".

"It is a unique pet hydrator bottle for cats and dogs, which has storage for food as well as water - so you can carry all of it on the go! It is leak proof, made with food grade material, and has a carbon filter to remove any odour and impurities. It makes it way easier for you to travel with your pet." says Dia.

Her biggest challenge, however, was to find a manufacturer. She went from place to place in Mumbai but could not find anyone due to the complex structure of the bottle. After a long search and lots of research, she found a factory in Bhiwandi that was ready to make the mould dye for her. Her biggest goal now is to patent her design.

"There is competition for everything in the market and Slurrp-y has some unique features, which makes it different from the others available in the market. Customers have loved the wide mouth cup feature which makes it easy for pets to drink out of and the leak proof system with a lock," she adds.

Dia started off her marketing efforts via word-of-mouth with her dog's trainer Malika Kamodia who loved the idea and offered to help and distribute her product pamphlets to NGOs, her clients, and various other people and communities.

It is priced at Rs 849 while Slurrp-y plus sells for Rs 899. The difference between fixed and variable costing, and how to arrive at the pricing so that I would have a marginal profit. I factored in manufacturing, packaging, and marketing costs and came up with the price. We have sold about 200 bottles so far," says Dia.

Slurrp-y is available at pet stores. she also exhibited her products at pet exhibition. The feedback at these platforms has helped her tremendously. She is currently in talks with Petsy – an online exclusive website for dogs. Dia's dream is to start her own website and to retail via stores not only all over India but worldwide."Nothing makes a pet lover happier than to see their pet enjoy and be joyful. I hope Slurrp-y makes their lives easier," she concludes.