50 years of pet food

Bernhard Wigger established Bewital petfood in 1963. Having been raised on a farm, he started out manufacturing animal feed for rearing livestock. These products were intended to be as natural as possible, saving the farmer the need to call out the vet. The new products were well received in the market and led to rapid growth, with Bewital developing into a specialist in nutrition for young animals. In 1995, Bernhard Wigger handed over the reins to the next generation, the present managing director Dr Jürgen Wigger and his sister Ulrike Petershagen. The company employs over 350 staff.
Building on his extensive experience of young animals, Bernhard Wigger began to develop food for dogs and cats in 1985. These were sold under the names Bewi Dog and Bewi Cat. Word soon got around in the world of dog sports and among breeders that Bewi Dog helped to maintain the optimum canine constitution, and so the majority of products were sold in the early years primarily to dog breeders and those involved in agility sports. Distribution was only extended to pet stores in 1996 with the introduction of the super-premium brands Belcando for dogs and Leonardo for cats. Now the speciality trade is the principal distribution channel for Bewital.

As with food for livestock, Bewital focused on using natural ingredients in pet food also. Poultry meat with a low ash content has been used for many years, for example, and has a maximum meat content and minimal bone content. There are many other examples of natural ingredients too that are beneficial to the health of pets, such as grape seeds instead of a high concentration of isolated vitamin E.
When it comes to selecting ingredients, the staff at Bewital are sure that the small size of the company with just one production plant gives it an advantage over multinational competitors. The company is able to purchase special raw ingredients from smaller manufacturers that would not be available to large companies in sufficient quantities. “We would like to offer our customers truly better products in this way,” says managing director Dr Jürgen Wigger.

The pet food is now sold in more than 50 countries worldwide to feed more than half a million dogs and cats every day. “We have concentrated on the…