Women’s History Month is a genuinely good excuse to do something you probably would have done anyway: spoil your pet. The encouraging news is that some of the most original, thoughtful, and outright fun pet care brands around are founded and operated by women.
We’re talking a former Nike design director who redirected her skills toward sustainable pet toys, the trained chef behind a celebrated London restaurant who pivoted to fresh dog food, and a fashion marketing veteran who decided her dog deserved better nutrition. These are not side projects; they are businesses built by accomplished people who happen to care deeply about animals. Here are some of our favorite women-owned pet care brands to shop this month and every one that follows.
Little Beast
A first purchase from Little Beast has become something of a rite of passage for fashion-forward pet parents. The brand is a Gen-Z and millennial favorite for good reason: its sweaters, fleeces, onesies, and parkas make dogs and cats look genuinely, unreasonably good. Founder Jisu Kim built the whole operation around conscious sourcing. “I’m super conscious of where the products I purchase are coming from,” she told us. “I try to only buy from small and local businesses since I know there is more care, and that personal touch goes into each product they make.”
Wild One
If you have ever admired a particularly put-together walking setup on a stranger’s dog, there is a reasonable chance Wild One had something to do with it. The brand covers everything a dog walk demands — leashes, treat pouches, collar charms — and takes animal rescue seriously, maintaining active partnerships with organizations like Badass Animal Rescue.
Found My Animal
Found My Animal designed their signature leash with a deliberate goal: to keep animal adoption in the public conversation. “We wanted to show how adopting a dog is life-changing and the shelter system needed an avenue for promotion,” founder Bethany Obrecht told us. “It was meant to be worn multiple ways so that people could literally walk around the streets of New York City and show off their accessory with their rescue dogs.” The brand has since expanded into beds and hoodies, earned features on The Martha Stewart Show and The Kelly Clarkson Show, and collaborated with Justin Theroux and Anthropologie, but the rescue-first mission has never wavered.
Nina Ottosson
When it comes to enrichment toys that actually work, Nina Ottosson has set the benchmark. Her puzzle toys give dogs the kind of mental exercise that under-stimulated pups genuinely need. “Wild animals get natural mental stimulation when hunting for food, which inspired me when developing the games to match the dog’s natural movements and instincts,” Ottosson told us. “All dogs (and other pets) need to use their brain in order to keep them mentally healthy.”
Lay Lo
Lay Lo makes pet beds so visually appealing that you might briefly resent the size constraints. Each comes with an orthopedic mattress and a washable, swappable cover, so switching up the look is easy. And yes, John Legend designed one in collaboration with the brand. Just a casual detail.
Just Fred
Traveling pet parents, this one belongs on your radar. Just Fred’s carrier is the rare thing that manages to be both genuinely sturdy and genuinely stylish, and the brand rounds out its lineup with harnesses, collars, and charming sweaters. They spotlight senior dogs for adoption and maintain ongoing partnerships with animal welfare nonprofits. The brand is also entirely vegan. “I really believe that our fellow creatures should be our friends, not our bags,” founder Tennille Teague told us. “So, when I started designing the collection, the idea of using animal products felt misaligned with that philosophy and with the company’s mission of ensuring kindness in every choice we make.”
Migos
Caroline Artiss started training as a chef at 15. She went on to open a restaurant that earned serious acclaim in London and built a following through a popular cooking show — then she turned those same instincts toward feeding dogs properly. Migos delivers nutrient-dense fresh food, supplement powders, and free recipes, all developed with the rigorous attention to ingredients she brings to her cooking. “We’re all living beings,” Artiss told us. “So, things like hydration, having protein, having carbs, having all the right things for even cognitive development. Animals need real food.”
Maxbone
Maxbone covers nearly every category in pet care — leashes, harnesses, bags, food, toys, treats, beds — with a consistent design sensibility that stands out on the shelf. Their collaboration pieces with designers including Christian Cowan and Fred Segal have a devoted following, and the brand maintains longstanding charitable partnerships with organizations like Wags and Walks and Best Friends Animal Society.
Merci Collective
If crystals are already part of your personal wellness practice, maybe it’s time to let your pet have access to the same. Merci Collective founder Chani Ronez developed the brand while searching for natural anxiety solutions for her own dog. “I was looking for other solutions such as CBD, but then I thought, crystal healing makes people feel pretty good — no matter how it works or whether people believe in it,” she told us. The resulting lineup includes a travel water bottle, catnip toys, and collars, all featuring healing crystals.
Modernbeast
Hope Reiners and Lona Williams describe their ideal Modernbeast customer as a pet with “a refined sense of adventure” — and the product range reflects that sensibility. The lineup spans beautifully printed bandanas and felt toys to “pawty hats” sewn from leftover fabric scraps. Everything is eco-friendly, and the whole operation runs on a satisfying zero-waste logic. “We’re constantly trying to improve on becoming more sustainable and not creating more waste,” Reiners told us. “Our toy bones are cut out of wool and we use the excess from that for our felt hats … If you open up one of our beds, it’s kind of like a greenish stuffing because most of that recycled stuffing comes from 7-Up bottles.”
Daisy by Shelby
The collars and leashes at Daisy by Shelby are the kind that prompt strangers to stop you mid-walk and ask where you got them. Founder Shelby Eastman draws from ’70s and ’90s print aesthetics to create accessories for style-conscious pet parents who are done with boring. “I just wanted to create something that spoke to the cool, creative people that I constantly surround myself with that have dogs,” she told us. Five percent of every purchase goes to Love Leo Rescue.
Jax & Bones
Jax & Bones produces the kind of products that stop you in your tracks at pet stores: colorful, tactile, and genuinely beautiful. Their rope toys are probably the most recognizable item in the lineup, but the full collection includes beds, toys, and accessories built on an impressive sustainable foundation. Eight to 12 recycled soda bottles go into the material for a single dog bed. Founder Tina Nguyen started the brand in 2004, inspired by her adopted Beagle, Jax. “Jax was basically my first son,” she told us. “I’m fairly healthy, and I wanted to give him that same type of quality, so I started to identify safe raw materials and design basic, simple products for him.”
