From a Spare Bedroom to Bay County’s Most Trusted Pet Care
I didn’t start Animal Friends Pet Care with a business plan or a bank loan. I started it with a spare bedroom, a grooming table from Chewy, and a handful of kennels — and a burning desire to do things the right way.
Before Animal Friends, I worked for a competitor as a bather and ran their boarding operation. Clients started pulling me aside and saying the same thing over and over: “Chase, you actually care. You need to start your own place.” I heard it enough times that I finally listened.
I had never groomed a dog in my life. So I watched YouTube videos, I practiced, I kept practicing — and I became a master groomer. Not because it was easy, but because I refused to stop until I got it right.
When I designed this facility I had one obsession: zero risk to your pet. I’ve seen what happens at other facilities — bad handling, mixed groups, hidden corners, and pets that came home injured or didn’t come home at all. That ends here. We don’t mix pets because you simply cannot predict animal behavior, and every single pet in our care is treated like our own.
The cameras weren’t an upsell — they were a promise. If you’re doing everything right, you have nothing to hide. So we gave every boarding client 24/7 live access to see their pet anytime, from anywhere. That’s not a feature. That’s a guarantee.
FurPlan came from watching the economy hit our community hard. I was shaving down matted dogs every single day — dogs that could have been brushed out if their owners could afford regular grooming. I couldn’t stand watching pets suffer because of hardship. So I built an affordable monthly membership that makes professional pet care accessible to every family in Bay County. Because every pet deserves to feel good — not just the ones whose owners can afford it.
This isn’t just a business. It’s what I was built to do.
