Pet Food Gone Wild provides customized, quality-ingredient dog and cat food for Rio Rancho residents’ animal companions, ensuring they have longer-lasting lives.

And it’s done so for a decade now, preparing to celebrate 10 years of operations on Sept. 7.

“It’s surreal… If you told me I was going to do this 20 years ago, I would’ve told you, ‘no way.’ But I’m super-excited. I’m happy to be in this community. The community has embraced us,” owner Susana Vasquez said. “Time has gone by really, really fast.”

Vasquez, a Rio Rancho native, said her store assesses each pet’s nutritional needs based on that animal’s breed and age. For instance, the store carries pet food flavors such as fish for those that cannot consume chicken or beef ingredients.

“Some dogs have allergies; some dogs have diabetes. Some of the foods you find in big-box stores, they don’t cater to that,” Vasquez said. “You have to be able to find a food that’s going to be adequate for that pet.”

Pet Food Gone Wild, located at 2415 Southern Boulevard, is celebrating 10 years of operations in Rio Rancho. Seen here are owner Susana Vasquez, manager and groomer Sam Skeets (right) and Vasquez’s dogs Leo (bottom left) and Lola (bottom right).
(Matt Hollinshead/Observer)

She also said other notable products include several dog food products dense with vegetable ingredients for a pooch that may need to shed some pounds, as well as feline fish oil products to better help cats cough up hairballs and improve the coating of the intestinal walls.

“There’s a lot of different factors before we say, ‘OK, this is the food,’ ” Vasquez said.

Vasquez said her grooming services, from hair-trimming to nail-trimming, allow a self-serve option for pet owners to bathe their dogs.

Vasquez said she remained busy providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic because her store was deemed an “essential” business under the previous state restrictions.

And now that the virus outlook’s far different from last year, she said she’s even more appreciative that Pet Food Gone Wild is still operating.

“(The community’s) embraced us, even with this strenuous year that we went through. We were here for the community, and the community was here for us,” Vasquez said, adding her store brings in 60-70 customers any given day.

To celebrate its 10-year anniversary, Pet Food Gone Wild, located at 2415 Southern Boulevard, will offer total order discounts of 15-20 percent Sept. 17 and 18.