Actor Dick Van Patten, best known for his role asTom Bradford in the late 70's TV show Eight is Enough, says he's always had a love for pets.
"When I was a kid, like seven or eight-years-old, we lived in an old Victorian house in Queens, New York, and on the third floor of the house I had horned toads, frogs and turtles." Van Patten said in a telephone interview from his home in California. "In the backyard I had a goat and rabbits."
During those days, Van Patten said he would look forward to Saturdays when his father would take him to different pet stores around New York city. "One week I'd get a turtle, the next week I'd buy some gold fish." he recalled. "That's what I would look forward to all week long, is getting a different pet each week."
And even though Van Patten was a successful child actor at the time - making his first Broadway appearance in "Tapestry in Gray" at the tender age of seven - he says he dreamed of owning a pet shop when he got older.
That never happened. But he did start his own dog food company called Natural Balance seven years ago with friend, and business partner, Joey Herrick.
Van Patten said he got into the business "sort of by accident." The two were aware of how poorly some dog foods were made. Most are filled with corn, which is hard to digest, and by- products, says Van Patten. So, they enlisted the help of veterinarian, Edith Von Ardsdle to create a product that would be better. The end product resulted in an oven baked kibble that doesn't contain corn, soy, by-products, or ethoxyquin.
"People in the street come up to me and say, 'My dog won't eat anything else but your food.'" Van Patten says. "They just love it."
Natural Balance is distributed in California and Nevada but expansion plans into Orlando are in the works.
And even though Van Patten owns two cats, Hansel and Gretle, he has no plans to expand the product line to include cat food. It would be just too much work for his small company which just turned profitable three years ago, he says.
But he does donate part of the proceeds from sales to various animal charities. "We try to give to the ones who need it." said the 69-year-old, Van Patten.
As far as life outside of the pet food business, he's been keeping busy. Over the last couple of weeks he made appearances on two TV shows; the new Love Boat and Beyond Belief. Previous to that he spent eight months performing in the stage production of Show Boat in Chicago. He's even written a book, "Launching Your Child in Show Business."
And even though Eight is Enough went off the air in 1981, Van Patten says he still sees some of the cast but hasn't heard anything about another reunion episode. "I was just thinking about that the other day." he said. "We did one in '84 and one in '87. They were both opposite the World Series and they both out drew the World Series."
You can order Natural Balance dog food by calling 800-829-4493 or logging on to the internet at: http://www.dvp-naturalbalance.com