Doggie Deli Lava Paws

04/26/2025

Meal prep at my mom’s for Max. Feeding a 13lb dog is so much nicer than feeding 5, 38-105lb dogs lol.

04/25/2025

Creating a lifestyle for my dogs to thrive in, one bowl at a time.

Nutrition is the backbone to healthy and what we hope a long lived life. Over the years my mentality has changed. I thought feeding a raw or other fresh food diet would prevent disease and make my dogs live longer. AND I hope that it does!

But nowadays the view I have is when my dogs die, they would have lived an amazing life that for the most part has been healthy and out of vet offices.

So I do create a lifestyle for them and for our relationship to flourish.

As I’ve stepped away from physically being present with my business, you will still find me behind the scenes and always with a good knife in my kitchen.

Things are changing and shifting for Lava Paws. Mainly social media. You’ll soon realize if you haven’t already that I’m not a traditional business/sales person. I really don’t like developing my brand on social media and would rather chat to people about their dogs than to constantly blast our products online. Btw they are GREAT PRODUCTS!

I still may promote certain products and stuff but really life isn’t about selling high quality dog and cat food/treats; it’s about enjoying the time we have with our pets. So I hope as I shift social media around you’ll still engage, tag us, and learn even more stuff about your dogs. Because the more you know, the better you can provide for them.

04/23/2025

Happy Earth Day! A day that has always been special for me. I value our planet, all living creatures, and even feel for the ones that aren’t breathing like rocks.

While I posted pretty photos, I want to take the time to say, my business and pet food manufacturing aren’t green friendly businesses. Unfortunately, we use a lot of electricity and plastic and of course animal meats. I have thought and thought and thought about Lava Paws’ carbon foot print and it’s a hard pill for me to swallow.

However that being said we do strive to reduce waste, source locally, purchase nutritional, perfectly tasty (for dogs) items that would otherwise be in the compost or landfills, and use eco friendly cleaning products.

So with that being said we do try and appreciate our environment and of course your pups.

Have a great Earth Day. Smell some flowers, say hi to Pele 🌋 for me and bring your dog into the shop for some drool worthy treats that our nutritional dense and carefully crafted.

04/20/2025

04/14/2025

Post Op feeding raw? Absolutely!

Gracie had a dental done and one of her upper canines pulled since it was fractured and infected.

Did you know that plaque and tarter can build up within a week after a dental? My advice is to have a game plan once the dental is done. So either know you have to maintain their teeth with daily brushings or feed a species appropriate diet.

Gracie’s first day I did a mix of freeze dried raw and regular raw. Mainly because I didn’t have ground raw meaty bones.

After a day or so, I switched her back to her normal raw food with softer bones such as chicken wings.

She’s also been antibiotics pre and post surgery for the infected tooth. We have given her breaks between rounds and support her gut health with soothing herbs and probiotics. Once done with her antibiotics we will start her on a liver cleanse.

So if you’re gonna get a dental for your dog, don’t waste it and put them through all this stuff, only to let their teeth get really bad. Like I’ve mentioned before, most diseases start in the mouth. Improve your dogs dental hygiene!

04/07/2025

You ever notice that your dogs have bad days too? Not just physical, like upset stomach from eating garbage or cat p**p BUT like mentally off days?

Buddy has been off today 😢 He’s had a lot to process this week. I came home from a long trip, we went adventuring, then I got really really sick, then we’ve had crazy storms with lots of flooding and thunder, and now Max and Liliuo are staying with us while my mom travels. That’s 7 dogs in our home.

I’m not one for anthropomorphizing my dogs but I also know my dogs really well. Buddy is usually a very confident dog and hates cuddling. Today he’s been clingy, cuddly, and flinching a lot.

We’re working through it with his favorite things to do between torrential rains and my stamina. But right now Buddy’s getting a lot of TLC.

One more day of heavy rains then, we’ll take a muddy farm trip to round up some horses.

04/04/2025

Truth of being 40. Getting sick sucks like 20 times harder. Now I know why they recommend the flu shots to older people.

What also sucks about 40 is that after not really exercising for 6 months and you just caught a nasty cold with a high fever, you should not go on a 3.5 mile hike in 80 degree weather. And yes I used to do that kind of stuff a lot.

Anyway Buddy had a blast hiking around natural bridge formations, I made it and then got home and was so sick and tired. I can tell myself never again but considering I’ve done things like this in the past I’m not confident.

04/01/2025

Spring is here! And I’m back with my kids!

03/26/2025

Pug, Pinky, and Puppies. Oh what fun!

03/25/2025

So our treats had way too much moisture in them for me to deal with them. I hate like juice, meat, puréed veggies on my hands. So I threw in an egg and added some oats and baked at a low temp before cranking it up.

Brutus and Pinky totally approve. Although they’re ruled by their stomachs.

03/25/2025

Join us Friday and Saturday for our Weekend Sale!

Save 10% off the entire store and online March 28 and 29th.

Online Code: MarchMadness

While Pinky doesn't understand the "March Madness" theme, she recently learned the madness associated with my sister's pug puppy, Brutus.

We've been shuffling around the south and east coast, helping our family when we can.

We hope you and your pups are doing great and are living healthy and happy lives.
-Meghan and The Lava Paws Ohana

LavaPaws Gift Card

Click here for an update from Lava Paws!

03/23/2025

Happy National Puppy Day!!!
Recently, I have been helping out with a few puppies and boy oh boy are they a lot of work.

I remember when I got Pokey at 4 months old. He was my first dog that I raised on a raw diet. Everyone else I’ve adopted at later stages in their lives.

Supporting your puppy holistically as they grow and mature is critical for a happy and healthy dog as they continue to age. This includes nutrition, mental stimulation, and physical exercise.

From a nutritional standpoint here are 3 of my tops to dos for puppies.
1) It is important to feed the highest quality BALANCED puppy or all life stage food you can afford. If purchasing single protein food, every new bag, buy a different protein. This decreases the likelihood of developing food intolerances.
2) Support their gut Microbiome. Personally, I love natural prebiotic fibers for them like rabbit hide chews and cowhide. It helps with teething but also is the best thing for their gut. You can and should start adding roughage as puréed fruits and veggies. All this supports a healthy gut microbiome which supports their auto immune system and yeast out breaks.
3) Addition of Oily Fish such as sardines, mackerel, and salmon. Not only are oily fish great for their skin and coat, the omega fatty acids found in oily fish help with trainability! ALSO fish is high in taurine that helps heart health.

Hug your puppy today while thinking about their future.

03/22/2025

First in the new year that I’ve made dog treats. Mainly because I don’t have a dehydrator. Brutus the pug puppy inspired me to create a soft treat, so here it goes.

This sweet potato based treat is being refrigerated and then will be cut into soft chewy cubes.

I love all the flour options now available. I won’t ever use a wheat flour or a nut flour. So I settled on Chickpea Flour. I went for this flour because it’s low fat, high fiber, moderate protein and absorbs moisture well.

I’m super curious how these are going to turn out.
What flours do you use in your pet treats?

03/06/2025

Special NRC blend is now available while supplies last. This is our normal NRC blend but with sheep meat added to. If you. See an “S” on the label that means it has sheep in it.

Sheep is lean, gamey, and considered a novel protein. It’s always great to add variety to your pups diet! Stop in today and let us know if your pup loves this food.

03/04/2025

I have realized something over the last month. When I’m feeling very very down and anxious I don’t take photos. Recently, I talked to my medical provider and are pursuing therapy and an anti anxiety med. And guess what? I’m taking photos again.

We’ve officially closed Buddy’s Beastro and Pinky’s and our now back to the basics. Just Lava Paws. I’m hoping will be able to keep it better stocked with all your favorite items.

02/26/2025

Today the sun is shining and we’re good. Check out for our update. But in short we are closing that store down. It’s disappointing but also frustrating.

Our Hilo store is downsizing and we are taking away Pinky’s side. Again it’s unfortunate, sad, and frustrating all at the same time. I wish I could tell you all that it will be ok but I won’t because I don’t believe it.

The amount of love, sweat and tears that have gone into Lava Paws over the years is astounding. Most importantly I’m thankful for everyone every step of the way.

I’m not the same person I was when I started this dream in 2016 and this past year I started to hate myself for it. I started becoming angry, felt victimized, had crippling anxiety, and started to go into a very dark space. Dog agility and my dogs kept me sane.

This month I made some very hard decisions, keeping in mind why I started this business. I was very close to giving up, everything I worked for, I wanted nothing to do with Lava Paws. And then I thought of all the people and their pets. I can’t do that to you. I can’t end this business with a sour taste.

It’s not going to be easy to dig out of these economic trenches but I’m doing it for you, your pets, and most importantly myself. I’m doing it for our dog community, for the people that felt like giving up on their dogs, this is for you. This is for the people that want a healthier dog, that want expertise in fresh feeding. This is for all the people that question the norm.

So as we say a hui hou to Buddy’s Beastro and Pinky’s Pup Pawlor, will you all move forward with me?

02/14/2025

Love is a four letter word and do you know what else has four letters? DOGS.

Love is going outside in extreme weather to exercise your dog

Love is making a cranberry/sardine mousse for your dogs

Love is petting and kissing those soft heads on bad days

Love is saying “biiiiigg stretch”

Loving a dog is something so special. That bond we have with them is not comparable to anything else in this world.

DOGS = LOVE