Health Food For Pets? Store Opens in Decatur

Jacques Duplantier thinks dogs and cats, like people, deserve good, healthy food.

That's one reason he opened Corrina's Corner at 722 W. College Ave. in Decatur. He prepares raw and cooked food that's stored in a cooler and sold under the Corrina's Corner label.

“It’s human quality food,” he said in an interview with the Champion newspaper. “I buy my meat from the same wholesale distributor who supplies some of Atlanta’s best restaurants.”

On the store website, Duplantier explains his pet food philosophy:

We strongly believe that pets should eat diets that more closely reflect what their wild cousins would eat.  We refer to the consumption of natural, unprocessed proteins and limited carbohydrates as biologically appropriate. 

Duplantier comes from a family of attorneys. He attended Georgetown University as an undergraduate, earned a law degree from the University of Minnesota and worked in the public sector in Minnesota.

He had trouble finding legal work after moving to Georgia and last month opened the pet food store, named after the mutt he adopted from a shelter in Minnesota.

A vet told him Corrina was lethargic and losing fur because of a grain allergy. Another vet suggested Duplantier serve Corrina raw, human-grade food. It worked, and now Corrina is the picture of health, Duplantier said.

"My dog could not eat commercial food so I had no choice," he said. "I discovered there are a lot of people who do this."

He says Corrina's Corner food can be fed daily to a pet, mixed in with other foods or given as a once-in-a-while treat. He also sells freeze-dried commercial brands, chicken feed and non-food pet supplies like dog collars.

Duplantier says Corrina's Corner food is expensive but not much more than premium commercial brands. A $3.29 container of raw, Corrina's Corner dog food feeds a 50-pound canine for a day, he said.

And his legal training did not go to waste. It helped a lot when he went through the complicated process of applying for a permit with the Agriculture Department to make pet food.

For more information about Corrina's Corner, go to the store website.