Ineke Meredith, Fur Love founder, took a few minutes out of her busy life to chat to Verve about her pooch, her business and inspiring career.
How many dogs do you have and what breeds?
I had a beautiful caramel labradoodle called Charli. Sadly she passed away in September of 2020 at the very young age of seven years, and yes I was, and still am, heartbroken. We were inseparable. My friends knew if they were inviting me for dinner, my plus-one was Charli. She was definitely a gift to everyone who met her. Am I ready for another dog? Soon.
Was it a childhood pet that instilled a love of dogs in you or have you always been a dog lover?
I was a non-willing dog owner seven years ago. I had spent eight years of my youth in Samoa where you can have 10 dogs in your backyard, but none of them are yours, and they bark all hours of the night keeping you awake. So the idea of having a dog in my house didn’t particularly thrill me, but my son wanted a dog, and I had just completed my general surgical training so it was the right time. Of course she ended up being my dog – he just wanted the cuddles, but someone has to walk her and feed her. But she changed my life. At that time, I was still travelling, doing my subspecialty surgical training in breast surgery. We moved from Wellington to Auckland to Sydney and then back to Auckland over 3-4 years and she came with us. My mother was terminally ill, and came to live with me over that time also whilst she was undergoing palliative chemotherapy. So I feel like Charli was really with us through a moment of time that was quite tumultuous.
What has been the most rewarding thing about creating Fur Love?
Learning. Creating. Building. Meeting new people. It’s a totally new world for me. But I love knowledge. And there are some very brilliant people in business and the world of creativity and design and there is definitely a two way street that feeds. And the creativity. The sky is the limit. Maybe not even. And the love! People love their dogs. And people with dogs are happy. I really love that. It’s a very happy space. Sorry, that’s more than one rewarding thing!
Your background includes being a surgeon, do you still practise?
Yes I do. My husband laughs at me because we can be at a dinner and I can be speaking business and marketing and social media, and then in the next breath, I can talk about faecal transplants for Clostridium difficile colitis (google that one). I love my job. I am both a general surgeon and an oncoplastic breast surgeon and I believe that I am very privileged to do what I do for people, and that they allow me to do that.
Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I love dogs. I do. There is a purity and happiness to their love and the relationship between them and you.
Are you planning on introducing any new products to the range?
Absolutely. I can barely contain myself! We have some cool new products coming out this half of 2021, all going well. Of course we launched at a moment where everything is unpredictable. We wanted to source new bottles from overseas but it takes four months right now, so it just adds another hurdle, but everyone is negotiating that. We just have to ride the wave. But yes. New products. Watch this space!
