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Our history

Our tradition since 1765: a love of healthy food
and expertise in the production of pet food since 1965

Interquell is a Bavarian family-owned company with roots that date back to 1765. It all began back in the 18th century with a flour mill on the River Singold in Wehringen. In the 1950s, along came a ground-breaking innovation. A new type of technology and appropriate machines could be used to produce cereal flakes – when combined with dried meat, these resulted in the first complete dry food for dogs. Our recipes, ingredients and additives have been refined over the years to take account of the latest scientific findings.
But that is not all: the coveted Happy Cat products have made their way from Wehringen out into the wide world. Happy Cat is now in demand by cat owners, not only in Germany, but also in Europe, most of Eastern Europe and a number of countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Of course, we continue to produce our dry food in our traditional family business in Wehringen, Bavaria.

Our milestones

1765 - The 'old mill '
When it purchased the old mill in Wehringen, the Müller family laid the historical foundation for the company that is now called Interquell. Back then, Nikolaus Müller started to run his flour mill on the River Singold.
hd getreidemuehle 1765 1960
1951 - Potato flakes
Edmund Müller produced the first potato flakes. Due to their easy digestibility and good shelf life, they offered a significant improvement for farmers in feeding their pigs.
hd kartoffelflocken 1951
1965 - First dog food
The first dog food production started with ‘Müller's dog food’ which consisted of flakes and wet food.
hd meullers tiernahrung 1965
1970 - Happy Dog
Edmund Müller developed one of the first easily digestible complete foods for dogs, consisting of dried meat, maize flakes and vegetables. The Müller's dog food brand became Happy Dog.
hd erstes hundefutter 1970
1973 - Exporting started
Happy Dog was exported for the first time – to Austria and Denmark.
hd export oesterreich daenemark 1973
1975 - Kibble production started
The first extruder for producing dog and cat food in kibble form came on stream, and supplemented the existing food flake production.
hd erster extruder 1975
1987 - Georg Müller
Georg Müller (Dipl. oec.) joined the family business as the 7th generation. When the company’s founder passed away in 1988, he took over the helm.
hd eintritt herr mueller 1987
1992 - The first complete food in kibble form
With Happy Dog NaturCroq, Interquell launched the first complete food for dogs in kibble form onto the market.
hd naturcroq 1992
2000 - Premium market
Happy Dog entered the super premium segment for dog food with Supreme Salmon and Rabbit. The first ‘sensitive’ varieties were Ireland, Toscana and New Zealand.
hd supreme 2000
2001 - Happy Cat
Interquell developed its first dry food for cats. Happy Cat was born.
hc happy cat wird eingefuehrt 2002
2004-2006 - Expansion of operations
A new office building, two more extruder lines and a silo tower were built, creating a production capacity of 200 tonnes per day.
hd betriebsvergrosserung 2004 2006
2009 - Innovation
Happy Dog Supreme Africa is the first dog food in the world to contain ostrich as a protein source. For every pack sold since then 2% of the purchase price has been donated to SOS Children’s Villages in Africa. To date, a total of 1.8 million euros!
hd innovation africa strauss 2009
2015 - Trade favourite
Happy Dog became the leading specialist retail brand in Germany in the dry dog food sector.
hd fachhandel 2015
2018 - 8th generation
Annika and Andreas Müller join the family business in its 8th generation
hd 8te generation mueller 2018
2018 - 100% climate-neutral
Goood is Interquell's first premium dog food that is completely climate-neutral - from the field to the bowl.
2019 - Expansion of export operations
This popular premium pet food is now shipped to 75 countries and is available on 4 continents.
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2019 - Award
Happy Cat Junior was named 2019 Product of the Year by FutterTester.de.
hc produkt des jahres 2019_aio22
2020 - Expansion of capacity
With the commissioning of an additional extruder, fresh raw materials can now be processed as well. Production capacity increases to 320 tonnes of pet food per day.
hd linie 5 2020
2020 - Product of the year
No fewer than three products received 2020 Product of the Year awards from FutterTester.de:
Happy Cat Bio in the wet cat food category
Happy Dog Soft Snack for dog snacks and
Goood Freilandlamm for dry dog food
hd produkt des jahres 2020_22 08
2021 - Product relaunch
Happy Cat products now have improved recipes and have been given a new look.
hc neues happy cat 2022_en_aio22
Best Rated Brand 2021
1st place for Happy Cat dry food: Best ratings from independent CheckForPet testers
hc best rated brand 2021_22 08_aio22
2021 – Products of the Year
The best food from all tests in 2021 and crowned as the Product of the Year 2021 by Futtertester.de: Happy Cat Culinary in the dry cat food category Happy Dog fit & vital Medium Adult in the dry dog food category
hd produkt des jahres 2021_22 08_aio22
2022 - Best Rated Pet Food
Independent testers rate 41 dry food brands: 1st place for Happy Cat
hc best rated brand 2022
2022 - Product of the year
The newly launched Happy Cat Culinary Crunchy Snacks are awarded Product of the Year 2022 by FutterTester
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2023 - Solar field construction
In order to be able to generate part of our electricity requirements ourselves from renewable sources, we built a solar field next to the company premises in 2023.
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Top Pet Brand 2023
The popular pet magazine hundkatzemaus has awarded us the Top Pet Brand 2023 for our cat snacks.
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Interquell corporate film




Would you like to learn more about Happy Dog?

Our corporate film provides an interesting insight into Interquell’s origins and work.