Building the Pet Media Brand the Middle East Didn’t Have
When Mahmoud Elzahiry (محمود الزهيري) nearly lost a hotel booking because he had nowhere to leave his dog, he didn’t just find a fix for himself. He built one for every pet owner in the country.
That moment became PETWITHIT, the UAE pet lifestyle media and community platform he launched in October 2020. Five years on, it covers all seven emirates. It lists more than 850 pet-friendly places and services, runs a regular calendar of events, and has taken its founder from a laptop side project to the Shark Tank Dubai stage.
A problem every pet owner knew
In 2020, finding a pet-friendly café, a trusted groomer or last-minute boarding in the UAE meant scrolling Facebook groups and asking strangers on Instagram. There was no single, reliable place to look.
“Instead of going through Google or Instagram or Facebook groups or trying to ask people, you have one place,” Elzahiry said of the idea at launch.
An Egyptian telecommunications engineer who made the UAE his home, he had no media background and no investors. What he had was a problem he lived every week with his own dogs, Hector and Sophia, and a conviction he still repeats: “If you would just keep waiting for the right moment, it will never come.”
From directory to media brand
PETWITHIT started as a directory. Today it is a media and community platform built around one idea: life in the UAE should not stop when you get a pet.
The platform now spans:
- The directory: more than 850 listings, including 198 pet-friendly cafés and restaurants, 57 hotels, 118 vets and 118 groomers, from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.
- The PETWITHIT app: the directory and events in one place on pet owners’ phones.
- Content and guides: including the Dubai Ruff Guide, published in English and Arabic, and the weekly recap of the UAE pet scene.
- A newsletter read by more than 4,000 subscribers.
- Events: from Yoga with your Dog and Woof Breakfast to Pawcasso, a pet art experience, and the Pawfluencer Awards celebrating the region’s pet creators.
- Pet Pass: a membership that unlocks discounts of 20% or more at partner vets, groomers, cafés and pet stores.
Brands including Petzone and Park Inn have partnered with PETWITHIT on activations, content and events.
On Shark Tank Dubai and Dubai One
In 2024, Elzahiry pitched PETWITHIT on Shark Tank Dubai, the Arabic edition of the global investment show broadcast on Dubai TV, putting a home-grown pet platform in front of some of the region’s best-known investors.
He has also appeared on Dubai One’s morning show DXB Today, sharing pet-friendly activities and restaurants with Dubai’s growing community of pet owners.
“Standing in front of the sharks forced me to answer the hardest question a founder can face: why does this need to exist? My answer hasn’t changed. Pets are family here, and families deserve a city that welcomes them.”Mahmoud Elzahiry, Founder, PETWITHIT
What’s next
The UAE’s pet market is growing fast, but Elzahiry argues that the gap is no longer access to products. It is access to a lifestyle.
“People don’t just want to know where the vet is. They want to know where they can have breakfast, travel, train and meet other owners with their dogs,” he says. “PETWITHIT is building the media brand for that life, starting in the UAE and growing across the region.”
For Elzahiry, the measure of success is simple. Every listing, event and partner makes it a little easier to say yes to a pet, and a little harder to give one up because life got complicated.
About Mahmoud Elzahiry
Mahmoud Elzahiry (محمود الزهيري) is the founder of PETWITHIT, the UAE pet lifestyle media and community platform. A telecommunications engineer by training, he launched PETWITHIT in 2020 to give pet owners one trusted place to find pet-friendly places, services and events. He has pitched on Shark Tank Dubai (Dubai TV) and appeared on Dubai One’s DXB Today. He lives in the UAE with his dogs, Hector and Sophia.
Explore pet-friendly places, services and events across the UAE at petwithit.com.
