A little bowl of dog food heaven

As pet owners, we humans love our pets.  We’ll go to great lengths to ensure they are content and happy as we are in having them bless our lives.  Occasionally, things go awry and our pets aren’t as healthy and lively as they once were when they were youngins.

If you’ve ever lost a pet, you know how hard it is to say goodbye to one.  And when we start noticing early signs of decline in our pets, we start to panic.  Or assume the worst.

Imagine being a small dog, terrified to eat from the bowl presented to you, and not being able to tell your humans what is bothering you?

My “Lil’ Man” as I affectionately call him, aka, Copper is 14 1/2 human years old and a rightful ol’ age of 72 in dog years according to WebMD.  And he was miserable.

This summer, he had extreme sensitivity or allergies to something.  We first thought he had just tracheal collapse syndrome, and after that, I thought it was grass allergies.  He was often inconsolable, and so was I.

He was incessantly licking his paws, coughing and hacking, and restless and depressed.  His paws were almost to the point of raw.

And he was struggling to ‘do his job’ without pain in his hips.

I knew I had to do something.  Fast.  But what?  I wasn’t sure.  One of my followers had mentioned earlier in the summer that her dog had allergies to the food.  I dismissed it, thinking, jeez…the food we give him he eats, and he’s been on it for quite some time.  That can’t be it?

So I really thought it was just the grass, so we resorted to washing his feet every time he went outside.

It helped some, but neither one of us enjoyed that process.

My heart ached for him, and my ears were ringing with the non-stop sounds of licking.

In desperation, I started researching what I could do and stumbled upon a video from Dr. Marty and read his blog post about dog’s licking paws here.  I can’t remember how I found the video, but I was fascinated with the idea of the food making that much difference.  I wrote about my discovery and admission of my mistakes in food choices for him here.

Dr. Marty’s food sounded almost too good to be true, but it was worth a try for my poor Lil’ ol’ guy.  So I ordered him some, the shipment arrived 3 days later, and here’s a recap of our transition to Dr. Marty’s Nature’s Blend (link here).

The shipment arrived on 9/21/19:

Pre-switch status of Copper:

Coughing (aka, hacking); excessive licking of paws; fatigue; achy joints; very little tail wagging; low energy; goopy eyes; and very bad breath.  He was still darn cute and wanted to feel better, I could just tell it in his eyes.

Introduce 25% of new food.

I followed the directions and added water to make it mushy like his canned food.

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Day 1:

Hey, Mikey, he likes it.

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He even begged for more.  I didn’t give him more, but I was surprised and pleased by his enthusiasm.

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Even with just one day of food, he had brighter eyes and less licking of paws.  He slept well, didn’t lick at all throughout the night.  Didn’t lick during the day either.  And scratching was less too.

Day 2:

Still likes it, and begged for more.  Didn’t need any encouragement at the bowl, ate it all right up. Ditto from above.  More playful and running around.

Day 3:

He’s calmer, less licking, only to ‘clean his face’ after eating.  Rested comfortably.  Still a bit of coughing, but not like before.  He had more energy and he was more vocal about what he wanted to do.

Next day I introduced 50% new food:

Day 4:

He woke up early to eat.  He waited for the bowl to get prepared. I set it on the floor and he dug right in.  He did still groom his feet after eating, but no coughing, and hacking after eating, and he calmed right down.  No sneezing either.  His alertness impressed me.

Day 5-6:

The licking and coughing are almost non-existent.  He ate his whole bowl of food without prompting or me helping hold the bowl.  He slept very well, and he had gotten cuddly again.  He also played for 10 minutes straight, chasing Mr. around our pantry in the kitchen.  It was like he was a little pup again.  The energy and alertness amazed me (I wrote about that here).

Introduce 75% new food

Day 7:

Switched flavors of his old food to mix with it, so it took a bit of encouragement to get him to start eating.  It was his second favorite flavor, but I only needed one more can to make the transition complete.  Once he did start eating, though, he finished it all.  His sense of smell seemed to have heightened.  For the first time since he was a pup, he peed on our carpet.  That was very strange.  He gave me signs by licking his paws before that, to tell me that he had to go outside.  I ignored them and caught him in the act. And then had to clean up a mess.  He hasn’t done that since.

Day 8-9:

The first time I mixed the food directly into his bowl.  He ate it all very well.  Should be able to just mix in his bowl going forward.  He didn’t cough, didn’t lick and went right back to sleep after eating.  A very calm pup.

Day 10 – the big day.  100% of the new food.

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He ate it all by himself in the time it took me to heat up my cup of coffee.

The transition was/is complete.  Copper loves Nature’s Blend food.

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He eats it all by himself, the bowl is no longer scary for him.  His sense of smell has returned.  I have to keep track of him in the yard now, he runs off chasing scents.  It’s hard to keep up with him, he’s running so fast.  His aches in the joints have lessened, he poops regularly, and he drinks on his own too.  And he’s happy to cuddle with me.  He still coughs once and a while, but not after eating.  He only licks his paws to clean his face.  He is happy and so are we!

NOTE:  This is not a paid advertisement or endorsement, just a story about our happy pup and his family who loves him enough to persevere to find out what was causing him discomfort. 

3 cheers to Dr. Marty’s Nature’s Blend!

Post Inspiration – Happy Dog

PS – Thank you for all of your support as I struggled to find what would work for Copper.  What lengths have you gone for your pet to relieve discomfort?  What’s your happiest memory of your pet when they were young?