This is my very first blog post, and what better to start with than my puppies!? Let me introduce these sweet little babies. I've got two of them - Callie is a (soon to be) 14 year old beagle. I've had her since I was 15 years old and she's easily the best dog on the planet!
And this is Gus - he's a 3 year old blue tick coon hound. I adopted him in October, and he's come a long way (and still has a long way to go!) He's a little love bug and just loves playing at the dog park!
SO. There they are. Adorable, right?! You'll be seeing plenty of them :)
The first topic I'd like to tackle is raw food/natural healing with animals. I absolutely believe that food should be used as medicine, but this is overshadowed by the media, big pharma, and the food industry. I welcome any and all comments and questions, but please be respectful. I enjoy a good debate if you can back your side up with facts from reliable sources!
When Callie the beagle was 10 years old, I was living with someone at the time. He had a younger dog who was very intelligent and very hyper. She woke us up in the middle of the night barking like crazy, and my response to her was "knock it off, go back to bed!" After several minutes of her not calming down, I thought I heard Callie pee on the floor. So I finally slunk out of bed to grab some paper towels (every pet parent knows that feeling) to clean up so I could get some more sleep.
As I scooted Callie aside, I realized she wasn't breathing and that's why the other dog was so upset. This was easily the worst night of my life and I wasn't able to stay calm. I called the emergency vet and they basically told me it sounded like she had passed and there was nothing they could do. I was devastated; Callie was my best friend and she was too young to be gone!
I went in and checked on her one last time, and she was finally coming to, but she seemed really confused. I rushed her to the emergency vet and they evaluated her for what seemed like hours. Their diagnosis was a seizure and her prognosis was grim: expect more and more seizures and she will have to be medicated to control them, with no guaranteed outcome. I was happy she was alive and coherent, but I couldn't believe we were going to have to continue this roller coaster of health - and it wasn't something I was willing to accept without my own research.
We visited multiple vets and actually found most of the answers at a holistic pet store nearby. A holistic vet was recommended by the owner of the pet store along with a raw food diet and goats milk to supplement any nutrition deficiency in the raw food. After a bit more guidance and approval from the holistic vet, I put Callie on a raw food diet hoping this would help her seizures. The traditional veterinarians were unhappy with this decision, as they thought she would have many nutritional deficiencies and she would still have her seizures. Without medication, they thought she would pass quickly. However, I did tons of research, and felt this was my best opportunity to help my dog.
I started with the Answers brand raw food; it comes in a cardboard milk-like carton and Callie loved it! She's absolutely a food hound and will eat just about anything, but she was even more excited than usual when it was time to eat. She also enjoyed her daily portion of goats milk. She lapped that stuff up so quick! I later moved to the Primal brand, but that was to balance out the nutrients a little better. The results were instant and incredible! She went from having joint issues and a sluggish demeanor to regressing into a puppy like mindset! NO more seizures, no more noticeable aches and pains. She was (and is) more playful than she was years ago, and continues to be the healthiest (almost) 14 year old dog I know of!
I've moved on to a raw coated kibble after about three years of feeding her straight raw, but the quality is the most important thing. Grain free, grass fed/free range, and check the carb sources. She's still as spry as ever and Gus loves the taste!
Moral of my rant: Do your own research and don't settle for simply medicating your pet. I absolutely think there are times when it may be necessary, but that's not always the case. When you have a pet in your family, it's your job to take the best care of them as possible. Do your research and love those babies!
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