Over 90 days ago, I embarked upon a journey with my dogs. I started looking into fresh dog food options that would not only improve the health of my dogs, but also their quality of life. If you’ve seen my original 30-Day Challenge or the follow-up 60-day update, you know that the transformation has been amazing. Here we are over 3 months later, and I can’t imagine feeding my dogs any other food. The changes have been that significant.
Meet My Pack
A little over 5 years ago, my family and I rescued Scout and Sandy. They’d been rescued by a local shelter from what was described as “horrible, puppy mill-like conditions.” The rescue said they were mostly Golden Retriever, but you know how that goes. Who knows what’s in the mix? It didn’t really matter. We were ready to add a fur baby to our pack. What we ended up with was 2 furballs. What can I say? I’m a sucker for dogs. And don’t get me started on those cute, squishy little faces.
Fortunately, they seemed to be in relatively good health, and as they’ve grown, we’ve only had small issues arise. Scout has suffered from chronic, what I call, hot spots between his rear legs, and they’ve both had issues with ear infections. We thought it was because of the fact that they were always in our pool. We treated it with cleaner and antibiotics drops, but it always seems to flare back up at some point. As Sandy got older, she started gaining more weight (I can relate), but she was still pretty active.
We just always treated the symptoms and never gave much thought to the cause. It wasn’t until about 6 months ago that a friend mentioned the issues we were seeing could be due to the food that they were eating. That’s when my journey down the Rabbit Hole started. I Googled everything – top dog food, best food for dogs, healthy dog diet, what’s the best food for my dog and the list goes on.
Research is kind of my thing. I read blog posts about people making fresh food for their dogs – rice and chicken seemed to be pretty popular. There were all sorts of suggestions. And then I started reading about fresh dog food that could be delivered to my home.
Now, I know a lot of people have the opinion that “if you don’t have time for a dog then you shouldn’t have one.” I agree with that – to a point. Between work, my kids’ school & their sports and just trying to keep my own sanity, I don’t have time to cook fresh food for my dogs. If you do – kudos to you. Don’t get me wrong…daily walks, ball throwing sessions and snuggle time is a big part of my schedule. But cooking food for my pups just isn’t a possibility.
What’s in a Title?
Added to that, there are so many opinions about what is healthy and what’s not. That leads me back to home delivered, fresh food and NomNomNow. Of all the companies I researched, NomNomNow was the only one with a veterinary nutritionist that came up with the recipes for the dog food. It wasn’t like some vet just stamped his approval on it and allowed the company to use his name. Their guy is part of the company. I had to dig a little to see just what a veterinary nutritionist is and does, but I quickly learned that it’s kind of like the world of doctors. There are general practitioners, which are great. However, if you have a heart problem, you want a specialist. You want a cardiologist, someone who specializes in the heart.
“Do you want some generic veterinarian stamp of approval or a high quality, human grade ingredient dog food developed by a veterinary nutritionist?”
Veterinary nutritionists are specialists. They’ve gone through all of the required schooling to be a veterinarian, but they also continue their education and focus on nutritional health. That sealed the deal for me. If I was going to making the investment in my dogs’ well being, it was going to be with a company that would provide my pups with the best possible nutrition and highest quality food ingredients.
NomNomNow Fresh Food Delivers
I’m not just talking about fresh dog food delivered right to your door. I’m talking about, in my opinion, is the best food for your pup. Could you do it better yourself? I don’t think so. Every NomNomNow recipe features only the best ingredients – so good that even you could eat it. How do I know? Well, that’s a funny story. See Day 72 below for more on that.
To maintain a healthy, nutritional balance, NomNomNow offers 4 main food recipes in pre-portioned packages:
- Heartland Beef Mash
- Porkalicious Potluck
- Tasty Turkey Fare
- Chicken Chow-Wow
Day 65 – Ongoing Support from NomNomNow
After my last vet visit, I knew Sandy needed to lose a few more pounds to be in the perfect healthy range, so working with the experts at NomNomNow, a plan was developed to achieve this goal. This was truly comforting to me because I always knew she was carrying a few extra pounds, but I never really considered the health ramifications. Of course, we all know it’s not good to be overweight. It increases the potential for bone & joint issues and a myriad of other health issues. And let’s talk about decreased activity levels because of lack of energy. It’s a vicious cycle really. So addressing her weight now, while she’s still younger, will help to make a huge difference now and throughout her life.
Day 70
It’s only been a little over a week since I last noted the progress my dogs are making, but everyday I am reminded (usually by my dogs and their crazy, puppy-like behavior) how much different they are. They continue to run around and play like they’re 1-year old puppies. They even seem more playful together. Time they would have normally spent just laying around on the floor, they opt for playing and rolling around with each other.
Day 72
So, I may have eaten dog food today. Okay, I did. And it was good. I couldn’t help myself. I had just pulled my dogs’ food from the refrigerator and was prepping it for them by adding a little hot water. This warms up the food a little and makes a nice gravy. So long story short…it looked and smelled delicious. I was hungry and a little curious. So I pulled an extra bag. I opted for the Chicken Chow-Wow. I’m not going to lie. I’ve been eyeing it every time I opened a bag for Scout. I’m not ashamed. This wasn’t like some crazy college dare. I figured in the name of science, I’d give it a go. I opened up the bag, added a little water and heated it up for a few minutes. Two words. DEE-LISH. I’m not saying I’m going to make this a habit, but maybe next time I’ll add a little hot sauce. Don’t judge!
Day 80
About 6 months ago, I purchased one of those robot vacuums to help combat all of the dog hair. No matter what I did, it seemed like there were always hairballs floating around like tumbleweeds on the set of some spaghetti western. Today, my daughter made a really interesting comment. She noted how there seemed to be less dog hair lately. It got me thinking about it. She was right. There really had been less hair lately. I know healthier coats are a benefit of a healthy doggy diet, but I never considered this as being one of the bonuses. While I’m not a scientist and can’t definitively say it’s the food, I can say that after over 5 years of living with the hairy beasts (that I love dearly), there is less shedding. Healthy coat = less shedding? Makes sense to me.
Day 82
These dogs are relentless. Every time I go in the kitchen and make a sound that even sounds like I am opening their NomNomNow food, they are all over me. Who knew healthy food could lead to an addiction? At least it’s a good one. All kidding aside, these two still absolutely love their food. I switch up the recipes every now and then, but it doesn’t matter. They sit patiently until I place the bowls down and then it’s like one of those hot dog eating contests. They literally devour it. Bowls licked clean. Based on my Day 72 experience, I get it.
Day 85
If I had known what a difference a change in diet would have made for my pups, I would have started them on NomNomNow when they were puppies. Fortunately, they’re still young (well, maybe middle-aged?), but it’s never too late. The impact I’ve seen on this one simple change has made a world of difference. I have a bag of their old kibble in the garage I keep for emergencies, but I couldn’t imagine ever feeding them that again. One word comes to mind – revolt. They would look at me as if I were some strange creature from another planet. And I couldn’t blame them.
Day 90
Yesterday, Scout, Sandy and I made a trip to their favorite place, the vet’s office. It was time to have a professional give me objective results. I know what I see, but I really wanted to hear from my vet what he thought about how the dogs were doing. Great news! If this were a test, they would have scored an A+! Their weights are in the perfect healthy range. There skin is tip-top. Ears looked great. My vet even commented on how the dogs just seemed younger. That’s subjective, I know, but I couldn’t agree more. This journey has been such a blessing for all of us. I am truly thankful that I decided to take the time and really dig into fresh food for my pups.
Make the Fresh Choice!
If I had known the benefits of NomNomNow fresh dog food, I would have made this change a long time ago. It wasn’t easy researching all the options and possibilities, but I know I made the best decision for my dogs. If you’re even considering making a change to your dog’s diet, now is a great time. NomNomNow has an amazing offer for 50% off your first order. It’s a great deal and a great opportunity for you to give it a try for your dog. I know for my dogs it was one of the best decisions I ever made.
The post 90-Day Update: Fresh Food Changed My Dog’s Lives. For the Better! appeared first on iHeartDogs.com.
via Whisker Therapy