Suzzan

I started feeding our dogs Raw Love about 2 years ago. We have 3 dogs – a Boerboel, a Bull Terrier x Labrador and the newest dog then was a German Short Haired Pointer (GHSP) x Weimariner. Until we got Milo (the Pointer-Weimariner cross) we had always fed our dogs Hills. We had the special large breed version for Trigger the Boerboel and we had the old dog formula for our pack Grandma (Puku, the Terrier-Lab). Of course Milo was difficult. He was OK on the puppy food, but once we moved him on to adult food he started suffering from bloat. As soon as he had eaten he would visibly swell up and then wander around the house burping, he always looked so uncomfortable. I took him to the vet, they told me that Hounds often suffered from bloat as they had such deep chests in relation to the rest of their bodies. The vet prescribed Hills ID (Intestinal disorder) at around R900 for a 14kg bag that barely lasted a month. The ID food helped, Milo still suffered from bloat, but it was much less. But if he ever managed to sneak any of the other dog’s food he swelled up like a balloon. At this stage I was starting to get irritated by the dog food situation. I had to go to our vet to get the Hills large Breed and the Senior dog food, then on to another shop that special ordered the Hills ID food. Despite having ordered it was often not available and I would end up having to buy a whole lot of smaller bags, spending even more money.

By chance one evening I met Helena and in conversation it came up that she was involved with raw pet food. I had never heard about it, but the concept immediately made sense to me. Feeding the dogs a natural and raw diet of meat, bones and vegetables seemed like a wonderful idea. I got some to try, our dogs are not fussy and they loved it from the first day. Milo took to it and has never had bloat again. Even more interesting, we saw an immediate effect with the other 2 dogs. Having changed to the new diet because of Milo, we didn’t really expect that the other dogs would benefit much. But they have.

Puku is now around 17, she is old, but 2 years ago she was really showing signs of age. After about 6 months on the new food we had noticed an ease in her movement and that she was a lot more aware of her surroundings. Until then she had been gradually spending more and more time in her basket and not engaging with us any more. She goes to work every day with my husband and the girls at the office also started commenting that she was looking very well. As a very old dog her digestion is not what it used to be and we noticed a huge reduction in old-dog-farts. Maybe not polite to talk about this, but when your dogs are inside creatures it’s quite an important point to note. We are much happier in her company!

Trigger is now a 4 year old uncastrated Boerboel. The main difference with him was his personality. When we took him off Hills and put him on the raw diet he became much calmer. As a strapping young man he is quite an enthusiastic friend, but with the raw food he is much more able to restrain himself. When I get home from work he can greet me without needing to jump on me. As I have run out of raw food now and then, I have had occasion to feed him Hills again. When he eats pellets the difference in his personality is incredible. He becomes hyperactive. He can’t sit still, he cannot seem to hear commands, he jumps on the furniture and on me, all things he NEVER normally does. It makes me wonder how many ‘problem-dogs’ out there are really just hyped up on chemicals from the processed pellet dog food out there?

Of course all 3 of them have radiantly shiny coats and lean physiques. They are all magnificent animals and we are often stopped at the dog park and people comment on how beautiful our dogs are. But the most satisfaction I have is knowing that we are doing our best for them, we are feeding them food that they love and that nourishes them. It gives me pleasure knowing this.