Sleep Tight Missy Moo

Missy was Mark's dog, she would have been 11 years old this year, a good age for a shepherd. She was a funny character, very protective of Mark and it took her a long time to accept me in to the pack.

Just over a year ago I recognised the symptoms of bloat and she had to be rushed in to the emergency vets to be operated on, she pulled through and recovered really quickly. She was a real tough nut, a proper fighter.

Since we got back from Germany she hadn't been eating properly, when we leave her she pines for Mark and had been on hunger strike. We thought she was still upset about that, she was eating little bits and nice food and was happy in herself and not losing weight. She had been in season so we thought it was also to do with that.  Over New Year we noticed sores appearing and took her to the vets. She started to drink a lot and the vet was concerned it could be pyometra. After a scan confirmed it wasn't she was put on a course of antibiotics. They didn't make any difference, she stopped eating completely and was drinking for England! We took her in for blood tests and when we got her back she was on three legs and stayed that way, her hips were starting to go.

In just a couple of days she went rapidly down hill, scarily so. She was groaning constantly, obviously in pain, she didn't want to move or eat at all. She had given up, it was horrible to see. We hoped the blood tests would give us a clue, unfortunately we didn't expect the results to be what they were. Her blood test showed her organs were giving up, she had had enough and her body was shutting down. We didn't want to see her suffer any more, she had already been suffering for a day, so we said night night. Missy was a tough nut so for her to give up she must have been in a lot of pain, poor girl.

The last pic I took of her the night before we lost her, sleep well Missy, run free without pain.

Purina's Pro Plan Duo Delice Review

We were asked to review the new Purina Pro Plan Duo Delice dog food. We were sent a 2.5kg bag of the Chicken & Rice, first off I loved the bag - it made life very easy as I didn't have to find any scissors to open it, there was a tear off corner. As well as this there is a plastic reseal strip to keep the food fresh which saves having to store it in an airtight container.

The food is "a unique combination of crunchy kibbles and tender shredded pieces" - I wouldn't say it was overly unique as we usually feed Supadog Beef Casserole which used to have beef pieces in it which were crunchy but turned chewy when hot water was added, HOWEVER this food no longer has the beef pieces in it which my dogs loved. So it is perhaps unique now?

The protein content is quite high at 25%, I have a 13 year old, 10 year old and a 7 year old who can’t take much exercise due to a condition he has.  So it wouldn’t be a food I would choose to feed as my dogs aren’t overly active so they need to be on around 20-22% protein at the most.  They offer a salmon and a beef variety which is the same level of protein, which is a shame as it would have been an idea to vary the protein levels per flavour.

 

The food was nice and smelly and included plenty of shredded pieces of meat – so often dog food companies will skimp on the best bits!  My older collie has to have water in her food and this food still maintained it’s crunch and the meat remained tender.  The kibble was big enough for the german shepherd to still crunch and not swallow whole, yet I think a small dog could also eat as the pieces aren’t huge so it would be suitable for all sizes of dogs. 

All of our three dogs enjoyed the food and the chewy meaty bits did slow them down which is a good thing as the german shepherd suffered a torsion over winter so anything that slows her down is a good thing! 

Here is a video review:

Overall I would recommend the food, I wouldn't personally feed due to the protein level of the food however that is just my personal preference.  Otherwise the dogs loved it and I thought it was a good food.

Pedigree JointCare+ Week 1

It is the end of week one and I have shot a quick video of Dizzy, she seems a lot less stiff but we still have a few weeks to go so we shall see!

Pedigree JointCare+ Day 1

Dizzy was selected by Pedigree to take part in their JointCare+ trial.  I am looking forward to trialing it as Dizzy does suffer with quite a lot of stiffness in her hips and shoulders.  Today was day 1 and she happily munched her chew.