I first came across Healthy Pet Foods and their dog food products when my first Sheltie, Toonie, was middle aged and not really coping with
his diet. When he was a pup, Toonie’s vet recommended Hills Science Diet, but Toonie exhibited little interest in food and had recurring
episodes of vomiting and diarrhoea. Over the years I tried a number of different premium brands of kibble that were supposed to suit dogs
with food sensitivity issues, to no avail. Although Toonie’s appetite improved on some of them, the food intolerance issue remained, and he
was eventually diagnosed as suffering from colitis. One colitis episode was so bad that he require a visit to the after hours weekend vet to
be rehydrated.
Then there was the brand that proclaimed itself to be “the best dog food on the planet”, but after some months on that one a routine blood
test undertaken before a surgical procedure produced such a truly abnormal result that the vet initially thought Toonie must be experiencing
kidney failure. However, after checking out the brand, the vet informed me there were numerous reports of the same thing happening to other
dogs that were on that particular food. The best dog food on the planet? I don’t think so!
That was the point at which I discovered
GO! Salmon at a flygility tournament, and from then on Toonie’s quality of life vastly
improved. The bouts of colitis became a thing of the past, Toonie gained some much-needed weight, his energy levels improved, and there was
a noticeable improvement in the condition of his coat. And, after several weeks on it, a repeat of the blood test showed that Toonie’s
kidney function was back to well into the normal range.
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GO!, Toonie qualified as a flygility grand champion at the ripe old age of 11, the first small dog to have ever done so in
New Zealand. He continued to compete in flygility and agility until he was thirteen and a half, at which point he injured his back while
playing with my latest Sheltie, then a pup, at home. In his retirement from dog sports Toonie continued to enjoy long walks and a good
quality of life until the day before he died just short of what would have been his sixteenth birthday—and this despite the fact that by
then he was on treatment for hypothyroidism and a heart murmur that had become progressively more pronounced.
After Toonie’s life was so dramatically transformed by
GO!, it was only natural that I looked to the same company for a suitable food for my most recent Sheltie, Taku. He started out on
NOW Fresh Grain Free as a pup, and has been on it continuously since then.
Now aged just over four and a half years, Taku is a picture of good health, bursting with energy and sociability, seriously intelligent,
and always up for a challenge—all in all, a simply delightful addition to the whanau. Like Toonie, he is actively involved in dog sports
and has proven himself to be a natural at flygility. Taku too has recently qualified as a flygility grand champion, becoming just the
second small dog to gain that sought-after title.
Chris