How Pockety’s little life started
During our three years together we have already been through a lot with our doxie, Pockety, which made it inevitable to educate ourselves on the most sensitive topics related to diet, including the most nutritious homemade and store-bought dog food supplements and lifestyle for dogs. He came from a quite edgy background as a puppy, his ’breeders’ paid little to no attention to his needs in any way. He was kept in a garage, fed the cheapest cat food and he was bloated to such an extent I thought he would fly away – but minimum be infected with worms.
As he was the first puppy of my adulthood, I prepared both financially and academically for his arrival. Of course whatever is written may only become of value if you put it into practice and it works specifically for you, as there is no golden key to a problem-free upbringing to a child, the same thing can be said about a four-legged little one. What we can usually do is keep trying, there’s no shortcut or an easy way.
Search for the best dog food – for him
That’s how it was for us, too. I was quick to realise that his bloating is only the peak of the iceberg. What I first tried and thought would be the most efficient was the most prestigious – at the time and location, at least – dog food out there, that most people and even one of the vets we initially went to recommended for puppies, Royal Canin for mini puppies. It definitely helped at first, even though it took a while for his stomach to adapt to a new source of nutritions – other than milk and cat food. I think it provided a great basis for his growth in the first few months. It contained animal and plant based proteins, fibers, and additionally yeast and DHA sources, all necessary for a quick and healthy development.
However, there were signs that this type of dog food wouldn’t be efficient on the long haul, as our pup’s dry skin problem wouldn’t stop. His coat was eternally dull and rough, he had visible dandruff and several bald spots. We knew that even though we kind of managed to fix his digestion, something wasn’t working right. And that was the moment we contacted a vet near our location who combined the benefits of modern medicine and naturopathic remedies. With his help we managed to find the golden path, which meant that we fed him a different brand of dog food – namely Happy Dog Mini Ireland, it’s a long-existing German brand – and also started cooking for him, with our new vet’s guidance.
The present of the future
Soon enough we thankfully didn’t have to visit the vet every month, although there are still quite a few ups and downs in our journey – like a fungal infection that wouldn’t go away for months. These little hiccups are often inevitable, but a healthy lifestyle is so incredibly important to dodge as many as possible, because recovery lies within. And let’s be honest, dogs are like our children with the only difference that never grow up; meanwhile I have a choice every single day to eat healthy or unhealthy, they only eat what they are fed, the responsibility is all ours.
This also means constant research and us having to be up-to-date, which we happily do for these little beans. On the internet we can find hundreds of thousands of articles on dogs’ diets, safe and unsafe food and ingredients, but they are often contradictory and we noticed, that seemingly reliable sources often don’t mention the possible side effects or downsides of an otherwise promising addition to dogs’ diet. And that’s exactly why we decided to share not only what we’ve learnt, but also everything we or our friends with dogs experienced on the journey. We’ll share useful information on ingredients, homemade recipes and treats, dog food and supplement reviews, and anything really, that could contribute to your four-legged pal’s happiness. Stay tuned and if you like what you read, please let us know!
xoxo, Team Pockets
