Raising Healthy Dogs with HardyPet {Sponsored}

dog taking hardypet completeWhat do you feed your pets? The more that I explore and understand human nutrition, the more I consider this question. If I believe that humans are healthiest on a diverse, vitamin-rich diet, doesn't it follow that my pets would thrive on such a diet too?

Our little dog Hawise stopped being interested in dry food about a year ago. We tried switching brands but she was never excited about it. I'm not a fussy pet owner and wasn't about to get into cooking a fresh meal, but I'd always been curious about raw diets for dogs. With a friends' encouragement, I started feeding Hawise raw frozen chicken. She thrived and I began to notice that she wasn't quite as anxious as usual and her smelly breath lessened.

When our new puppy Annabel entered our life, I chose a high protein, grain-free dry dog food. She is far less picky than Hawise but doesn't seem to have as strong of a digestive system. And instead of chewing food she swallows it in big gulps, so we haven't switched to the raw diet yet but we might someday.

hardypet blue box bundle puppy with blue box bundle from hardypet

Pet Vitamin Supplements

HardyPet recently offered me a chance to try their Blue Box Bundle of health-supporting supplements for dogs. The box arrived by mail and I let Anabel try to open it. She could smell something good but fortunately isn't a very destructive pup and couldn't figure out how to get inside.

I started feeding the dogs HardyPet Complete, a multivitamin, right away. Both gobble up the tablet eagerly. While I haven't noticed any outward effects, I do feel more secure that Hawise is getting balanced nutrition with a primarily raw diet. I am hopeful that with nutritional supplementation, we can avoid some of the more common canine aging problems like joint pain, heart disease, and immune disfunction.

Annabel uses the HardyChew daily. She loves her soft toys too, but I appreciate the durability of the antler.

I'm giving the probiotic HardyPet Canine PRO6 as a support when they've eaten something suspect. Anabel cleared a couple plates at our Pi Day party last weekend, for example, so I fed her PRO6 for a couple days to help her digest the human foods.

About HardyPet

dog with hardychew antlerI didn't accept the offer from HardyPet before researching their company. With all the pet food recalls and questionable ingredient sourcing, I wanted to be sure this was a manufacturer whose values matched my own.

The mission of HardyPet is to reduce pets surrendered to shelters because of poor health. Being a supporter of Capital Area Humane Society, I know all too well the number of animals that come in with nutritional deficiencies and all sorts of related health issues.

HardyPet is a researched-based company with roots in the animal welfare world. Their products were developed for animal shelter use and continue to be used by shelters to restart nutritional balance. HardyPet uses pharmaceutical grade ingredients and offer a money-back guarantee to back their well-tested products.

I found the Blue Box Bundle a convenient way to support optimal nutrition for my dogs. If you'd like to try it too, HardyPet is offering free shipping and value pricing on the bundle for a limited time.

Disclosure: HardyPet sponsored this post. I was provided the featured products for free, but all opinions are 100% my own.

Devorguilla, The Original Baying Hound {Obituary}

dog obituary Devorguilla, a.k.a. Devie, our blue tick coon hound mix, died today, December 29, 2013. She was approximately thirteen years old, having been adopted as a young adult at the Capital Area Humane Society in January 2002. She is survived by little hound Hawise, cats Moonshine and Nightshade and people Alex, Lillian, and Rachel.

Despite our attempts at training, Devie was a headstrong troublemaker. She bayed at everyone who entered, stopping only when she was ready. Barking was how she related to other dogs and while we understood her noise to be playful, most other hounds cowered away from her. She surfed counters, scavenged floors, and ate anything possibly food-like. In her twelve years with the Tayse Baillieuls, she consumed the following in addition to regular meals: human birthday cakes, six packages of raisins to include packaging in one sitting, several bronze ring nails and the plywood they were attached to, boozy fruitcakes, chocolate truffles, a sheet pan of cookies, compost, a bag of flour, trash, and countless breakfasts, lunches, and dinners left unattended for a few seconds. Devie's stomach of steel allowed that these indiscretions were uncomfortable for her but didn't results in messes for her family beyond the missing food.

hugging devie

While she was difficult to live with, Devie was easy to love. Friends and neighbors who understand hounds carried on howling conversations with her. Many admired Dev's unflagging devotion to food, annoying as it was.

She was extremely gentle, especially around Lillian. Devie not only tolerated but seemed to enjoy being dressed up and always won 'cuteness contests', Lil's habit of dressing up pets and stuffed animals for fashion shows. Devie's coloring was beautiful and inspired our first business name, the Baying Hound. After losing an eye to persistent infection in 2010 she became even more striking.

We noticed Devie slowing down this autumn. When she stopped enjoying food, her one true love, this week, it was our signal that organ degeneration or cancer had progressed enough to severely affect her quality of life. We made the difficult choice of euthanasia. She was buried at home.

Rest in peace, Devorguilla. You will be missed.