This post is sponsored by Wellness CORE Natural Pet Food. Thoughts and opinions are my own.
Guys, it finally happened: Tally turned 10 last month. My baby girl finally hit double digits and I about lost my mind. Aside from feeding her a big hunk of salmon, I had a mini meltdown. What in the world will I do when I have children of the human variety?!
But I digress.
I mentioned last month that Tals has been struggling with some health and weight issues. We finally headed to the vet for an updated diagnosis and sure enough, my girl is aging: she has arthritis in her back knee {not her hips, like originally thought.} In fact, it’s so bad that the vet put her on some meds, and she now takes Rimadyl every other day. Fortunately, we saw immediate improvement in her movement!
PC: Will Rochfort
But there is another piece to this Tally fitness story. When we put her on the scale at the vet, I was horrified. Girlfriend weighs 72 pounds! To clarify, this is up from that 61 pounds of last year and a far cry from the 55-60 pounds that the vet recommends. Not so shockingly, she packed on weight during those few months before she was put on meds. We didn’t walk her as frequently for fear of hurting her and as a result, she gained a serious amount.
Now that she is on the meds, her hips are feeling better and we’re focusing on the weight loss. A key component of our routine is her twice-daily walks that she gets every morning at 5:30 am and every evening around 8:30-9 pm {once the temps have cooled.} She thinks life is grand now that she gets quiet time with mom and dad TWICE a day, and her doggy grin is evident from a quarter mile away!
Meet Purple Guy, Tally’s favorite baby. She has had this guy for 9.5 years….and only recently decided to rip his leg off
We’ve also honed in on her diet as part of this fitness endeavor. Thankfully, the folks ate Wellness CORE Natural Pet Food recently reached out for a partnership, so Tals has been living the high life with doggy food! Her twice-daily meals now consist of a favorite: CORE original grain-free dry formula kibble.
It’s not intended as a weight-loss formula but it is a healthy option for my girl. In particular, I liked that the food is grain-free and does not include any “fillers” to weigh her down. In fact, 34% of the kibble is protein {per the Wellness CORE analysis} AND the number one ingredient is deboned turkey.
Tals finds that acceptable!
Since we’ve begun feeding Tally the CORE food and enacted our two-a-day walks, it’s been amazing the difference we’ve seen in her behavior. She has tons of energy; she is more social when we’re at home; she is back to being the misbehaved pup I loved while out walking. It’s been unbelievable to see the change, and I can’t wait to take her back to the vet in August to see what kind of progress we’ve made on the scale!
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