Merrick Dog Food - Power to the Paw!

Everywhere you look nowadays people are becoming more cautious and health conscious about what they eat - as they should. I'm excited to say that the same can be said about many dog food companies. I may not always read the labels on what I eat, but when it comes to my furbabies, I read the labels and I have my phone in hand to research any ingredient I don't recognize just so that I am aware of what it is. But guess what? If I cannot pronounce it and haven't heard of it, I'm not feeding it to my dogs, would you?

For Christmas I purchased a Merrick Holiday Sausage food sampler from our local pet boutique. I had heard of Merrick's product before. I always stop and smile with the names that they give their food. Instead of the usual chicken and rice, or veal titles, Merrick comes up with some awesome names for their yummy recipes. Some of the names include:

• Gameday Tailgate (How appropriate for football season!)
• Thanksgiving Day Dinner
• Grammy's Pot Pie
• Smothered Comfort
• Cowboy Cookout

Now something can have a great name but not taste great but my dogs LOVE Merrick pet food! What's not to love about whole foods from local growers that is part of a balanced nutrition?

My dogs are allergic to corn so I'm always on the lookout for good food for them that will provide nutrition but that also tastes good and doesn't sit in the bowl for too long. Merrick Pet Food has NO corn, wheat, soy, gluten, or GMO's! Their food is high in proteins, omega 3s and 6s, glucosamine, antioxidants and chodroitin. It's a pet food revolution and I am happy to have stumbled upon their products at my local pet store. Merrick has 5 key promises that their recipes are built off of. These include:

1. LOCAL GROWERS, regional, farm fresh ingredients
2. REAL WHOLE FOODS, pure, nutritious, and delicious
3. FROM THEIR KITCHEN TO YOURS, cooking and quality under one roof
4. BALANCED NUTRITION, higher in quality protein
5. HEALTH YOU CAN SEE, proof that you are what you eat

Merrick uses no ingredients from China, which if you're in the news last year there were several recalls for pet food processed in China that resulted in deaths of many animals. SCARY.

Merrick uses no generic fat sources and no meat by-products. A special bonus? You can read, pronounce, and understand their ingredient list. What does this mean? It means I trust it to feed it to my dogs. Plain and simple.

Food for your pet should be nutritious and act as a fuel, not a filler. I challenge you to go and grab your pets bag of dog food and read the first two ingredients, one is a corn filler isn't it?
Merrick's dry recipes lead with 60-70% meat, poultry and fish ingredients. As it should!

You can expect Merrick's 100% Health Promise by switching your pets food.

1. 60:20:20 balance = whole health
2. 70:30 no grain = allergen control
3. Omega 6 +3 = healthy skin and coat
4. Antioxidants = digestive health
5. Glucosamine/Chondroitin = healthy bones and joints

Give Merrick a try, their 100% health promise means that if you and your pet aren't completely satisfied you get your money back!

I urge you to visit this amazing company:

Merrick on YouTube

Merrick on Twitter

Merrick on Facebook

Also take a look at where you can find Merrick by you by clicking here

Till the next blog post fur friends!

Wags and wet nose kisses,

Priscilla, Bebe, and Jolie 

Happy 10th Birthday Bebe!

Bebe turned 10 years old today! I honestly cannot believe that a decade has gone by! It felt like only yesterday I had driven to Brooklyn to pick up my 8 week old angel. We've had lots of laughs and giggles along the way and for her birthday this year I decided to take her to our favorite boutique in Cranford, NJ, Just4Pooches

The owner, Lynne Suga-Rafanelli is a sweetheart, I've known her for a few years now and even though she didn't pose for a picture, I managed to sneak one in of her and her bird Peeps.

At Just4Pooches we were gifted some very yummy peanut butter carob cake and some paw cookies. I had purchased the bone shaped pan there some years ago. Shortly after arriving home the party started!

Bebe enjoyed her intimate birthday party and her outing to her favorite boutique in town. She's still quite bloated from all the treats, we will have to go on several more outings to burn off the pup cake calories!

Till our next post, wet nose kisses and tail wags!

Laser Therapy Treatment for Dogs

A few weeks ago, my dog Bebe was in chronic pain in her neck and arm area. I had not seen her fall or do anything that may have caused injury but it was obvious that she was in pain.

After one too many screaming yelps I called out of work and took her to the vet.

Our vet suggested that we start a series of laser therapy treatments. I gave her a blank stare.

I've seen and heard about laser therapy being used everywhere on humans but never thought that the medical breakthrough was now available for our furry friends.

It sounded expensive to me but in all actuality it was very reasonable. Prices range between $40-$60 a session and a minimum of 6 sessions is recommended.

The best part is that our pet insurance covered about half of the costs.

After the first treatment I immediately noticed a difference in Bebe's range of motion in her neck, and she wasn't crying or yelping. The response to the laser made me cry, cry with tears of joy that my Furbaby was getting better so soon.

In addition to the laser therapy sessions, our vet also have is a prescription for a the generic of Rimadyl which is a pain killer. I gave this to Bebe every night with a belly full of food. As always I use Flavor-doh to administer medication. My dogs think it's a treat with that stuff!

The recommended time in between laser visits is usually once every other day or 2-3 days in between. I was going every two days and in two weeks the therapy was complete.

I recommend everyone to ask their vet about laser therapy as it is used for multiple purposes. Vets use it to speed up healing after surgery, arthritis cases, and for pain among other things.

The type of therapy that was used on Bebe was by the company LiteCure LLC and the machine used was the Companion Laser Therapy machine found here. It is a cold infrared laser.

I urge you to check out their website and ask your vet if they carry laser therapy treatments! Bebe is doing better than ever and I am so thankful that this technology exists! Thank you LiteCure!