WHY, Not How …..

I often have people asking me why I started my little shop or why they should swap to raw “when their dog is doing just fine on kibble”

I try to put into words the feeling I had starting up my shop and why but sometimes, when things are busy, it’s hard to explain. So if you have 5 mins – here’s my story of WHY rather than how.

I had a GSD called Taylor (Yes his  name was Taylor Taylor – my kids named him lol). I used to feed him an expensive biscuits because I believed, as many do, that spending a lot of money on a biscuit food will make it good for him. He had a few digestive issues but nothing too bad. Then one day when he was 5 years old he developed a slight limp. I took him to vets and after being referred he was diagnosed with hip cancer. Inoperable at the time and they gave him 6 months to live max. I was broken.

My baby. My pride and total joy was dying and there was nothing I could do to stop that.

I watching him deteriorate for a few months then I met someone on a dog walk who said to try raw. She told me to look at the sugar in dog biscuits. Look at the research on cancers and sugar and give it a go. I thought – why not? Nothing to loose.

In those days the only way to get raw was through pet shops and the few that had it, didn’t really know what they were selling but I took the plunge and watching him change over literally days.

Now I’m not saying for 1 minute that raw is a cure for illnesses but what I can tell you is Taylor lasted another 28 months and in that time he thrived. He played. He had a shiny coat. He had energy and he was happy. He was on pain killers towards the end as I noticed his limp returned to the vets prescribed them but apart from that he was a lovely boy and I feel I helped him make the most of his final years.

Moving forward I was luckily enough to have been given the opportunity to start my own shop and in doing so i have met some wonderful dogs and their humans and we have had some amazing success stories. One in particular will always stay with me. A man and woman came in with their very sick Cane Corso. The vets practically had given up with him. Said to put him down. The husband was pacifying the wife by attending the shop with her. She was willing to try anything. He was sceptical and reluctant. We started them on raw and 1 week later, just as Covid hit, he came into the shop with his dog who had gained weight and was much more alert and said to me “I’d cuddle you if I could.  Thank you from the bottom of our heart for helping our boy”

So this is a good example of why I started my shop. I love to think that there are more healthy dogs out there because of our little shop. All my staff are so dedicated. We all love dogs with a passion and we just want to do right by them. We have per nutritionists in store and we are always here to guide you no matter what stage of your raw feeding journey you are on.

And yes some dogs are more challenging than others but often with a little bit of guidance to their humans, things all turn out right in the end.