We ventured into the pound and of course I ha to say Hi and your beautiful to every dog in there. I LOVE animals. ALL of them!! I would adopt them all if I had the space, time, and money to. After I made my rounds I came to the small cages. I saw in one a litter of three puppies, 6.5 weeks old. They were terrier-spaniel mixes, so they passed the husband test of "small dog." We opened the cage and way on the back I saw the perfect puppy face. We looked at all three, very sad we couldn't take them all home. My husband liked one that looked more like a spaniel and I loved the first one I saw that looked like a terrier. At the time we could only afford the pet deposit for one dog so we had to make the hard choice. We chose the dog that was more responsive and alert, which was Melody Rose, the one that took after a terrier. Melody was so tiny and had already been spayed a few days earlier. She and her sisters had been left in their cages with sutures on their bellies laying in their own waste. It was heart wrenching.
We brought Melody Rose home she ran around the house like a spazz ball. We took her to the vet the next day and had her checked out. They gave us medicine for the sutures because they were infected. Then the traumatic first few months of my puppies life began. Melody was very very sick. The vet put her on a few different medications, but they didn't do anything except keep her illnesses from getting worse. We switched to holistic care and saw some improvement, but she had a rough first 6 months of life. This next part is quite gross...Melody Rose was not able to eat dog food very well. We tried many kinds but they all resulted in her always having bloody mucus stools with very little waste in it. It was so hard for me to watch my tiny puppy go through this. I was taking her to one of the nicest most expensive vets in town, but there was nothing she could do. I started researching how to supplement my puppy with more nutrition and more whole food options then the dog food.
So begins Melody's homemade food. Even though I was made fun of for it, I am convinced that by the grace of God and this homemade food, Melody Rose was spared. I made all of her food just as you would baby food. I always mixed a lean protein with multiple vegetables, rice, and an apple. Then it would be pureed together. I fed Melody this for the first year of her life. After a couple of weeks we were able to mix it with dog food and it would pass through her well. The homemade food helped stabilize her system. When she was stabilized then she had larger ratios of dog food to homemade food. The best thing was Melody Rose got 1/2-1 egg every morning. Sometimes it was mixed with veggies, sometimes rice, and sometimes dog food. The egg provided her with necessary fats and proteins and it helped her appetite open up. If her appetite wasn't stimulated in the morning she wouldn't eat all day.
I would spend all day the first summer of my marriage caring for Melody Rose. Feeding her, training her, and loving her. She is now a very very smart dog, sometimes I think too smart. She knows over 100 human words and has decided she is above the other dogs. Melody Rose has always been a little eccentric, but we love her. We found out a year ago that Melody had distemper as a puppy and that is why she was so sick. She has very badly damaged teeth. When we finally switched to a new vet he asked us about it. We told him the story and that is when we finally found out what had been wrong with our sweet baby puppy. It was quite infuriating for me that I spent more money then I would have on 2 AKC certified dogs and my first vet could never tell me what was wrong with my puppy. We did find out that Melody has an amazingly strong immune system, YAY! She is an extremely healthy active dog. We walk six miles, the rest of us are exhausted and Melody is ready to go another six! She is only 16 pounds and is tough as nails. She is the leader of the dog pack and helps train, teach, and order the other dogs. Melody Rose was my inspiration to begin providing nutritional care for dogs. I don't believe in feeding my dogs food that have anything but meat in the first ingredient. I also do my best to eliminate all preservatives from their diet.
That is why I started
I hope this long blog has helped you to understand my passion and my devotion to my business and animals in general. I believe in providing better treats for dogs. My prices are competitive with the treats you find at the pet stores and mine aren't made with preservatives, artificial ingredients, food colorings, or flavorings. Only whole food or supplements go into my cookies. I hope you will check the website for Pure and Natural Treats. I look forward to providing you and your pet with a wholesome delicious treat!
www.PureAndNaturalTreats.com
Sweet Melody Rose
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