About a week ago I took Ralphie to the vet for his annual heart worm check. Negative...which I knew; it's Florida law to have your dog checked yearly. But what really shocked me is Ralphie weighed in at 75 pounds!!!! This can't be...how is his weight gain happening??!!
I started analyzing Ralphie's lifestyle and diet. Well, he has become more of a couch potato as he's getting older. He definitely doesn't have the puppy energy he once had. Lucy does a pretty good job keeping Ralphie somewhat active with her puppy play. She does get him running at the dog park. Then I researched the dog food that I changed him over to when Lucy came into our family. I changed him over from Zignature to a more cost effective food, 4Health Performance from the Tractor Supply store. I did a lot of researched on the quality of the food before switching him over. Dogfoodadvisor.com rated it 5 stars...so I went with it. I went deeper and checked the nutritional stats...this food has a whopping 20% crude fat. It seems most other kibbles have 12% to 14% crude fat. That 20% crude fat now shows on Ralphie's body with ripples and dimples. So I started all over again, researching different kibbles that both Ralphie and Lucy can eat...a food for all stages of life. I am now converting both dogs over to Canidae, with 14% crude fat.
I like to see Ralphie lose about 8 to 10 pounds...that's a lot of weight for a dog. It'll take time, proper diet, and exercise. I can't believe how ignorant I was just to look at the star rating system of dogfoodadvisor.com and not the fat levels and other stats. Lesson learned.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Happy 2016 New Year!!
Happy New Year from Ralphie, Lucy, and Myself!
It was a bittersweet year for me...my little 'ol man, Ollie left me this year but Lucy came into my life in 2015. Ralphie now has a sister...his soulmate. They truly are. I see the love Ralphie and Lucy have for each other every day. They seem to know how to read each other...they can play and play but they know when to give each other their own space. Lucy respects Ralphie as the alpha in our home and on the other hand Ralphie tends to give in to Lucy making her feel like a princess. LOL It's amazing to see this connection and so many times I think why can't us humans be more like our pups. We certainly can learn a lot just by observing their behavior.
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| Happy New Year from the 3 of Us! Sporting my new Vizsla sweater! |
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| Smooch! From Ralphie. Love. |
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