September Success Stories: Bertie and Bessie

Bertie is a (nearly) 6 year old English Springer Spaniel. When he was a puppy he had an awful belly. He would spend hours straining in the garden and had frequent accidents in the house - all the advice I got was to feed chicken and rice. After conversations with a friend who raw feeds, I started our journey and discovered that poor Bert is allergic to both chicken and turkey. Now he thrives on his raw diet!

Bessie is a 6 year old Dalmatian who is lucky to be alive. Two years ago, she swallowed a chestnut that got stuck in her intestine. After Four surgeries in 2 weeks, the vets refused to make a follow-up appointment as they did not believe she'd be here due to sepsis and an unknown bacteria that had caused her pancreas to become infected.

Since then, her journey has been turbulent and we now have a formal diagnosis of IBD which is treated with steroids. Following the advice of vets, I kept moving her from kibble to kibble which she hated, reacted to and refused to eat (Bessie had been raw-fed before the incident). When I mentioned a raw diet, the vets were against it for many reasons however, I sought the advice of a nutritionist who gave me the confidence to transition back in December 2022 - let's say I have not looked back! Bessie has so much more energy, she has stabilised in weight, her B12 levels are now stable, her stomach has settled down and, most importantly, we have now reduced the steroids to just 5mg a day with the aim of getting her off them eventually. I would not feed anything else now to Bessie!