September Success Stories: Billy(Parson-Russell Terrier)

We know we’re not unique in thinking this, but our dog Billy is the smartest, kindest, friendliest, most handsome dog alive and no one will convince us otherwise. And because of that, he deserves – and gets – the best.

Billy is a Parson-Russell terrier. He’ll be five soon, and yes, he will be having a birthday party. There will be cake (more or less a Sheppard’s pie) for him and his many doggy friends, and Prosecco for the pet parents.

My partner, Mike, and I took on Billy when he was just about to turn one year old. We were his third owners already. Billy is a rescue – perhaps not like the street dogs from abroad, but a rescue nonetheless. As far as we can see, he wasn’t abused. But he wasn’t loved as he should be either. Now he is.

We rehomed him when his previous owner, an elderly man called Patrick, was diagnosed with cancer and was finding homes for all his pets. Patrick was a responsible owner who had Billy chipped and charged us £100 to take Billy – not that he needed the money, but to prove we were taking this seriously.

Patrick fed Billy on raw food. That is to say, raw scraps of food he gave to Billy when he was cooking or a pack of raw chicken thighs. Thankfully, it wasn’t processed, but it wasn’t really balanced either. Patrick did the best he could at the time under the circumstances.

We got Billy after Mike fell in love with our friend’s dog, Stinky, a Pug-Jack Russell. We’d look after him sometimes. Our friend feeds his dogs on raw (a different brand) so we did the same. But the transition from how Patrick fed Billy to what we were doing when we got him didn’t seem to agree with his little tummy. So we switched to a good, but cooked, brand.

Mike works with Anna Webb and after weeks (months?) of badgering from her, we decided to go back to raw, but this time we wanted to find a way of giving him a balanced raw diet. The benefits were immediately clear.

But it was when we started him on Paleoridge when we REALLY saw a change. Not necessarily anything to do with energy – Billy is a young dog with some Jack Russell in him after all. It was more around his overall appearance and general health. His teeth are ‘spectacular’ according to our vet and his coat!

Billy sheds quite a bit. We’re constantly hoovering (and when I say ‘we’ and mean ‘me’) and we haven’t quite given up wearing black, but we’re close. For the longest time his undercarriage was a bald as Mike. Billy had some fur on his chest, but his belly and surrounding area was totally bare. We put this down to seasonal malting, but he’d stay bald throughout the cold months too. But about a month after being on Paleoridge, all the fur grew back.

Mike and I love Billy more than we love each other (well, almost) and we stop at nothing to keep him healthy, happy, and here with us for as long as we can. His diet is absolutely fundamental to that so we’re ecstatic that we found Paleoridge.