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Helping Pets in Need Become a #WellnessPet

December 12, 2016 Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by Wellness and the BlogPawsTM Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help share the availability of Wellness Products at PetSmart, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Neither Wellness nor PetSmart is responsible for the content of this article.

Helping Pets in Need Become a #WellnessPet

Animal rescue is extremely tough.

Not only do you have to sacrifice your time, open your heart to possible pain, and alter your life, but you have to find ways to provide for the rescues you take in. While Great Pyrenees eat less than most anticipate, they are still giant dogs who require hefty food bills. Many people in rescue, myself included, don’t always have a large enough budget to feed all of the dogs they take in.

If rescue volunteers can’t afford to feed the dogs, they turn down foster opportunities. The dog they could have fostered, given the appropriate resources, remains in the shelter and often at risk for euthanasia.

WellPet Foundation

Thankfully, amazing resources, such as the WellPet Foundation, are able to assist in feeding dogs in need to keep them out of shelters.

At WellPet, we are committed to giving back to the world we share with our pets. Through the WellPet Foundation, we support organizations and activities that promote the power of natural nutrition and the benefits of healthy, active lifestyles.

This past November, catastrophic flooding forced many people from Louisiana to leave their homes. Unfortunately, the severity of the situation caused many pets to be left behind and in need of food and proper care. One shelter, The Companion Alliance of Baton Rouge, took in 650 animals before and after the flooding. Now, that’s a hefty food bill.

As shelter volunteers work tirelessly to reunite pets with their owners, they don’t need the added burden of ensuring the animals are fed a healthy diet. The WellPet Foundation stepped in a donated nearly 50,000 pounds of food and treats to The Companion Alliance of Baton Rouge and other shelters nearby.

A Personal Experience

I had the chance to personally experience the generosity of the WellPet Foundation. The Great Pyrenees Rescue, Montana took in a Great Pyrenees/Akbash puppy who was found in the woods. The puppy was tiny, weak, and clearly malnourished. One amazing volunteer took the puppy, Rooby, into her home.

I reached out to Wellness® to see if they would be willing to help take care of the puppy by providing food for her. Without hesitation, I received a “yes” and was passing along mailing information. Little Miss Rooby was thrilled with her Wellness food and the donation relieved some pressure from her foster mom. P.S. Rooby is currently looking for her forever home!

Unfortunately, too many pet food companies are only “in it for the money” and fail to keep our pets’ best interests in mind. I can honestly say that I have never felt that way about Wellness. I’ve been lucky to meet several people on the Wellness team, and their love of pets is clearly evident.

We have been fans of Wellness products since the fluffies were babies, but my fondness for the company has continued to grow as I’ve learned more about their mission and company personality. One of the best things about Wellness Pet Food is that they have a formula for every dog. The fluffies like to rotate between Wellness® CORE®, Wellness© Complete Health™, and Wellness® TruFood®. There are enough formulas and flavors to keep them interested!

If you haven’t checked out all that Wellness has to offer, you can do that here. Or you can simply swing by your local PetSmart to pick up a bag! Trust me, your fluffy with thank you.

Prefer to shop from home? Visit PetSmart® online to check out the extensive Wellness lineup in order to pick the right food for your dog.

You can also follow Wellness on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

What’s your dog’s favorite Wellness product?

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wellness. The opinions and text are all mine.

The #WellnessPet Difference – Giant Breed Edition

November 11, 2016 3 Comments

The #WellnessPet Difference – Giant Breed Edition

This post is sponsored by Wellness and the BlogPaws™ Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help share the availability of Wellness Products at PetSmart, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Neither Wellness nor PetSmart is responsible for the content of this article.

While I feed “all life stages” food sometimes, my preference is usually to feed a formula targeted at large breed dogs. I prefer large breed formulas, especially in busy times, because I don’t have to worry that Mauja and Atka are getting enough nutrients. Specifically, I’m concerned that they are getting the necessary amounts of omegas, glucosamine, and chondroitin. While these nutrients are good for any dog to have, they are especially important for giant breed dogs to maintain healthy skin, coat, hips, and joints.

When feeding an “all life stages” food, I supplement the fluffies’ diet with salmon oil and a hip and joint supplement. This provides me with added comfort, but it’s also additional products I have to buy and ensure I have on hand. A quality large breed formula decreases the need for additional supplements and adds simplicity to my busy life. Thankfully, Wellness® offers several large breed formulas, including one of our absolute favorites.

The Wellness Difference

At Wellness, we do whatever it takes to create the healthiest foods for the pets that depend on us. Food feeds their souls, sustains their lives, and protects their bodies. That’s why our diverse team of animal lovers, nutritionists, and vets has only one mission: To help you provide your pet a healthy, happy, long life through the power of natural nutrition.
The Wellness Difference is about being more than natural. And it’s not about what is left out = no fillers or artificial ingredients – these are a given for us. True Wellness is about what we put in – a small number of simple, pure, authentic ingredients. We believe this is the way to make superior food for our animals.

Do you feel completely comfortable with the food you are feeding your giant breed dog? While we feed a rotation diet that includes "all life stages" foods, large breed formulas are great for peace of mind about nutrients. Check out our preferred large breed formula! — Atka trying to decide which Wellness product he wants at PetSmart this time!

The focus on ingredients that are included, rather than ingredients left out, is one of my favorite things about Wellness. They’re not focused on simply leaving out unhealthy ingredients. Wellness wants to include the best ingredients to provide high-quality nutrition for your dog. More importantly, you don’t have to worry about Wellness simply adding the latest buzzword to their label.

Wellness® CORE® Large Breed

There are a few distinct differences between the regular CORE line and the large breed CORE formula. In my opinion, the most important difference is the level of glucosamine and chondroitin. While the original CORE formula contains 250 mg/kg of glucosamine and 200 mg/kg of chondroitin, CORE large breed boasts 750 mg/kg of glucosamine and 250 mg/kg of chondroitin. The higher levels will help to keep your giant breed’s hips and joints healthy for life.

The second difference is the size of the kibble. If you have a giant breed, you know your dog could easily snort the pieces of kibble up his nose. Big dogs want big kibble that doesn’t get stuck in their teeth! Can’t argue with that 😉

Feeding a large breed formula isn’t a must for your giant breed, but it definitely makes life simpler by including the necessary supplements in the food. Regardless of the CORE formula you choose, you’ll be giving your dog a high-quality, high-protein food filled with all the nutrients your dog needs to thrive.

Be sure to stop by your local PetSmart and check out the extensive line of Wellness CORE and Wellness® Complete Health™ products! You can follow Wellness on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and PetSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

If you have a giant breed dog, have you tried the Wellness CORE Large Breed formula? What’s your dog’s favorite Wellness product?

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wellness. The opinions and text are all mine.

Keeping Cool While Staying Grain-Free #GrainFreeForMe

August 4, 2016 1 Comment

Summer is here and it is HOT. While it hasn’t been overly warm here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s still warm enough to make the fluffies uncomfortable. This summer, they seem to have two favorites for keeping cool: splashing in their pool and enjoying a frozen treat.

Baby Pool for Dogs

I absolutely love getting the baby pool out for Mauja and Atka. Atka hops in the pool as soon as I turn on the hose and waits for the water to fill around him. Mauja prefers to wait until the pool is full before she hops in to cool off.

While Atka will lay down in the pool, Mauja prefers to just splash around (or use it as a massive water bowl). However, they both love to dig in the water. If your dog is fond of water, does he dig in the pool, too? I’m always thankful we have a plastic pool that they can’t tear easily with their nails!

Check out Atka’s digging action!

Wellness Grain-Free Frozen Treats

Fillable treat toys are a great way to keep your dog busy, but freezing them makes them last so much longer. Recently, they have been enjoying their treat toys stuffed with Wellness CORE wet food or Wellness Complete Health Grain-Free dry food and some sodium-free chicken broth, wet food, or a little cottage cheese.

Since Mauja and Atka’s tummies can be pretty sensitive, I prefer to fill their treat toys with foods they’re already used to. Plus, it’s a great way to ensure they are eating in the warm summer months. It’s not uncommon for pyrs to lose weight in the summer due to an unwillingness to eat. While I haven’t checked Atka’s weight, Mauja is down about 10 pounds which is consistent with previous years. As fall comes around, she’ll regain the lost weight. Offering frozen food encourages them to eat ensuring they receive the nutrients their bodies need.

Great Pyrenees | It's Dog or Nothing #grainfreeforme — Waiting… patiently?

Preparing your dog’s frozen treat toy with wet food couldn’t be easier. Simply grab your toy, stuff, and freeze! I like to shove some treats at the end for them to work toward – it’s like a prize at the bottom of the box.

Our second method of using dry food and broth can be a bit trickier, but it’s still a simple process. The biggest struggle is making sure the broth doesn’t leak out of the bottom of the toy until it freezes. I’ve found a treat that fits perfectly into the opening in Mauja and Atka’s treat toys which keeps at least 95% of the broth in. If you use this method, just be sure to remove the treat at the end before giving the toy to your dog to prevent it from suctioning to your dog’s tongue (always use treat toys with at least two openings).

The combination of a baby pool and frozen treats does an excellent job at keeping the fluffies cool. I’m waiting for the day that Atka takes his treat into the pool with him 😉

Thanks again to our awesome sponsor, Wellness Pet Food, for supporting our phenomenal trip to #BlogPaws!

How do you keep your dog cool in the summer?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BlogPaws Pet Influencer Network. The opinions and text are all mine.

The Fluffies Have an Announcement…

June 13, 2016 13 Comments

In less than 2 weeks, we will be hitting the road for BlogPaws. If you aren’t familiar BlogPaws is an absolutely AMAZING pet blogging conference. This 3-day conference is pet-friendly and packed full of great information. Last year, we attended for the first time and had a blast. We met tons of amazing people and brands and were completely exhausted by the end of it.

It was so worth it.

Since we had such a blast, I knew we had to come back for the 2016 BlogPaws Conference. With us being mid-move, things have been a bit crazy, but I knew we had to go. I was super excited, but became absolutely ecstatic when this arrived in my inbox:

Wellness is interested in sponsoring your trip to BlogPaws so that you can be an onsite Ambassador for them.

Say what, now?

I’m not going to lie – I may have let out a squeal when I read the email, which, of course, caused Mauja and Atka to bark.

I just pretended they were cheering along with me 😉

No, I wasn’t excited that someone was going to provide financial support for It’s Dog or Nothing (but I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t an added perk!). I was excited to create a deeper partnership with a brand we’ve been dedicated to for quite some time.

If you’ve been following us for awhile, you know that we love, love, love Wellness products – we’ve talked about them so many times! Wellness has always been my first recommendation when asked for dog food information (I know many of you can vouch for that!). Not only is Wellness food a staple to Mauja and Atka’s rotation diet, but the WellBites and TruFood CocoChia Bakes are two of their favorite treats.

We have several Wellness products in their rotation diet, but currently, two of their favorites are the CORE Ocean formula and the grain-free Complete Health Whitefish and Menhaden Fish Meal recipe. The new grain-free Complete Health line has helped eliminate Atka’s itchies and settle Mauja’s tummy. I really can’t say enough good things about our experience with the products from Wellness.

If you are coming to BlogPaws (you really should – more info here!), make sure you stop by the Wellness booth for a #GrainFreeForMe photo booth and tons of giveaways and prizes. We’ll be spending a lot of time there and the fluffies are always demanding snuggles!

Great Pyrenees and Wellness Dog Food — The fluffies with the Wellness girls at BlogPaws last year. Best friends!

It’s Dog or Nothing will also be giving away a year’s worth of dog food to another blogger at BlogPaws. If you are interested in the Complete Health line, come chat with us and you might be the lucky winner!

I cannot even begin to say how thrilled I am to have the opportunity to work more closely with Wellness. I have seen Mauja and Atka thrive on their products over the past few years and know other dogs will have the same experience.

Has your dog tried Wellness products? Will you be attending BlogPaws? Let us know in the comments!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of BlogPaws Pet Influencer Network. The opinions and text are all mine.

I Have Celiac, but That’s Not Why I Feed Grain-Free #GrainFreeForMe

May 24, 2016 21 Comments

I Have Celiac, but That’s Not Why I Feed Grain-Free

I have Celiac disease. If you’re not familiar with Celiac, I’m certain you’re familiar with the gluten-free trend. For people with Celiac disease and Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS), a gluten-free lifestyle isn’t a choice, it’s a necessity.

Recently, I was out with Atka browsing the pet food aisle. I’m not sure why (maybe I’m a tad weird), but I enjoy looking at all of the available commercial foods, studying the ingredients, and then pulling out my phone to continue the research. Plus, it gives me ample time to work on down-stays with Atka.

This post is sponsored by Wellness® Natural Pet Food and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help share Wellness Grain Free options, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Wellness is not responsible for the content of this article.

While I was looking through some of the Wellness® products, I ran into an individual I work with. We are not close, but there have been enough events that I’ve declined so she knows I’m gluten-free. She looked at me, looked at my cart, looked back at me, and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. You even force your DOG to eat gluten-free?!”

I didn’t know what to say. Yes, Mauja and Atka consume a grain-free diet of commercial pet food and homemade food. While they have not always been on a grain-free diet, their switch happened before my diagnosis, when they reached adulthood.

Unfortunately, when this individual commented about my feeding practices, I was so caught off-guard that I didn’t know how to answer. Now that I’ve composed myself, here are my top 3 reasons for feeding my Great Pyrenees Wellness Complete Health™ grain-free food.

Grain-free food provides more of a nutritional punch. Rather than being full of empty calories and nutrients, they get “more of the good stuff”, such as chickpeas, flaxseed, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, apples, and blueberries. In Wellness dog food, this includes natural ingredients with high-quality protein for full energy, prebiotics and probiotics to support healthy digestion, and vitamins A & E to support healthy immune system.
Grain-free food can help alleviate allergies. Great Pyrenees are prone to both food and environmental allergies, so I wanted to be cognizant of that fact when determining their diet. Grains are a popular allergen trigger for this breed.
Grain-free diets can help prevent ear infections, stomach upset, and other gastrointestinal issues. If Mauja and Atka are comfortable and happy, I’m happy too.
A bonus, yet selfish, reason. Feeding grain-free food helps keep me healthy! I can get very sick from simply breathing in the air particles of their food or scratching my face while feeding them. The fluffies do not accept a sick mom who skips walks 😉

Atka’s Wellness Complete Health Update

Atka has been on Wellness Complete Health for just over a month now. We are using Wellness as his food base to ensure he is getting all of his essential vitamins and minerals, but then add a topper of homemade food. The Complete Health line offers everything he needs, but I always like to add a little something extra 😉

As completely shocked as I am to say this, Atka’s itching has disappeared in the last month. We did have Atka on a completely homemade diet and did not see any improvement, so we were getting quite frustrated. I tried a lot of experimenting, but I couldn’t seem to alleviate the itching.

If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know why the itching has ceased since the switch, but I’m not going to question it! Atka loves the food, he’s not itching, and I know he’s getting great nutrition – I’m a happy pyr mom <3

Interested in trying Wellness food for your dog? Click here for your $3 off coupon and shop PetSmart online!

[Psst – are you following Wellness on social media? Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+]

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Does your pet eat grain-free recipes? Post a pic of you & your pet using #GrainFreeForMe!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wellness® Natural Pet Food. The opinions and text are all mine.

Power Your Pyrenees with Complete Health #GrainFreeForMe

April 19, 2016 3 Comments

Power Your Pyrenees with Complete Health

It’s no secret that we love Wellness Pet Food. The fluffies have tried so many of their products over the years. They’ve had (and loved) several flavors from the TruFood and Core lines – both grain-free options. However, there was one line they haven’t had in quite some time – the Wellness® Complete Health™ line.

This post is sponsored by Wellness Natural Pet Food and the BlogPaws® Pet Influencer Network™. I am being compensated to help share the reinvented Complete Health Line and other Wellness Products, but we only share information we feel is relevant to our readers. Wellness Natural Pet Food is not responsible for the content of this article.

As puppies, Mauja and Atka were both on the Large Breed Puppy Complete Health formula. This is not a grain-free diet, but since grain-free diets are generally not recommended for giant breed puppies, this was perfect. The fluffies loved and thrived on this food.

However, as they got older I wanted to switch them to a grain-free diet. Even though we loved the Complete Health line, there weren’t any grain-free options for us. That’s when we switched to Wellness Core and eventually tried TruFood.

Recently, something I never thought would happen finally did – Wellness Complete Health finally went grain-free! Obviously, we just had to try it.

Mauja and Atka really like fish-flavored foods, so we decided to go with the Complete Health Whitefish and Menhaden Fish Meal Recipe. This recipe features a balanced blend of proteins, grain-free carbohydrates, and select fats to help your furry one thrive. In fact, Wellness guarantees the 5 Signs of Wellness.

Skin & Coat Health – By including healthy levels of Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids from quality sources such as salmon and flaxseed, your dog’s coat will be 100% snuggable. Omega-3s and Omega-6s are also essential for healthy, flake-free skin.
Digestive Health – Upset tummies are no fun – for you or your dog! Wellness Complete Health provides probiotics, prebiotics, chicory root extract, and fiber to improve digestion and keep tummies happy.
Eyes, Teeth, & Gums – Excessive tearing and inflammation are sure to cause discomfort and leave you with one unhappy puppy. High-quality food such as Complete Health, will prevent excessive tearing and keep your dog’s teeth and gums inflammation free.
Energy – We all love being active with our pets, but we have to ensure they are getting the quality nutrition required to optimize their energy levels. By providing a balanced blend of high-quality protein, grain-free carbohydrates, and select fats, you’ll both be ready for your favorite activities.
Immunity – We all know that a strong immune system is important for optimal health. Wellness Complete Health recipes are fortified with zinc, selenium, and vitamin E to maintain optimum health and resist disease.

As I was preparing for this post, I wanted to get some pictures of Mauja and Atka enjoying their food. I filled the bowl to the brim to make it easier to get a good picture and let them do their part as taste-testers.

Does your dog show the 5 signs of wellness? Read why we're loving Wellness Complete Health to keep our Great Pyrenees happy and healthy! — Notice the slobber around the bowl? 😉

It was actually pretty adorable – they both took turns grabbing a bite from the bowl. Mauja would step up, grab a bite, take a step back to chew, and then Atka would go through the same process. They continued to do this over and over (why am I never filming when I should be?!) until the bowl was completely empty.

Little piglets.

They then had the nerve to look at me like, “Okay, mom. Are you going to refill this thing or what?”

I think it’s safe to say that Wellness Complete Health will be added to their rotation diet!

P.S. You can follow Wellness Pet Food on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest!

Does your dog show the 5 Signs of Wellness? Swing by your local PetSmart (or easily shop online) so your dog can try the new grain-free line of Wellness Complete Health!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wellness. The opinions and text are all mine.

complete health

Helping Pets in Need Become a #WellnessPet

Helping Pets in Need Become a #WellnessPet