Eco-Friendly Mama: Safe product recommendations with a focus on organic and Made in USA!

It has been an incredibly rough weekend for this pet mama. Our beloved family pet, our 7 year old black lab named Shiloh had a medical emergency and we were told she might not make it through the night, and it was our fault (they didn’t say that part, but that’s the truth). I want to share our story as a PSA to all pet owners. We didn’t take her diet seriously enough. We thought dogs had rock solid guts and we enjoyed sharing table scraps with her. We always save extra venison trimmings when we’re processing our burger, steaks, etc, freeze the trimmings and dole them out to her throughout the rest of the year, it has never been a problem. We recently butchered a pig that was raised by a friend of ours, and filled our freezer with enough pork for a year or 2. And like we do with venison, we bagged up scraps for Shiloh. We figured it’d be good for her to have some variety from her dry kibble. We like variety, surely she does too, right? Eating the same kibble daily has got to be a drag for her, right?

Long story as short as possible, after 4 days of a small amount of pork trimmings in addition to her dry kibble, she started puking. With 24 hrs she went from her normal, amazing doggy self, to not being able to keep anything down, completely drained of all interest in anything, and we knew we needed to get her seen. Of course it was Friday at 2pm at this time. We were able to get her a 4:30 appt to a vet she’d never seen. And instantly they told us she was in very grave condition. She had acute pancreatitis, it was starting to necrotize. Her enzyme levels were literally off the charts, unreadable, and toxic. She was in extreme pain. She might not make it through the night. They could not treat her adequately there so presented us with 2 options:

1: Best option for her to survive: send her to the big city (2 hrs away + if they would even be able to accept her) for IV’s to manage pain, nausea, dehydration, toxic shock she was in, etc. Cost estimate= $6-$8,000. And no guarantee she would make it.

2: Shoot her up there with pain meds + as many fluids as possible, send us home with antibiotics, more pain meds, anti-nausea meds, and hope she made it through the night (last night). If she didn’t get worse, and we could keep fluids in her & get some food in her, she might pull through. We paid them $800 for their services and headed home with no guarantees.

Below is a couple year old pic of our girl. She is an amazing companion. She’s happiest when she’s right by our side.

We went from general and mild concern, knowing something was wrong but not thinking it was too serious, to suddenly having to put a price on our family members life. It was an extremely awful, high-pressure situation and I don’t wish it upon anyone. It was also super awful to realize how much pain dogs need to be in before they show it. She was in excruciating pain but couldn’t tell us. When it was evident it was already very far progressed. Just gut-wrenching all around. We were told the night ahead would tell us everything: either she would get better, or she wouldn’t, and if she continued to puke we should make an euthanasia appointment by noon the next day, as there was no hope.

There was absolutely no way we could even consider option 1. Thankfully, with round the clock care at home + another trip back the next morning for more fluids, she is doing better. We’re not out of the woods. She could have complications still, diabetes being one of them due to her pancreas also controlling insulin response.

All this to say: diet matters. We think we’re doing our 4-legged friends a favor by tossing them human food, and we’re not. The vet told us they see a spike in pancreatis cases after every major holiday. Those drippings from the turkey, or whatever other treats they’re slipped (especially fatty foods), are HUGE triggers for this condition. I’m optimistic we’re getting a second chance to do right by Shiloh, and I’m sharing our story in hopes of preventing this from happening to at least 1 other family. Many of you reading this are like: yeah, duh Jess, we know this. I’m struggling with guilt because I too knew this to some degree, but didn’t abide by it. But you better believe I will be going forward.

Thanks for reading. I know that was a lot. But I feel better getting it off my chest and I hope it resonates with at least 1 of you who read it. Many who’ve met this dog agree that she’s one of the best dogs they’ve ever met. She just turned 7, and we plan to keep her around for that many more years.