Thank you Rachael Ray!

Where to begin?  Well it's a long story that happened 12 years ago so I'll make it as quick as I can.  I rescued this dog you see here one evening on a dirt road out in the country.  She was lying flat on her belly with her head resting on the grass and the rest of her body on the road.  I thought she was dead but something told me to get out of the car and see if she was still alive.  I've never been good about just driving on by.  I saw that she was breathing and decided to pick her up and put her in the car.  She lifted her head up to give a faint growl and then she passed out.  It was too late at night to take her anywhere so I took her home.  She was too weak to chew so I took some dog food and soaked it in water to make it a little easier.  She lapped it up like crazy.  On her skeletal body she had nearly 500 ticks and was covered in fleas.  

In the morning she was gaining strength and she spent some time trying to walk again.  We helped her and encouraged her but didn't push her.  I knew in time she'd recover.  At the vet I was told that had I not found her that night on the road she would have just died there.  She only had about three hours left to live judging by what the vet could see of her condition.  The vet also told me that she was going to be a good dog for a very lucky family.  I could sense that about her.  She was so loving even after you could see all of the neglect she had previously endured.  I was very active in rescue and fostering back then and believed I'd find a good home for her.  They did lab work on her and I took her home to continue the rehabilitation process.

A week after her first veterinary appointment  I received a very sad phone call from the vet.  She tested positive for breast cancer and had rapidly growing cancer cells inside of her body.  They told me she only had three months to live if that.  I sat on the floor and sobbed.  I decided I would keep her because how could I give a good family a sweet dying dog.  I decided to love her and take care of her for however long time would allow.  Well..here we are 12 years later!

Her name is Kaya and she is believed to be a German Shepherd/Chow mix.  Whatever she is she has proven to be the most loyal, kind, caring, loving dog I have ever known.  I had her before I met my husband and way before children came along.  She is loving to every single member of our family and she protects us.  If two people were ever arguing in a room that she was in she would place her body in between the two people.  To this day she still kisses my hand when I feed her a meal.  That makes me tear up.  She's thanking me and has been showing me her gratitude for every meal of every day since the day I rescued her on that dark lonely dirt road.

Okay so now to explain the title of my post which reads... Thank you Rachael Ray!  A year ago Kaya started getting sick on us.  She had skin around her eye that made it swollen and was always draining and red.  She had itchy skin and it was miserable.  Miserable for her and miserable for us.  Miserable watching her suffer.  Watching and hearing the constant scratching.  We took her to a vet but for Kaya everything they were giving her would only help for a short time.  We decided to work on her diet.  We tried everything.  We went to all the best pet stores and bought the most expensive and best dog foods and nothing was helping.  Scratching, scratching and more scratching.  So much scratching she was making herself bald.  

Three months ago I told my husband to go to the store and get Kaya some food.  Instead of going to the usual pet store he went to our local Kroger grocery store and as he was walking down the aisle reading labels he found Rachael Ray's Nutrish Just 6 dog food.  He called me up and read the label to me and I said quote, "Just get it.  What do we have to lose?"  Well we had everything to gain.  I'm so happy to report that after a few months our Kaya has all the hair back on her body that she previously had scratched off.  She has hair on her rump again, on her tail and on her legs.  As for the skin around her eye there are hardly any problems there.  If I feel she is having any problems in that area I give her a few tablets of Benadryl.  She scratches now and then but it is nothing like what we went through for a year.  

I was so relieved.  I am so grateful.  A year ago I was devastated thinking this beautiful dog who gave our family so many great years is going to suffer at the very end of her life.  She deserves better than that.  She's old.  She's tired.  Every now and then she'll run around the house chasing the kids like she's five years old and then plops down to recover because she's reminded that she's not a spring chicken anymore.  We see the gray in her face that's around her eyes and around her muzzle, and we know we don't have much longer with her.  I will say it again.... Thank you Rachael Ray and thank you to all of the people behind the scenes who have helped create Nutrish Just 6.  Thank you for creating a dog food that will give our dog a pleasant and comfortable existence until the day we have to say goodbye.  You've given us a true gift.

The dog food we feed Kaya is Rachael Ray Nutrish Just 6 Limited Ingredient Recipe Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Recipe.  The 6 ingredients are lamb meal, brown rice, ground rice, beet pulp, poultry fat and natural chicken flavor plus added vitamins and minerals.  To check out all of Rachael Ray's Nutrish products please click here.  Also proceeds go to an organization called Rachael's Rescue.  The proceeds from Nutrish will go to pet charities and other organizations that do good for animals.  To learn more about that click on Rachael's Rescue.

Just a side note here this may not heal your animal with a similar condition and may not work for you like it did for us.  I am simply sharing our success story and certainly hope that our experience could potentially help others.  Consultation with your vet is still very much advised and trusting your own gut on this issue.  If you have tried everything and nothing has worked and you feel like it's hopeless...What have you got to lose?