Dog Stories

I never really knew too much about the raw feeding community until I came across products like yours. I saw so many others rave about it that I knew I had to give it a try. Zeus is not 100% raw, but that is the ultimate goal. Your products have been a lifesaver. He is a very picky eater and he didn’t even hesitate when I put it in his bowl. He knew he was eating the best of the best. I started on this raw journey when I found out he was a carrier for DCM in dogs. I REALLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO LOOSE MY BEST FRIEND. He always ate very well, don’t get me wrong but I really decided to do something about it when I got the news. I always wanted to put him on raw I just didn’t really know where to start. Now I have a much better idea and I’m never turning back.

IT IS NOW MY MISSION TO FEED HIM THE BEST FOOD I CAN WITH THE BRANDS WE TRUST AND YOU HAVE EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS. THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO WITH OUR DOGS (ALL PETS) HEALTH IN MIND! YOU’RE ALL ROCKSTARS!

-Katrina

Our working dog/handler teams absolutely love Vital Essential Mini Nibs! They are the perfect size for training are made from high-quality ingredients in our home state (Go Wisconsin!). The freeze dried process allows us to safely keep the food with us at all times (we don’t have to worry about it spoiling if we leave it in our bag overnight) and it’s lightweight, which helps when we are trekking through the woods. AND our dogs go absolutely nuts for them! Thank you for making an excellent product that is healthy for our dogs!

– Laura Holder

My dogs, Buster and Bolter, have been eating #rawdogfood for years now, and we can’t say enough good things about it: shinier coats, heathy skin, cleaner teeth, and high energy level!! It’s still a controversial topic, and even some vets lack the knowledge and information; for us, year ago, after struggling to find the right kibble, and having to try out so many different brands of kibble, we decided to try raw… and we have no regrets! 😊

-@Buster40K

My 10 year old Heinz 57 mix Nico was on deaths doorstep in the beginning of this year, he was diagnosed with IMHA. After a vigorous five month battle and switching his diet to VE, he’s almost weaned from every medicine and he’s doing GREAT. Through his journey your food and products allowed us to also naturally supplement him for things like his joints and bones. He was on Prednisone and Omeprazole which causes muscle loss and brittle bones. The duck feet and heads were a great way of ensuring he got plenty of chondroitin and glucosamine. He adores chicken necks (but sometimes if he’s not quick enough one of my cats will run off with it.) I’ve got my baby back. I can’t thank you enough!

I am so happy I was introduced to your products! My dogs go nuts over your treats! Your nibs are the perfect size to put in their puzzle toys and to keep on hand when I am brushing them outside. (Like today)
I just wanted to send these pics showing you one of your favorite customers who can’t get enough of your treats!
Keep up the great work! We can’t wait to see what new products you may have to offer in the future.

This is Phoenix.  She is a year and a half old Lab Terrier mix.  I broke her out of doggy jail at the Humane Society in the Fox Valley at the end of June.  When I got her you could see all of her ribs.  She was very timid and shy.  She now is a very happy, healthy, energetic dog.  You cannot see her ribs and her coat is nice and shiny.  She loves playing with kids.  I have a 7 year old that she adores.  She is a lap dog.  She loves snuggling in blankets.  She is very good playing with dogs her size or bigger as she likes to play rough and run fast.  We are very happy to have her as an addition to our family.

Mazy, has always had a battle with itchiness! I had tried every thing. Nothing worked! She’s only been on your Frozen Rabbit 18 days and her itching has reduced to being almost nill! I’m so impressed! Thank you!

“My dog, the pickiest of all dogs. I love her so Much but, I couldn’t get her to chew on any type of bone or chewy. I took her to the pet store to let her try to find one she likes and get crickets for my duckling, Juniper thistle. Well, after searching the store, nothing. We were all stumped. So we buy the crickets and go to leave the store when someone came to me to talk to me about how beautiful Luna is. We were talking and I told her I couldn’t find a single thing for her! She said, well your dog seems to like those. I look down and she grabbed a Bully stick and was chewing on it, Going to town! I Freaked Out. I said, I have to buy these for her. She wouldn’t let go of THE bully stick so I grabbed another one and went to the cashier and said I am getting 2, the other one is in My dogs mouth. Luna was walking around with it in her mouth like the princess she is. EVERYone laughed. I said okay, let’s go bye BYEs, so she walked out to the car with it in her mouth, tail and nose head high like she won the lottery. Jumped in the CAr and chewed it all the way home. Cutest moment ever with her in public. Forever buying them for her.”

The most common question my wife and I hear from friends and co-workers isn’t “How are you?” or “Did you see ‘The Walking Dead’ last night?”, it’s “When are you guys going to have kids?” We’re both approaching 30, we’ve been married for 5 years and we don’t have any children. Aren’t really interested in that prospect. Not because we think kids aren’t adorable and amazing, but we’ve found something else to fill that void in our married life. We have a “fur-baby.” We have a dog.

Back when we were newly-weds in a brand new city, we considered having children. It’s what everyone does, right? But, for whatever reason, it just didn’t appeal to us. Then, one day, we decided to “go look at puppies.” We had no idea how our lives were about to change. We ended up with the cutest little fur ball anyone could hope for. We called him Indy.

We care for this dog like he IS our child. We love him the way people typically make fun of other people for loving their animals. Yeah…we’re “those people.” I have more pictures on my desk at work of Indy than I do my friends and family. Every picture of my wife that I carry around with me…she’s holding Indy. Of course, he’s the background image for both of our phones. We spoil him. We check our high-tech life-feed camera during the day to make sure his routine of naps and barking at the door is going undisturbed. We love this dog. It’s weird, sometimes, when we think about it. But we wouldn’t change it for the world.

So, it comes as no surprise that we obsess over what kind of food we are allowing him to eat. We started off with the same thing every new-dog owner starts with. The kibble “puppy food.” We soaked it. We mashed it up to make it easier for his little puppy teeth and…yes…we inspected his poop to make sure everything was being processed properly. He never acted TOO excited about his kibble, but he ate it nonetheless.

Then, we noticed some odd behavior. He began licking his feet. All. The. Time. We thought maybe it was nervous energy, so his daily walks were extended from 30 minutes to at least an hour. The feet licking continued. Ultimately, we asked our vet. “He’s probably allergic to sweet potatoes.”

Wait, his food has sweet potatoes in it? That’s weird. I can’t imagine a wolf in the wild eating sweet potatoes …but I trusted my vet. We switched to a non-sweet potato food. The paw licking continued.

Recently (February 2016) I traveled to Daytona Beach, Florida for work. I met a carnivore nutritionist and we began telling your typical “dog-owner stories.” Then the topic of dog nutrition came up. I was embarrassed by how much I did NOT know about the product that I had been feeding to my dog. Do you know all the things that go into your most common of dog foods? Do you know the temperatures at which they cook this “mash” of ingredients in order to get those hard little pieces? Do you know how taxing it is for the tiny wolves you let sleep on your couch to digest and get ANY nutrition out of their meals? It was astonishing to me.

The brand “Vital Essentials” came up. It’s organ meat. Your dog shares the exact same digestive tract of all other dogs and wild canines. They may have stubbed noses, long fur, short hair, 10 or 100 pounds…but they all look the same as far as stomachs and intestines. What wolf have you ever seen eating sweet potatoes? Their teeth are proof enough that they aren’t meant to be eating vegetables.

I ended up doing the research (don’t take my word for ANYTHING, this is your dog … do your own research) and Vital Essentials kept coming up. We began the transition (which we spread out over about a month because we didn’t want this new high-protein food that is so much easier to digest to upset his stomach… you know…because they are going to have a LOT of stomach acid left over) in late February and we started seeing a noticeably different dog.

He’s happier. He’s more vibrant. He gets genuinely EXCITED about his food. He acts like he is being given a treat every single time we fill his bowl. I’m confident in the food I give Indy and it helps me to sleep better at night. I know I will out-live this dog, unfortunately, but I want to put off that harsh reality for as long as possible. Vital Essentials is helping me do that.

I’m not going to try and tell you what is right for your dog. They are your babies and I wouldn’t even begin to think that I know more or even as much about them as you do, but give it a shot. Read. Ask questions, heck …shoot me a message on Twitter (@CJWoliver) and I’ll help you in any way I can. I believe in this product, my dog loves this product and I will tell every dog owner I know about it until we stop feeding our animals…crap.