A Food Solution for a Picky Dog - NomNomNow

Approximately ninety days have come and gone. In that span of time, the days have grown longer, the grass has gotten browner, we’ve gone on a lot of adventures, and Bean has enthusiastically eaten her meals. You read that correctly, she has eaten every bite of every meal with gusto I didn’t know she could possess before NomNomNow became a part of our lives.

As a puppy, we purchased the kibble that the breeder shared she was using. I can’t remember a time in her puppyhood when she willingly ate the food we offered. We would soak it in warm water, and hand feed her. I would spread it on the floor in a sort of “hide and seek” eating game. We would put it in food dispensing toys for her to nose around and eat. None of those tactics made a difference. We were lucky if she ate a meal fully once every two days.

We received NomNomNow food and compensation in exchange for an honest assessment of our views and experience. We only share products we have tried and love with our readers and our opinions are our own.

After Bean developed allergies connected to both poultry and environmental factors, like pollen, we swapped her to a high quality, grain free kibble. The protein sources were either pork or lamb and the binding agents were garbanzo beans. We researched foods for a longer length of time than it took us to research and buy a car. I’m not exaggerating.

When we offered Bean her food (after the appropriate length of switching over) for the first time, we waited and watched with anticipation. My husband and I acted as if a medical discovery was on the line the way we watched her, hands clenched, hoping upon hopes that she’d eat.

She did, for about a week.

After that week, we added wet food (grain free, 98% beef).

She ate again, for a short window of time.

After that, we added Super Gravy from Clear Conscience Pet. This is an awesome product and we had a relatively long stint of her eating with more enthusiasm.

Regardless of our food choices and additives, Bean would sometimes go days without eating a full meal.

Please be aware, we had been in constant contact with our trusted AAHA accredited veterinarian who, throughout her time with Bean as a patient has ruled out any underlying medical reason for Bean being so disinterested in eating.

Bean is almost nine. We have been struggling with her eating since she joined us at eight weeks. That’s approximately 8.481,600 minutes of us worrying about her eating. I did math for you, that should be commended.

I calculated the number of minutes to really show how much of a part of our history together this has been. I also hope it helps to illustrate how monumental it has been that NomNomNow has changed our story.

Our first shipment of NomNomNow arrived in early May. As you may remember from the first post we wrote, the initial shipment includes a series of transition meals so a dog is switched over to a new food source that doesn’t mess up their tummies.

When we opened the first packet (Heartland Beef Mash), and mixed it with her kibble, we hoped this may be the solution we had been hoping for but we were also a little jaded. When Bean actually ate her first meal, with no food left behind, I remember the husband saying “We’ll see how long this lasts.” With a mixture of cynicism, anticipation, snark, and a sliver of hope in his voice.

The couple week transition period came to a close, and Bean’s first week of NomNomNow alone was served, and we watched in amazement. Bean, who normally doesn’t push Yoda around considering their size difference, actually sucker punched Yoda, I kid you not, who happened to be standing in the way of her bowl.

When Bean’s second month of food arrived, she barked at the door for the delivery man to enter. Bean doesn’t bark. Ever. Except when a squirrel taunts her. She’s capable of barking, but she gets her point across with her extreme facial expressions. Normally, she could give two poos about whether or not a package has been delivered, so I am convinced she knew that the box contained her food. I am further convinced of this reality when she clawed at the box in a comical attempt at gaining access to its contents.

In our third month of serving NomNomNow, we have finally accepted that her enthusiasm for eating is not a fluke. I don’t know if it’s the taste, texture, ingredients, or the way the food makes her feel to blame for her happy eating, but I’m guessing it’s a combination of all.

We brought Bean to the vet at the beginning of July for her yearly checkup and the veterinarian noted a few things. Bean’s teeth look cleaner (we have also been brushing and using cleaning treats so I can’t say that it’s just from the food), her eyes look less cloudy, she doesn’t seem to be showing as many signs of arthritis, her coat looks glossier, and she has gained weight. She’s always been on the border of 15/16 pounds, which is normally viewed as underweight. Not in an unhealthy way, but she really couldn’t afford to lose any more weight. At her weigh-in, she was 17.2 pounds. I sobbed. Bean licked my tears away.

NomNomNow started as a brand relationship that, I’ll admit was a last ditch effort to try a food that we wouldn’t have considered not that long ago. Price being the primary reason. Seeing Bean’s improved health, vitality, and appetite now shows me that using NomNomNow is priceless if it has improved her quality of life. Using NomNomNow from this point forward is not a question, it’s a given.

I cannot even begin to share my gratitude for having had an opportunity to try this food for Bean. The company is chock-full-of staff that are enthusiastic and genuinely care about their product and the dogs it has helped. If you have ANY questions about using them as a food source, I welcome you to reach out to me or any member of their helpful staff.

Yours in happy, healthy, well-fed dogs, Bryn, Bean and NomNomNow.