CONCLUSION OF THE EUKANUBA CHALLENGE

Spring has definitely sprung here in my world!  My friends, the birds have come back and I spend much of my time watching them out the windows as they tweet, swoop around and build their nests.  It makes me a little bit jealous that they can fly and I must use my four little legs to carry my whole body around!  But lately, I feel like a young pup again.  My system is “moving” regularly, I have a little more spring in my step and my coat has improved!  My Mom tells me that it’s from the Euka-something Challenge, but I don’t know what that means.  All is know is that I still love it each morning when I get to eat the delectable food in the pink bag.  Diving into those tasty little nuggets of “yum” each morning revs up my engine and gives me all that I need to start each day!  I plan to recommend it to all of my dog friends at Morris Animal Inn.  Tori, Clover, Jersey, Angie, Gracie, Cannoli, Bailey and Rusty…did you hear that?  If you want to run faster, improve your coat, stay regular and just feel better, ask your Mom or Dad to feed you EUKANUBA!  You’ll thank me later!

We are giving away one voucher for one FREE bag of any Eukanuba Dog Food up to 40lbs to one of our readers that is interested in trying the food.

There are three ways you can qualify:

1) Add a comment to this blog post that tells us why you want to take the Eukanuba 28 Day Challenge and why you should win the voucher

2) Tweet about this blog post and leave the URL to that Tweet in a comment on this post

3) You can blog about this blog post and leave the URL to your post in a comment on this post

You can qualify by one or all three of these methods. We will choose from all comments received and will announce the winner next week!

Check out what other bloggers are saying about their experience with the 28-Day Eukanuba Challenge - http://dogtime.com/eukanuba-28-day-challenge-bloggers.html

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

 We are at the end of the 28-Day Eukanuba Challenge. It was a positive experience for both Tori and I.  We are noticing a slimmer, more active version of Tori.  My daughter’s friends were over the other day and hadn’t seen Tori in a while and they both asked, “Did she get her hair cut or lose weight?”   We know she didn’t have a haircut, so to our delight others are noticing a difference as well!  

Regardless of changing Eukanuba formulas, Tori’s enthusiasm for food has not altered or waned one iota as breakfast and dinner continues to be one of her favorite activities. The best thing about Eukanuba food is the quality and Tori’s willingness to eat it. It makes you feel good when you can provide the best for your pet.We will definitely continue to feed Tori Eukanuba and test the different formulas as she moves through life and her nutritional needs change. 

The best part of this challenge was that it made me stop and think about my dog’s nutritional needs.  I slowed down to notice some of her eating habits and it challenged me to think about her overall health and fitness moving forward so she that can the healthiest, happiest pet possible.

P.S.  Tori finally got the hang of the treat toy.  She is now running all over the house swinging it around to get her kibble as a reward for all her hard play.  Mission accomplished!

TORI VS TOY

As the Eukanuba challenge continues and is now in its third week, here’s what we’ve noticed:

• Tori appears to be slimming down somewhat! Her waistline is no longer expanding. We may just be winning in the battle of the bulge!
• She has more energy and seems more eager to go for her walks. She practically springs up in the morning!
• Her ears look healthy and clean and I’m confident Eukanuba is helping her to maintain her pearly whites.
• Her bowel movements are regular, she seems to have more stool since switching to the weight control formula.
• One thing is for sure, Tori has never had the freshest breath. Yet it seems to be improving with this Eukanuba formula!

Since we started this challenge I have been thinking of Tori’s diet and eating habits more like I do my own.  One morning this week, I put down Tori’s Eukanuba as I usually do. I noticed that within seconds Tori was actually snorting while she was eating.  She was eating so fast and furiously that she was making all kinds of piggy noises. 

This made me question whether she was really enjoying her meal?  We are all taught to take our time, chew for extended periods of time, and focus on our food so we can savor and enjoy then taste and ultimately feel satisfied and full.  Tori, on the other hand, was definitely not having that experience as she snorted up her food like a canine vacuum cleaner.

I started to think how I could make feeding time more of an experience for her with her quality Eukanuba food.   Then it dawned on me that there are many dog toys available that will slowly dispense food for dogs as they play with them.  Tori was never much of a toy-playing dog, so adding the food element would entice her to play as well as slow down her eating process.  She would also be stimulated mentally and physically while slowly completing her meal.   Great idea right?!  

Ok, so maybe we were expecting too much.  Don’t worry, we did take time to show her how to get the food.  After several minutes of her frustration and annoyed barking, we fed Tori with her regular bowl.   However, we are not giving up and will try again. Till next week!

TORI MORRIS TAKES ON THE EUKANUBA CHALLENGE

(Morris Animal Inn Vice President, Joanne Morris and her dog, Tori, take on the Eukanuba 28-Day Challenge.)

For more on why we are taking this challenge, read our first blog post on the topic.

We just completed Week 1 of our Eukanuba 28-day challenge.  I’m not sure that my seven-year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Tori felt it to be much of a challenge.  She has been eating some form of Eukanuba food since she was a wee puppy.  Tori LOVES food, so eating has never been a problem for her which is why we wanted to participate in order to try a new formula, specifically the Small Breed Weight Control.  As the New Year approached, we realized that our dear little King Charles was getting round in the middle.  We were all resolved to the fact that her purpose in life was to sit comfortably next to us on the couch so we can snuggle with her or eat!  It was time for a new mind set and a new Eukanuba formula for Tori.

Eukanuba's packaging is no doubt eye-catching. Colorful, bright and pink, somewhat reminscent of Pepto-Bismol, it does jump off the shelves attracting the average consumer with it's vibrancy and promise of "100% High Quality Nutrition."

Since Tori's love of food has contributed to her pudgy figure, we decided it was time to tackle the issue and start trimming her waist line. First off, I appreciated the fact that the food was less in fat and I have always been a fan of the dental benefit Eukanuba offers. The texture, appearance and smell was exactly what I expected from a Eukanuba product. There is no doubt Tori loved her new food! Just watch our video to see her dance around like a little ballerina!

Watch as Tori tries her new weight control Eukanuba dog food.

(When it comes to food, patience is not one of Tori's virtues.)

WEEK THREE OF THE 28-DAY EUKANUBA CHALLENGE

Days have now passed and Jersey & Clover are loving their new food. They’re probably confused about my interest in their eating habits as I have spent the last two weeks touching the kibbles, smelling the kibbles, comparing the kibbles, kibbles, kibbles kibbles… I have stopped short of eating the kibbles myself but I have to say that my gut reaction was that it looked and smelled like healthy food. I’ve been around dogs for a long time, therefore, I have been around a lot of brands and types of dog food. Thankfully, Pure doesn’t look like rabbit pellets, it doesn’t feel greasy, it isn’t rainbow colored and doesn’t make “instant gravy” when you add water. It has a mild wholesome smell, with darker than expected, flattened pieces.

So as any dog owner knows, what goes in must come out. Usually the first sign of a change of diet is noticed while the family is unwinding for the day and resting in front of the TV. As you are immersed in your favorite show a slight odor starts to waft across the room. It’s slight enough in the beginning that you don’t really notice it then all of a sudden, WOW! The dog is still sleeping quietly on the rug but the room is now filled with the unmistakable malodorous remnants of his new diet. I was prepared for that inevitable occurrence as I had changed foods cold turkey. Their first meal of Pure was a taste test with their old diet but since then it’s been straight Pure. No gradual transition in this house. I am absolutely amazed that I have neither heard nor detected ANY intestinal upset. I had gas masks poised and ready but they have been completely unnecessary. Love that!

THE EUKANUBA 28-DAY CHALLENGE (WEEK ONE)

We continually research new trends in the dog food industry to ensure Morris Animal Inn has the best food for our pet clientele. Our interest piqued when DogTime asked if we would take the Eukanuba 28-Day Challenge and blog about it. Three of our managers, Patty Segal, Patti Kreitler and Joanne Morris agreed to feed Eukanuba dog food to their pets and provide their feedback. Patty Segal writes about her observations first as she presents her two dogs Clover (a 4-year-old Doberman Pinscher) and Jersey (a 5-year-old Hound mix) the Eukanuba Pure food. Visit us frequently for updates… The hope is that after just 28 days, there will be a remarkable difference in their health and well being or “your money back 110% guarantee.” Here goes…

So the long awaited Eukanuba Pure has arrived. In the back of my mind I expect all things Eukanuba to be shockingly pink so a black, slick, sexy bag made me do a double take. Just a touch of the familiar Euk pink with the paw print and a mustard yellow stripe. Hmmmm… interesting color palette. Guess at some point all the more popular, charming colors get used up and a new product like Pure gets the underrated “black & mustard” theme. Then another underrated feature catches my eye, the Brittany…or is that a Welsh Springer or a field-bred English? Whoa, this is no food for the designer-breed clique, this is a serious food. No AKC Top 10 Most Popular dog in America here! Labradoodles and Peek-a-poos step aside, here comes the working dog who needs a “real food”…a “pure food”.  Hmmm. Ok, I’m intrigued.

Ok bag, what else have ya’ got for me? “Optimal fatty acid ratio”, “FOS” (an ingredient that helps grow beneficial bacteria in the large intestine), yeah, yeah I expect that from Euk. Not that I’m down playing those items I just truly expect that from Eukanuba. Novice dog food window-shoppers might be impressed but I learned about the benefits of FOS years ago. Give me more, Eukanuba. Ok now, “Clinically Proven to reduce tartar build-up in 28 days”. Guess I should have saved the thousand dollars I just spent getting my dogs teeth cleaned at the vet. Oh well, next bullet point “No fillers, corn, or artificial preservatives” ah, the essence of what makes Pure pure. So I guess I have to believe that fillers, corn and artificial preservatives are bad for my dogs. Let’s start with the easy one, artificial preservatives. In my book artificial equals bad so this is any easy sell for me. I would rather eat real sugar than an artificial sweetener any day, calories be damned. Do I want my dogs being fed artificial anything? No, so I’m happy. 

Jersey Segal



Fillers. Well obviously fillers are fillers and not real food, right? Fillers, like the bad stuff in cheap hotdogs. I mean that’s what I’ve learned from Hebrew National commercials since I was little, no fillers because “we answer to a higher authority”. Maybe Euk is answering to the same authority. So my assumption of “no fillers” means that there is more real food right? Guess I’ll have to investigate that a little further when I read the ingredients but certainly on the surface I agree that no fillers is better than being full of fillers.

Ok so what’s left, “no corn”. Well I know enough about the dog food industry to know this is a point of contention with troops rallied on each side. I also have read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan so I know that corn, its by-products and the whole corn industry is a lightning rod in the human food category too. Well, let me look at the label of my dog’s current food and let’s see if my dogs are currently being subjected to the dreaded grain. Luckily for the anti-corn contingent, they have influenced my past purchasing decision enough that no, my previous dog food did not contain corn either. So as far as corn is concerned it’s an equal playing field. My dogs will not be in corn withdrawal since it appears they have not tasted the succulent kernel in quite some time.

Stay tuned for more on the challenge!