Brody's Story: A Brand New Dog

A few years ago, Danielle Wagner's black Lab, Brody, could barely walk due to terrible bone spurs. After switching to Nom Nom's fresh diet, he's like a brand new dog: energized and happy without any pain.

"I'm so excited I could cry. I'm just so happy and excited to have my baby bear back and I'm so thrilled to see him energized and happy without any pain. He's like a totally new dog."

Danielle Wagner's sweet 10-year-old black Lab, Brody, has always been there for her. Because Danielle has a medical condition that can cause her to fall down, her concerned family had encouraged her to adopt a dog she could service train. Brody was the perfect pup for the job, having been fully trained all the way up to search and rescue.

An Alarming Diagnosis

But in 2016, Brody experienced a fall of his own. He was running along in the yard one day, jumped on the porch, and collapsed.

A scared Danielle brought him to the emergency vet, where the news wasn't good. Brody had bridging spondylosis, a degenerative condition affecting his spine with tons of bone spurs. "It looked awful," says Danielle, who was understandably concerned.

Danielle immediately made some changes to Brody's diet, reducing his food so he could lose some weight and feel a bit better. But Brody continued to have several scary accidents, and his health was worsening.

"It was a long and ongoing process," says Danielle. "He was in pain all the time, on all kinds of medicine. It was a daily struggle. In the spring of 2017, he went to the emergency vet five times over the course of two months, which was adding up to thousands of dollars a year. He kept collapsing, was always limping, and couldn't walk more than 5 minutes at a time."

A "Last-Ditch Effort"

In the spring of 2018, Danielle thought she was going to have to put Brody down. She was heartbroken, and wondered how she could get a few more months of time with her precious pup.

As a "last-ditch effort," she decided to try completely changing Brody's diet that May. She was hopeful that Nom Nom's fresh food would make a difference—and it did.

"Within a month, I noticed things really starting to change. He was standing at his bowl, where before he was almost squatting. Within two months, he was nice and strong and able to walk around. Before I knew it, he'd start walking down the driveway. He'd want to go for a walk, and he hadn't done that in two years. By the end of that summer, he was going for little walks in the evening. By fall, he literally JUMPED for food."

A Brand New Dog

Danielle couldn't believe it—by simply making the switch to Nom Nom's fresh diet, Brody was like a brand new dog.

"Now he is to the point where he will jump onto the couch when it's time for food. It's been so great. He's so enthusiastic about everything. We did an Easter Egg hunt this year! He can climb hills and run. It has changed everything."

Over the past year, Brody has lost 10 pounds, bringing him to a healthy 75-pound weight. This January, Brody had x-rays done. "I was told by my emergency vet that his condition would keep advancing, but these x-rays showed NO bridging. He's not just better in appearance, but medically speaking, everything has improved. He's off most of his medications, besides a minor maintenance arthritis med for the very minimal arthritis he has left. His kidneys have improved. His bloodwork came back better than the vets ever expected."

And in April, Danielle saw something she thought she'd never see. "Our neighbor let her dog outside. For the first time ever, Brody decided he was going to play. He played chase around the yard with the neighbor's young dog until I decided it was time for lunch and literally had to drag him away to eat. And I'm talking ZOOMIES level speeds. I haven't seen Brody run in years, he hasn't played with another dog in at least 6 years and I haven't seen him so happily pounce around like that in so long. My heart is so happy. He came in and stood at his bowl just as strong as ever and he showed no signs of pain and then played with me for a while afterwards. Even the neighbor said she noticed he wasn't doing very well last year but she was so impressed watching him run around the yard."

Danielle is incredibly grateful that her "last-ditch effort" turned out to change Brody's life. "A year ago I was really struggling with Brody's pain levels. I didn't know how much longer I would have with him. I'm just so happy and excited to have my baby bear back and I'm so thrilled to see him energized and happy without any pain."

"It really goes to show just how much a change in food can do and I'm glad I made the switch before it was too late."