Welcome to my first blog and thank you for visiting the website. My name is Sue and I was Marlo’s Mum. In this blog I just wanted to introduce myself and Marlo and tell the story of Marlo the Rescue Golden Labrador and how Marlo’s Gut Health Powder came about and what the intention is for the Community page and Face book group. This will be an overview and I will share different information that I have learnt along the way when managing Marlo’s chronic tummy issues. My information is just that, sharing my experience and knowledge gained and sharing how we all manage and care for our dogs. We all want the very best for them and hate to see them in pain. I am not a Veterinary and I am not offering any Vet advice. Your dog’s Vet plays a very important role in how you manage and care for your furbaby and you should always seek their advice and incorporate them into your management plan.

Marlo was five when he was dumped in Sydney at a Vet to be euthanised. Luckily the vet contacted a Labrador Pet Rescue Lady and she fostered him. I was looking for a small dog for my Mum to keep her Company as she was diagnosed with Dementia. I stubbled across Marlo’s picture online and instantly knew, he was the one ! even though Marlo was no small dog by any stretch of the imagination.

So, Marlo became a huge part of my family however he did not come with any medical history or any information on his past and so it was a huge learning curb for Marlo and I.

It became apparent early on that his tummy was very sensitive and he had a lot of allergies to food and to the environment. Growing up we always had dogs and they were fed what we ate, good home made food and from memory we never encountered a dog that was food sensitive. I really think that there are so many chemicals or additives in today’s modern dog food that from my observations there seems to be an explosion of food allergies in dogs.

It was a struggle with Marlo to find the right diet that did not cause symptoms such as, nausea, vomiting, sometimes and especially during a bad flare up he had a lot of gas and the bigger the flare the smellier the gas was. This usually then led to diarrhoea  and when he had diarrhoea it was an explosion ! with a lot of blood. So many trips to the vet and it was a process of elimination as to what foods he could tolerate.

Eventually he was diagnosed with Chronic Pancreatitis and Irritable Bowel disease so we needed to manage all the symptoms and monitor what he ate and being a Labrador he just loved his food and his happy place was down at the beach and I watched him like a hawk as he was always on the hunt for a treat!

What I learnt on my journey with Marlo is that no two dogs are alike and managing Gut issues is a delicate balance and what may work for someone else’s dog may not work for yours. What may work this month with your dog may not necessarily work next month. Its about trial and error until you can find the right balance which may require tweaking as you go along. This is not always easy to do. I ended up incorporating a Holistic approach and came across some awesome herbs that help line the intestinal wall and for Marlo it assisted with the overall management of his Gut issues by soothing the gut and inflammation and reducing the amount of times we needed to visit the vet in terms of reoccurring flare ups and minimising his nausea and vomiting.

As his legacy, I want to help support other dog owners here in Australia who may be going through something similar. I noticed that in the U.S and in U.K they have far better resources, alternate medicines, a bigger variety in Gut Healthier pet food and a lot more groups on Facebook where you can get information and recipe ideas for home cooking for your pet.

My hope is that we can change this and our Aussie furbabies can get access to so much more new remedies, holistic treatments and information on diets and as I am based on the Mid North Coast of NSW, I would like to be a hub to promote businesses offering local organic treats, low fat food, holistic treatments such as Acupuncture for pain management, Herbal remedies, pet sitting, pet walking and anything doggo related that promotes a healthy Gut which equals a happy and healthy dog, and as pawrents, that’s all we want for our best friend.  

Marlo’s journey is what led me to creating Marlo’s Pet Wellness and Marlo’s all natural Gut Health Powder. I invite you join The Pet Parents Community Facebook Group and we can all support each other and share information.

I hope my blogs help others going through a similar experience and just to know you are not alone, there is support.