Lyka Story: Cooma's road to recovery with natural dog food

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Happy dog outdoors

Raw dog food is becoming a popular choice amongst dog owners, although it can pose a risk to puppers and their humans alike. For Cooma, some raw chicken on his birthday led to him becoming completely paralysed. Cooma’s fur mama, Louise Grant, wanted only the best for her pupper to live his best life. Louise and her pupper, Cooma have shared their powerful Lyka journey and how Lyka’s natural dog food has been the support for Cooma in his road to recovery.

Meet Louise and her amazing dog, Cooma

Cooma was a happy-go-lucky 7-year-old pupper who loved his long 8km walks, hours of play at the beach and running after his toys. Louise cooked his food most of the time and would give Cooma treats just like other fur mamas.

Going from energetic to lethargic was just a matter of time

A few days prior to Cooma’s 8th birthday, Louise gave him raw chicken necks for breakfast and a juicy steak for dinner to celebrate. A day later, Cooma was feeling lethargic on his walk, and Louise had planned a big week for Cooma going on a lot of walks and many visits to the beach. The next day, Louise noticed his voice was squeaky and soft, and thought it was just a cold. When she got home from her night shift the next morning, instead of her usual energetic pup greeting her at the door, Louise found her dog lying on the kitchen floor, unable to walk and bark, lying in his own drool as he looked up at her.

Louise scooped Cooma up off the ground and carried him straight to the vets. He was shaved in the hunt for ticks, blood tests, snake anti-venom, antibiotics and fluids, but none of these helped her dog. The next week, her beautiful Cooma was paralysed in all four limbs.

Louise brought her dog home to look after him. Cooma needed feeding every two hours, and carrying to the toilet, his position needed to be changed to stop bed sores and needed hand feeding, one spoon of broth at a time. “By Thursday he could barely lift his head, drooled constantly and he was officially diagnosed with Idiopathic Polyradiculoneuropathy – ‘coonhound paralysis,’” Louise said.

Cooma the dog lying on floor

Switching from a raw to a lightly cooked diet was just the beginning

Studies with the RSPCA and the University of Melbourne have linked raw chicken necks and raw meat with the condition – a disease that disables a dog’s ability to move but keeps their senses intact. “The good news is, the dogs recover with the right time, the right rehabilitation and the right nutrition. For some, this recovery is months, for others well over a year. Thankfully our journey was faster.” Louise said whilst still staying positive about Cooma’s recovery.

Once Cooma could chew again without any help, Louise was determined that her pupper was going to get only the best natural dog food filled with muscle-building goodness and health-restoring vitamins. She knew she needed to look into lightly cooked food to help Cooma with his recovery. And so began Louise and Cooma’s Lyka Journey!

Now 5 months down the track, Cooma is back to his energetic self, running around the beach and chasing after toys. With a positive outlook on Cooma’s recovery, Louise said: “All because his body has had the right fuel to rebuild his muscles, joints and functionality…well, except for maybe the funny little bunny hop he does while he runs now haha.

To Louise, Cooma is part of the family. “He is my best friend and companion in this crazy thing called life, and all of that almost disappeared because I gave him what I thought was good raw food,” Louise said feeling lucky that Cooma defied all the odds and recovered months faster than other dogs in the same situation.

And honestly, I put this down to three things: his spirited nature, my stubborn nursing and the right nutrition. And I have Lyka to thank for that.

Cooma’s fur mama, Louise

Louise became the hero in Cooma’s eyes the moment she switched to Lyka. She was very determined to get Cooma back on track so that he can live his best life.

Smiling dog in park
With Lyka’s support, Cooma is now back to being the energetic pupper he’s always been!

Here for dogs now and always

Lyka puppers deserve to live their best life and you can help them achieve that! Lyka uses fresh ingredients to give your dog the most optimal health and to support them in living their best life. That’s why Lyka is here for pupper, now and always. Looking for natural dog food to give your dog? Give our Starter Box a go and see pupper have that extra bounce to their step!

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