By Dr. Tamara Moin, DVM<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I met Ryu\u00fa, she was an 8-year-old 40-pound musclebound Belgian Malinois that recently retired as a military working dog. During that time, I was experiencing one of the toughest lupus flares I\u2019d had in a while. The day we met, we connected and I knew that we were meant to travel this road together. And so, she stayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first few days were tough. She was mourning the loss of her handler and showing signs of stress by not coming out of the kitchen for three days. I was sore, over-worked, and trying to recover. To help Ryu\u00fa with her transition, I\u2019d had some Composure Pro<\/a> on hand and decided to give it a try. She ate it readily, and within 20 minutes decided to take a nap with her body halfway in the kitchen, the other half in the dining room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That night, for the first time, she sat by my feet in the living room. By the end of the week, our bond had formed and Ryu\u00fa was settling in beautifully. We began going on hikes, finding new games with ball, and more recently, Ryu\u00fa is learning how to bring me essentials (food, clothing, medicine bag) when I’m experiencing a lupus flare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when I started noticing her limp. An orthopedic exam and sedated radiographs showed marked remodeling of her hips and stifles. Like so many animals, she was an expert at hiding her weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My heart sank; she was uncomfortable. I had failed to see it initially because her desire to serve, to play, to keep going is as strong now as it was when she was younger. But advanced osteoarthritis due to years of overuse had set in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dog is incredible. Kind, brave, extraordinarily intelligent, and consistently the hardest worker in the room. She doesn\u2019t know she\u2019s retired, and I love this about her. I want to preserve and nurture this part of her. I believe that the foundation of this support comes from nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s where Composure Pro and VetriFlex have proved invaluable. One helped Ryu\u00fa settle in quickly and gently, while the other keeps her moving. Three weeks after starting VetriFlex<\/a>, she was back on her feet running, jumping, playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n