An avid animal lover who owns horses, dogs and cats, Maddy Byrd has a special bond with her 12-year-old yellow lab, Chevy. She claims he was there during some of her gloomiest days – losing her horse and – and during stressful times – operating a fulltime pet setting business. And now she is determined to return that love and compassion to him.
“Dogs are unconditional. Regardless of if you grew up in a close-knit family or a loner with no friends at the end of the day, your dog loves you. You come home, and you are everything to that dog. You can have a really good day, or a really bad day and that dog still loves you no matter what. They don’t care about the things you say, how smart you are, how well you dress, what you look like. They just still love you. Everything you put into your dog; they give you back ten-fold. They are just perfect,” she claims.
Byrd studied to be a vet tech and operated her own pet setting business for 10 years prior to COVID. Then, she started working a “regular” 9-to-5 job in a pet food distribution center in her home state of Rhode Island. Whatever she is doing, she has the love of animals and their best interest at heart. That is why when she was working with a holistic veterinarian, she was excited to learn about natural products she would recommend to her clients: Trixsyn® and Vitalize® Alimend® K9. Byrd was vaguely familiar with the Vitalize equine line of products that provide horses a #goodgutfeeling; however, she wasn’t aware that the same company, BioZyme®, made supplements for dogs.
As an older dog, she compares her lab, Chevy, to the grumpy old character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in El Camino, when he yells, “get off my lawn!” Byrd said that through her pet setting and dog walking businesses, Chevy has spent most of his life raising younger pups and being the guardian of them. Now, he is training her puppy, a nearly 2-year-old chocolate lab, Buckley.
“He’s always been the pack leader when I walked dogs, and I walked 5 to 6 dogs at a time. We’d go hiking every day. He was my barn dog. He’d go on trail rides, and he liked to jump over jumps with me in the woods. He’s always been super active, super fit. But over the last couple years he’s really slowed down and was diagnosed with hip dysplasia when he was 5 and has severe arthritis in his elbows,” Byrd said. “He’s not the best put-together lab. I tried multiple things. Somethings he didn’t like. Somethings I didn’t see a change at all. So, I kind of gave up for a while and just tried to keep him active. Then I started using the Trisxyn. I’m not even kidding you. In two weeks, he started to entice my puppy to play. Usually my puppy would be like, play tug of war with me, and he’d bark, he’d growl, he’d get frustrated with the other dogs in the house. Now he wants to play; he wants to go outdoors. He wants to go on walks again. He kind of wanders off because he can.”
Worried about Chevy, Byrd started him on the Trixsyn for his comfort. Soon after, she won a contest and received some free Vitalize dog products.
“When we won the giveaway, I put him on the Vitalize Dog powder, and his coat has never looked so good, and not to go into detail, but his poop has never looked so good in his entire life! He had always had loose stool. I love it and I will never take him off it. I am so thankful for these products. He is happy as a clam. I love seeing him play with the other dogs again,” she said.
She was impressed with the results and has started Buckley on the products, also. In addition to the overall health benefits Byrd has witnessed for her dogs, she said the Trixsyn and Vitalize products also have other special features. Trixsyn just redesigned their bottles to a pump-type dispenser that makes dosing more efficient and user friendly. She also appreciates the accessibility of the products as they can be found in vet clinics and online at well-known retailers.
“I tell people to go to Chewy to get them. People know the products must be good since they are readily available,” said the Vitalize K9 ambassador.
Dogs might be man’s best friend, but Byrd is also her dogs’ best friend, and she strives to make her dogs and other dogs feel their best. She loves them unconditionally. That is care that comes full circle, and why the BioZyme family is proud to have her as a Vitalize K9 ambassador.
To learn more about the Vitalize Dog products or to find a dealer near you, visit www.vitalizek9.com.
