Ditch the Kibble, Choose Ollie: Edna’s Secret to High Energy

Edna the Runt, my pint-sized Brussels Griffon, is a 3-year-old, 5-pound ball of energy with a personality that’s as big as her heart. While her social media fanbase, the EdHeads, loves watching her munch on a French fry in our weekly “French Fry Friday”, there’s much more behind the scenes to Edna’s diet that keeps her in top form (as much as we’d all love to live on a diet of french fries and cheese).

Behind the scenes, feeding Edna has been an on and off struggle for years. When she was a puppy, I was caught in a cycle of trial and error with her food. Commercial dry food, even the so-called premium brands, were a disaster–she hated the taste, and she totally rejected anything with a hard texture. We also tried Maev, which is raw, frozen food, meant to be served frozen, but we always had to thaw it because it was too big and hard for Edna’s mouth. We tried the cheaper commercial brands, and the several fancy ones too. But we’ve kept running into all the same issues: kibble pieces were too hard for her to chew, a little too big for her mouth, and usually pretty unappealing to her palate. I’d find half of her meal scattered across the house because she just wouldn’t eat the harder pieces, and I wondered if she was getting enough of the right nutrients in her diet.

In my quest to ensure she got enough to eat, I would boil chicken, and carefully shred it and mix it with crushed kibble, which became her daily staple. But this wasn’t ideal either. There would inevitably be uncrushed pieces she couldn’t eat, and she’d end up hiding them somewhere in the house, as a present for me to find later! More importantly, I feared that her meals were bland and lacked variety. Beyond that, I was constantly worried that Edna wasn’t getting the complete nutrition she needed.

That’s when I discovered Ollie.

Ollie’s commitment to human-grade ingredients and their convenient, pre-portioned meals caught my attention immediately, not to mention their subscription-based plans that made stocking up on dog food a breeze. I decided it was time for Edna to give Ollie a try, and I couldn’t believe how much she loved the food. I never thought she’d consistently eat any complete food that wasn’t mixed with the boiled chicken I’d given her, so to see her eating something she loves that is also actually made for her by professionals is a blessing.

Edna truly can’t get enough of Ollie, and every time I serve it to her she finishes the portion within minutes, until she’s licking her bowl clean and pushing it across the floor with her tongue, trying to get every last speck! No more picking through her food or hiding uneaten bits around the house. We ordered the fresh turkey, pork, and beef recipes, and for the first time, I felt confident that she was getting exactly what she needed—no fillers, no junk, just real, wholesome food.

The soft texture is perfect for her tiny mouth, eliminating the need for crushing kibble. My house is cleaner because she eats every last morsel of her Ollie, which is obviously more convenient for me. She’s not burrowing away little bits of hard kibble in every corner!

Each day, Edna’s energy levels are as high as ever when she takes to the yard with the energy of a puppy, darting around in playful circles—we call this “doing her chores.” The neighborhood cat often sits perched above the yard, providing Edna with a source of endless fascination and the occasional bark-off. As I settle into work, Edna is never far from my lap, seeking constant affection and reminding me that she’s the true boss around here. Our evenings are all about snuggling after she eats dinner and are often shared with her uncles or cousins.

Edna’s personality is even more vibrant than her social media presence suggests. I can’t imagine my life without her, and thankfully I’m planning on her being around for a long time. That’s why trying Ollie for Edna was an easy decision. With the quality of their human-grade ingredients, coupled with the convenience of having fresh, mess-free, soft, and pre-portioned meals delivered to our door,Ollie really checks all our boxes.