Follow along as we walk you through a day in the life of your favorite DIY dog, Catfish! We think she’s perfect and we bet you will too.
In This Post
The Rescue Dogs that Changed Our Lives
Before we dive into a rundown of a day in the life of our dog Catfish, we wanted to tell the story of how she became a Vargo. We’ve been a dog family since around the time we started this blog, and rescue has always held a special place in our hearts. In 2020 we were a two-rescue-dog family. Our two Pit Bull mixes, Jack and CC, were aging gracefully together, and were still the life of the party. Unfortunately, in the early months of that year, their health took a turn for the worse and we lost both of them back to back in a few months’ time. They were the best naughtiest dogs ever, but we loved them with our whole hearts. And they cemented our passion for rescue forever.
This post is in partnership with Ollie, a fresh pet food brand that we’ve been loving. Ollie provides human-quality fresh dog food that Catfish absolutely loves. As always, thank you for supporting the brands that support us!
Lost, then Found
We were devastated by the losses, and took a short break to process things. After about a month, we collectively decided that the house was way too quiet without a dog, but our hearts weren’t ready to dive into another adoption. A great alternative for us was to try our hand at fostering! We worked with our favorite Chicago rescue and completed the necessary paperwork. Soon, we got word that a van full of rescue dogs would be heading to Chicago from Texas and that our new foster dog was on his way to us! We were incredibly excited, but then quickly learned that ‘our’ dog had been adopted at the 11th hour. This was great news because his life had been saved, but there was now one open spot in the van. So, based on one photo alone, our ‘new’ foster dog, Catfish, made the cut to fill the empty spot and make the trip to us. We picked her up and brought her home a few days later.
The whole story felt like it was meant to be and Catfish turned out to be the best dog ever. She’s healthy, happy, gentle, and was already trained with incredible recall. We felt like the universe had given us a gift. So when it came time for us to fill out her adoption bio so she could find her forever family, we decided to ‘foster fail’ and make her a part of our family forever. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. So there it is, the story of how Catfish came into our lives! We affectionately refer to her as ‘Kitty‘, which is both confusing and delightful to people she meets. Now that you’ve gotten to know Catfish, let’s follow her around for on a random day to see how she lives her life!
Breakfast of Champions
We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it’s no different for our Kitty girl. We’ve always fed our dogs the best food possible and we’d been curious about integrating fresh food into Kitty’s diet. Through all of our research, Ollie kept rising to the top of the list and we were excited to give it a try! Ollie provides the highest quality, human-grade food in personalized portions that dog love. Since we’re new to fresh pet food, we were glad to see how customizable the subscription plans were. There are even half-fresh meals designed to supplement your dog’s existing meals! We started our girl out with the two foods that were the most similar to her existing kibble diet. Her first shipment was a mix of turkey with blueberries and chicken with carrots.
We put a lot of thought into the decision to start integrating Ollie into Kitty’s diet, but what good is high quality food if she doesn’t want to eat it? She’s always been a great eater, but she treats meal time like a task on her to-do list. ‘Oh, food’s in the bowl? That’s my cue to eat, I guess.’ But that blasé attitude changed instantly the first time she tried Ollie’s recipes, all designed with vet nutritionists. Kitty is generally a pretty quiet dog but the way this girl yips and yelps with excitement when she sees us reach into the fridge for the Ollie Puptainer has us cracking up every morning. She loves this food with a passion and has never been this excited to eat!
Off to School
After breakfast, it’s time for us to get Catfish’s human sister, Lucy, off to school. We’re lucky that school is a 7 minute walk around the corner, so Kitty comes along to get a bit of morning exercise. This particular morning was a whopping 6 degrees outside, so we all bundled up and made the trip as quickly as we could!
Nap Time
After our chilly walk to school, it was for the working members of Catfish’s family to get down to business. I have to say, this lady, leads a pretty luxurious life. High quality fresh food, all the toys she could ever play with and no responsibility whatsoever. She’s never had to crack open a laptop, design a room or tackle a DIY project once in her life. We should all be so lucky!
A Walk in the Park
As I just mentioned, Catfish’s life is a figurative walk in the park, so to keep the theme rolling, we took a literal walk in our favorite neighborhood park at lunchtime to break up the day and stretch our legs. Since Kitty has been eating Ollie, we’ve noticed a pep in her step that we didn’t realize she’d been missing for a little while. She’s a senior girl now, so we’re doing everything we can to keep her lean and healthy for a longer, more active life and Ollie seems to be contributing!
Temps were still hovering in the high single digits, so even though we were bundled up, we didn’t last long! But the fresh air did us all good and we were ready to take on the rest of our work day. Maybe Catfish would finally do something to earn her luxurious lifestyle…
Scanning the Perimeter
Catfish’s favorite pastime (besides eating, napping, chewing on her stuffed trout or movie time with the family) is guarding the perimeter. She often alerts us to packages on the front porch before we even get phone notifications from our security app. Good work, Catfish, you’ve earned your dinner.
Dinner Time
Just look at those wild eyes! When I say that this girl LOVES Ollie more than any other food we’ve fed her, it’s not an exaggeration. According to Ollie, dogs picked their fresh food 19 to 1 over premium kibble. We have no reason to doubt this. We’re also confident that Kitty isn’t the lone dog that chose the kibble! She’s a big fan and so are we. We’ve noticed that her fur is softer and shinier since she’s been eating Ollie too! She also seems to be shedding less, but that could be seasonal. Time will tell, but we’re optimistic!
Cuddles Before Bed
It’s been a long day for this sweet girl! Before we all head to bed, Kitty enjoys a good cuddle while Kim winds down with a book.
Catfish might not be the hardest-working dog in the world, but she makes up for her lack of productivity with love and affection. We love this girl with all our hearts and we’re grateful that she came into our lives in such a special way. If you’re searching for a dog of your own, we encourage you to consider rescuing a dog in need. She just might turn out the be the best decision you ever made.
My cat’s name was Rabbit and it was also delightful and confusing to all who heard about him lol. He was also a rescue and I am a solid rescue-for-lifer. I sadly lost him far too young last Christmas and my heart absolutely broke. He was my world. Between my emotions and other upending life messes, I’ve been unable to adopt again as of yet. I’ve been volunteering at our local shelter in the meantime. I highly recommend volunteering and fostering to anybody – it is seriously the best thing ever. If anybody is ever on the fence about getting involved with their local shelters or rescues – do it! You won’t regret it, I promise. Thank you for sharing this awesome little peek into Kitty’s world. It’s always so beautiful to me seeing loved and loving animals in their happy places. :)
We wholeheartedly agree with you! Rescue and fostering are near and dear to our hearts forever. Between rescuing our first two dogs, fostering then adopting Catfish, now fostering multiple dogs and seeing them find their forever families has brought us so much joy and love. We appreciate everything you’re doing for your local rescue and echo your recommendation for everyone else that is capable to do the same!
I love your storytelling and have never used Ollie before- I am going to try it for Charley Pickles
Thank you! Kitty has been loving it!
I smiled the entire time reading this post. I love seeing Catfish in all of your pictures. What a sweet family you all are.
So kind of you, thank you!
💕💕💕 What a cutie! Really enjoyed the day-in-the-life (made me contemplate my two dogs’ days….bougie to the max 😆). Great pictures of a beautiful catfish!
We sure do spoil these pups, don’t we!
I love the pearls! I would love to get some for my sister’s pit. Can you share? Thank you!!
Here you go!
We have a rescue dog Elva and 2 Rescue Cats Buddy and Betty
The wall mounted feeder is so perfect – do you have a link?
We have this one!