HGTV/YouTube Christina Hall on HGTV's "Christina on the Coast"
HGTV‘s Christina Hall and her new husband Josh Hall just celebrated an extra-special birthday for a four-legged member of their family. Their dog Stella, adopted by Josh as a puppy, wasn’t expected to reach her eighth birthday after a devastating cancer diagnosis in early 2022. But the couple says they concocted a plan to help her thrive — and they think it’s working.
Christina Revealed Dog’s Cancer Diagnosis in March
On March 12, 2022, Christina revealed via Instagram that Stella had been diagnosed with cancer seven weeks prior and that they’d been told she’d likely succumb to the disease by summer.
“But we won’t accept that,” Christina wrote. “Of course we have been spoiling her extra. We did a ton of research we put her on a special diet. Josh spends hours a week and a ton of dishes to prep her meals and add her multiple supplements.”
The “Christina on the Coast” star shared that Josh, who became her third husband when they married in early 2022, “didn’t have kids of his own so Stella is his baby.”
She went on to say that they thought the new diet plan and supplements were working because Stella seemed to be so much better. “Praying we get many many many more years,” she wrote.
Josh Reveals Details of What They’ve Done For Dog Stella
On September 24, 2022, Josh shared a lengthy post about Stella on Instagram in celebration of her eighth birthday.
“Crazy to think 8 months ago, we were told to ‘let nature take its course’ with her cancer diagnosis and we only probably had a couple months,” the real estate broker wrote alongside several photos of Stella. He then echoed Christina’s previous post, saying they put their “manic brains” together and changed Stella’s diet, supplements, and exercise to help her thrive.
“We read reviews where other pet owners had these crazy success stories and prayed we could be one of those,” he wrote. “I’d say at this point, we are one of those and hope our own personal success story just gets better and this won’t be Stella’s last bday post!”
Josh, who just turned 42 during a birthday getaway weekend with his new wife, said that Stella has adjusted well to their new life with Christina and her three kids.
“Stella has been my rock through a lot of life, moves and changes,” he wrote. “Stella too has faced many obstacles since the day she chose me, but keeps going. I’ve had a lot of dogs, but she can’t be matched. I feel very blessed to have her and share her with this family. Stella had never been around kids much before, but she immediately fit in and is obsessed with everyone in this house. She basically rotates beds each night to share her love with each one of us.”
The former police officer continued, “Today we will spoil Stella and cater to all her quirks…she’s got quite a few, but she deserves the same love she puts out every day to us. We truly don’t deserve these special creatures and are aware that they aren’t forever, but with all we get from her in the time we do, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
Meanwhile, Christina added photos of Stella on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “Happy 8 sweet Stella, we love you too much.”
Fans quickly flooded Josh’s post with birthday wishes for Stella as well as questions about what kinds of changes the couple made to the dog’s lifestyle. In the comment section, Josh provided more details.
“For Stella’s diet, we were making her food from scratch consisting of: beef, turkey, spinach, cranberries, brown rice, carrots and broccoli,” he shared. “We would sprinkle omegas, turkey tail mushrooms and LifeGold drops on top of each meal. Also, only filtered water and 8 in 1 multi benefit dog treat vitamins. After she improved greatly, we switched her to @freshpet cold kibble which pretty much already had the ingredients we were using to give it a shot and saved a ton of effort in the kitchen.”
“Not a perfect solution for all dogs,” he continued, “but Stella has maintained good health eating that food, so we aren’t changing it yet. Also make sure she gets plenty of exercise.”
It’s not clear from the couple’s posts whether Stella’s cancer is still present, or if the changes they’ve alluded to are more about her energy and demeanor. Josh has frequently featured the dog in his social media posts, including a photo of himself with Christina and the pup in January, in which he called them, “My 2 lady loves.”