Geriatric Canine Care
This blog is dedicated to information on Geriatric canine care for the older dogs in our families. There’s not a lot out there in blog land now to help the growing numbers of us who are dealing with the issues of our elderly canine population.
On this blog, in addition to general geriatric canine care issues, we’ll tackle topics on:
- Canine disease
- Canine diet
- Geriatric canine health issues
- Nutrition for geriatric canines
- Exercise for geriatric canines
- Geriatric canine products
- Geriatric dog services
- Dealing with the death of a dog
Families with older dogs face many issues that often leave us bewildered, nostalgic, grateful, and saddened. Our geriatric canine family members face more fragile bones, problems with site, teeth and hearing, need for special diets, incontency, greater need for sleep, more difficulties being active, and many other problems that mimic a speeded up version of the human aging process. Eventually we need to deal with the issues of whether and when to euthanize.
Yet these elder years are often when we appreciate the companionship, the patience, and even the wisdom of our geriatric canine companions the most. We rejoyce at the times when they still feel like chasing a stick or a ball and when they heel in step to our morning walks. We know and understand them most of the time, and they know us, maybe better than we think.
I have two special reasons for starting this blog– Sally, age 14 and Dexter, age 11. My old girl is a labrador-basenji or whippet mix, while Dexter is a terrier mix. Both were shelter animals. Both are doing well for their ages. Sally has been showing her elderly side for the past two years, getting more and more thin and fragile. She frequently finds it hard to get outside in time to take care of her needs, and she always gives an apologetic look when she doesn’t quite make it. Towels line the few pieces of furniture she is allowed on; barriers block rooms that are now off limits to her. We are pretty certain she won’t make it through the winter and that we’ll face the question of putting her down within the coming months.
Dexter is still pretty feisty for his age, but even he sleeps more, shows more fear and hesitation around younger and stronger dogs, and acomplia price has had one bout with a tendon tear that laid him up for a few months.
Please share your comments and questions. If we can’t answer your questions, we’ll look for an expert who can. Comments can be posted at the bottom of the blog page. The form to the right will get you on the list to receive regular blog updates. I’ve also signed up for a group account at FriendFeed. This is a fantastic place to share threads of conversations with like-minded folk, including multimedia and other documents. The link to join is: http://friendfeed.com/rooms/geriatricdogs.
Liz Nichols
support (at) geriatriccaninecare.com
Meet Sally, age 14/15
Meet Dexter, age 11
Is Dog Food Killing Your Dog?
If you use commercial dog food, the answer is probably
Yes! What I’m about actonel 75 mg to reveal is sickening, so I
suggest that if you are eating, you stop right now.
That’s because in their covert indrustrial research
Andrew Lewis and his team discovered that, thanks to a
little known loophole in the dog food labeling laws,
dog food manufacturers can get away with putting some
absolutely nauseating garbage in the food that your
dogs and mine eat every day. What our canines are eating
is anything but healthy nutrition for geriatric, or any other kind
of dog.
The “food” includes stuff like dead dogs, cats and zoo
animals, collars, dog tags, plastic bags, animal feces,
and worst of all, the poison used to put many of those
animals down (Sodium Pentobarbital). It matters little
to the vast majority of dog food manufacturers– it all
gets ground up and served up.
Researchers have discovered that Sodium Pentbarbital
doesn’t cook out in the process of making dog food. It
stays in the meat and slowly poisons our precious pets.
The state of Nutrition for geriatric dogs, as for most
dogs, is so miserable that it leads to an average of
8.5 years being knocked off a dog’s lifespan.
Now, my dogs are living on borrowed time by current
canine lifespan standards at 14 and 11.
Lewis says what is realistically possible, if animals
receive optimal nutrition and care, is a canine lifespan
of 134% longer than the current average of 11 years. Imagine,
with great natural nutrition for your dog, he
will can live a healthier and longer life.
The big Dog Food Secrets download package (available at
different amounts of money depending on the number of
products included with that package. There are differnt
package levels, but all are very reasonable,
considering the seriousness of the issue and the depth
of coverage.
Dog Food Secrets includes all the factual studies about
current manufacturers, secret reports about the few
that are acceptable, a home made dog food recipe book
that will leave you and your dog salivating, first aid
and other health tips, and much more.
Before you jump on that link, scroll to the bottom of
the page and click on Lewis’ video about the research
results and the study. Then just come on back to this
blog entry, or click on the link at the top right side of the
page.
I think you’ll agree that knowing what you know now
it’ll be hard to ever go back to buying commercial dog
food. The health and nutrition of your dog depends on
a change now!
Liz Nichols
