​So often I meet pet owners who tell me that their dog has some health problems because he is getting old. They say, “Well, she’s five, and the vet says that’s why she has arthritis.” Or, “Well, he’s nine, so the vet says that’s why his liver enzymes are elevated.”
Age is not an excuse! Some of this is just misinformation, like the pneumonia vaccine ad on TV, where the actor tells you sincerely, “If you’re over fifty, your immune system is weakening.” I disagree! Why would my immune system become weaker simply by passing an age milestone? Why wouldn’t it be true that if I take care of myself, exercise, eat well, and take my supplements and homeopathic remedies, the longer I live and the more illnesses I meet and overcome, my immune system should be stronger the older I get? Perhaps even more important than exercise and vitamins is the practice of NOT getting vaccinated, and NOT using pharmaceutical medications, because those influences actively destroy health rather than build it. Limiting our exposure to harmful chemicals will promote stability and correct function of the immune system.
As soon as you gain an understanding of the adverse effects of boostering your pet’s vaccines, stop doing it.
As soon as you find out that there are better things you could be feeding your pet, change what you are feeding them and throw out the junky treats.
As you learn about supplements, add them to your pet’s diet.
Look up the effects and side effects of any drugs or chemicals you are using on or in your pet. Don’t pass the buck and merely ask your vet, “Hey, do you think this tick repellent that you sold me is possibly harmful to my dog?” Do your due diligence as your pet’s advocate; look it up yourself. If you don’t use a holistic veterinarian, contact one and schedule an appointment to have your pet evaluated for its current and future health. Don’t wait until things go wrong, if at all possible!
Modern medicine is misleading when it comes to longevity of our pets. At veterinary conferences I hear the wonders of modern medicine touted as the cause of our pets living so long – now dogs and cats are living an average of 11 years! This would be wonderful if we weren’t treating species that can live into their twenties if we stop messing with them. Horses are considered old in their late teens and near death in their twenties – a species that can live into their 40s if a natural existence is supported.
Arthritis (and indeed any chronic health condition) is NOT a natural sequela of old age. Inflammatory conditions are caused by vaccines, drugs, chemical exposure, and pro-inflammatory foods. There are numerous resources describing ways to keep our pets healthy well into old age, or even starting in old age. Make some changes that seem reasonable to you, and that fit within your budget and your lifestyle, and you can improve your pet’s health at any age.
 

It's always fun when our dogs run like maniacs after the ball or leap into the air to catch the Frisbee! Certainly dogs, nature's ultimate predatory athlete, should be able to leap and jump and run freely. This is, after all, what they are built for.

When cruciate ligament damage occurs it is tempting to think that the dog jumped too high, or turned too quickly, or landed wrong on its legs. Ligaments, however, are made of incredibly tough connective tissue. It requires a tremendous amount of force to tear a ligament!
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In order for a ligament to tear, the stress on the ligament must be huge (once I treated a dog whose hip was dislocated by a tree falling on it), or the ligament must already be damaged.
​Why would our dogs have damage to their ligaments?
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Poor conformation is certainly part of the puzzle. Many dogs, like my own Dutch Shepherd, are poorly assembled, with hind legs that are too straight and don't provide enough shock absorption for even normal activities.
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Poor nutrition leads to challenges in repairing injured tissues, and inflammation in the connective tissues predisposes them to injury.

Inflammation of connective tissues is commonly caused by vaccines. After vaccination, dogs produce antibodies not only to the virus and all the other stuff in the vaccine, but they also produce antibodies against their own connective tissues. Blood and bones are also connective tissues, which explains why dogs get immune-mediated hemolytic anemia and immune-mediated thrombocytopenia after vaccination. Muscles are not made of connective tissue, but the wrappings around internal organs, around the brain and spinal cord (meninges), and all ligaments and tendons are made of connective tissue.
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How then can we prevent cruciate ligament injury?
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Feed your dog a raw, species-appropriate diet in order to make sure that there is sufficient nutrition for cellular repair. Ligaments have poor blood supply (that's why they're white in the photo), and have a difficult enough time getting nutrients. A processed food diet will not provide sufficient nutrition for cellular repair. This means that a raw fed dog has better odds of living longer and healthier.
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Stop vaccinating your dogs. Once they have had the series of puppy shots, repeated vaccination does not benefit them. There's a previous blog post about this issue.
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Walk your dogs. Literally. Many dogs just don't get enough exercise, have lousy muscle tone, and aren't strong enough to be weekend warriors just because you're at the cabin or the weather is finally nice enough for a strenuous ball session. Even those that do get a lot of exercise are often able to compensate without using their rear ends. My shepherd can chase a ball at a full gallop without actually using his hind legs a whole lot. He has a massively overpowered front end that hauls the rest of his body around.
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Going for a walk is physically harder for him than chasing the ball, since he has to use all four legs much more evenly than when he's tearing around the yard.
​Going for a walk on a hill (which we don't have where I live) would be even harder.
​Walking along the side of a hill instead of up and down is even harder.
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​Think of your dog as an athlete. How much time does a pole-vaulter spend vaulting? Much less than the time they spend running, lifting weights, and gaining the strength and endurance necessary so that when they do pole-vault, they have maximum strength, ability, and agility, and minimum chance of hurting themselves.
And that is what we need to do for our dogs.

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Another benefit to discontinuing the dry food has been weight loss for all the hefties. All my fat cats slimmed down, practically overnight. Even Grrl, who is relatively inactive, lost weight. She basically lives in the kitchen on one of the chairs. When it was very hot in the house she migrated to the countertop, which is where she is in the picture. She goes outside for a few minutes once a day when the weather is nice. She never visits other parts of the house.

Grrl always had big clumps of fur around her rear end. And, of course, she hates to be brushed. Since getting rid of the dry food, her coat has improved massively. She is soft and smooth and sleek. No more clumps of fur. And that is just from replacing the half of her diet that was dry food with canned.