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Healthy Dog - It Is Simple Common Sense
May 2005
- Eliot Kaplan, DVM -
The Okanagan is a very healthy place for dogs. Many diseases that are life-threatening and common in other areas in North America are simply not found here. Even heartworm disease is not much of a threat except if you live in the Oliver/Osoyoos areas. Dog owners in the area have come to expect their dogs to live long and healthy lives.
But there is no silver bullet, no easy supplement, and no magic diet that can assure your dog the best and longest life possible. However, there are two basic principles that can make a huge difference when strictly followed.
The first is to keep your pet lean. Studies have shown that overweight dogs do not live as long as thin dogs. And the numbers are very significant. Dogs that are obese die an average of three years younger than dogs that are kept at an idea weight. In addition, dogs kept to within their optimal weight range take on average 3 years longer to develop chronic health problems such as arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease when compared to fat dogs. It can be concluded from this data that dogs that are lean live longer and live better.
Keeping a dog lean can be problematic but does not have to be. Feeding 2-3 times daily can be extremely helpful. Just as in humans, eating smaller meals more often increases the metabolic rate. In addition, each portion should be measured out. If your dog begins gaining excess weight, you cannot determine how much to cut back on the portions if you do not know how much is in each portion. Avoid in-between meal snacks. Your dog would benefit much more from a walk or a game of fetch. I hesitate to recommend a specific diet because all dogs are different and some dogs do better on some diets while some do better on others. However, most dogs do not require reduced calorie or diet dog food if they are fed and exercised properly.
The second principle is to ensure that dogs have optimal dental health. It has been clearly demonstrated that periodontal disease and the resulting inflammation causes elevations of certain systemic proteins that leads to organ damage. By decreasing the inflammation in a dog‚s mouth, you will actually slow down aging damage that occurs to that dog‚s vital organs. There are many ways that this can be achieved from special dental diets to daily teeth brushing. With your veterinarian, find a way to keep your pet's mouth clean and you will be rewarded with a healthier pet that will be around longer.
It is important for dog owners to realize that following the above principles will help their pets live longer but nothing guarantees them a long life. Genetics still plays a vital role. On average, purebreds have more health issues and do not live as long as crossbreds of the same size. Poor breeding practices will be around to haunt us for a very long time. For example, there is a high incidence of a cancer known as lymphosarcoma in golden retrievers. This can actually be tracked back to a male champion of the breed who was diagnosed with this disease. The condition was successfully put into remission thru chemotherapy. However, the dog‚s breeding career was not halted and he was subsequently bred to many dogs, thus assuring an increase of the incidence of lymphosarcoma in this breed for years to come.
Although you cannot control what genes your dog inherited, you can still control those things already mentioned. As a responsible dog owner, you owe it to your dog to do these things so your dog can have the best life possible with the genes he or she has inherited. |
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