My philosophies about raising a healthy dog are simple:
- Prevent problems before they occur. This means micro-managing your dog's daily life so that every little thing that happens is safe for him (more on this in a minute).
- Catch health problems early. Be observant (and know what to watch for) so you'll notice the very first sign of a health problem, when it's still small and easy to treat.
- Treat health problems conservatively.. Use the most effective remedies with the fewest side effects. You don't want to cure one problem only to create another. Sadly, this happens a lot with "conventional" health care – for both humans and pets.
Prevent health problems before they occur
Most of the time when something bad happens to a dog, it could have been prevented. That's a little scary, I know. It puts a LOT of responsibility on your shoulders. But you can do it.
Preventing health problems is all about managing your dog's environment. Make sure that every little thing in your dog's daily life is safe and healthy for him. Keep repeating this phrase – Everything Matters. Your dog's health is affected, for better or for worse, by EVERYTHING around him.
- Everything that goes into his mouth (food, water, treats, toys, drugs)
- Everything that goes into his nose and lungs (smoke, fragrances, fumes from cleaning products)
- Everything that touches his skin (ointiments, shampoos, rug cleaners, detergents used to wash his bedding)
- Everything that's injected into his body (vaccinations, medications)
Everything your dog comes in contact with can affect his health, for better or for worse. Many things you wouldn't even think of can cause health problems in dogs. If you want a healthy, long-lived dog, you must raise your dog so that everything in his environment affects his health for the better.
Creating the healthiest environment for your dog
I can show you how your dog's health can be improved and protected by....
Is your dog as healthy and happy as this one? Will he be next year, or in five years? Help him – by following the list to the left.
- feeding a diet that suits the natural digestive tract of canines
- limiting vaccinations to the ones your dog really needs (don't accept every shot your vet recommends if he's not following the latest guidelines)
- avoiding toxins, allergens, and medications that can drag down your dog's immune system
- making sure your house and yard are safe
- working with your vet to choose treatments with the fewest side effects (don't be a passive owner who agrees with everything the vet says)
- providing the right kinds of physical exercise (some popular forms of exercise can damage a dog's joints)
- providing "mental" exercise, too (meaningful activities keep your dog's mind healthy)
- reducing doggy stress (you'll be amazed at what a dog finds stressful, and how damaging it can be)
To prevent health problems, I recommend that you take action in each of these areas. I can show you how, but you're the only one who can do it.
Sensible health care means every day
Better food, more exercise, meaningful activities, less stress....sounds a lot like the healthy lifestyle that's recommended for US too, doesn't it? It's true. Our health is determined more by what we do and don't do on a daily basis than by how often we visit the doctor.
The same is true for dogs. Good health care for your dog cannot be reduced to taking him to the vet regularly. Good health care for dogs means wisely managing all the "seemingly little" daily things that promote and protect his health and vitality. Your choice of food, treats, toys, vaccinations, medications, shampoos, rug cleaners, detergents....everything matters. Out with the bad....in with the good!
Preventing health problems is better than treating them once they occur. And when you do treat them, use effective remedies that have the fewest side effects.
There's a name for this approach: Holistic – which means preventing and treating health problems by looking at the whole picture and making healthy choices overall.
Holistic health care also aims to strengthen your dog's natural ability to overcome health challenges with his own immune system. A strong immune system can win battles with microbes, toxins, stresses, and the like. A strong body can even resist negative genetic tendencies.
Some vets specialize in this approach. Holistic vets have MORE formal training than conventional vets. All vets graduate from the same vet school, then Holistic vets go on to additional training. They even join a different medical association when they complete their extra studies. Keep in mind, they know how to do everything conventional vets do, but they know more. And they can apply their extra knowledge to better care for their patients.
Even so....
Your dog's health care depends more on YOU than on your vet
Barney doesn't know that ripping his toy apart and eating the pieces isn't safe. You have to be the one who knows what's safe and what isn't – for everything.
The most important piece of your dog's health care puzzle is YOU. Your dog relies on you to manage his health wisely, on a day to day basis.
For example, his idea of good exercise might be chasing cars. Or he might enjoy challenging other dogs to a fight. And how many dogs end up in the emergency room after swallowing a ball, a rock, or a small toy?
Given the chance, your dog will make poor choices. YOU have to take charge of what he's allowed to do and what he's not. You have to arrange for his entire environment to be health-promoting....every day.
You might think you can rely on your vet to guide you, but if your vet is not holistic, you're receiving advice that is not holistic either. When a vet hasn't received the extra training that allows him to go above and beyond conventional health care, he is NOT the best source for how to prevent health problems.
In fact, many conventional vets offer suggestions that affect your dog's health in NEGATIVE ways. Many vets choose dog food to sell based on its profit margins, even when it's unsuitable for a dog's digestive tract. Many vets give far too many shots, ignoring the latest guidelines of their own veterinary association. And many vets give ointments, pills, injections, and medications that aren't kind to your dog's immune system.
So you have to be prepared to monitor your vet. For example, suppose your dog is scratching. The vet says he probably has allergies and gives him a shot. It seems to work. Your dog stops scratching. But the shot wears off. He's still allergic, so you'll need to go back to the vet when the scratching resumes. This time the vet adds a bottle of pills. Worse still, the shots and pills that stop the scratching have side effects (many vets don't mention this). And the cascade of one treatment leading to another has begun. This is NOT good health care.
Better health care is for you to assess everything in your dog's environment that might be triggering his allergies. A common cause is food....the very type of food, in fact, that the vet had been selling you. Put your dog on a better diet, one matched to the natural digestive tract of canines, and his allergies are likely to clear up. If that turns out not to be the cause, I can show you a long list of things to check next. But...
Did you catch the flaw with my little story about allergies? It was a story about reacting to a problem after it surfaced. Important, yes. But it would have been even better to have done all the checking and correcting of your dog's environment (such as feeding the right diet) before the allergy developed in the first place. Remember....Prevention and Everything Matters.
Pay close attention to your dog
While we know that the absolute best way to maximize your dog's health and lengthen his life is to prevent health problems, life doesn't always work out this way. With every living creature, things can go wrong even when you've done your best to prevent it.
Her owner recognized the very first signs of a problem, and emergency surgery saved her from paralysis. Do you know what to watch for in your dog, and what to do about it?
The quicker you notice something wrong, the quicker you'll be able to intervene and fix the problem.
So pay close attention to your dog in much the same way you would to a toddler. Your dog can't tell you when something is bothering him. You have to take the initiative and discover little things before they become major problems.
It's easy to start checking your dog on a regular basis. Sometimes, when you pet him, let your fingers palpate a little more purposefully than usual, feeling for growths above the skin, or lumps beneath. When you take your dog for a walk, notice how his hips and elbows and knees are functioning. When your dog is eating, watch for a moment to make sure he has no problems picking up the food or chewing.
Even if you haven't noticed anything wrong, you should do a nose-to-tail checkup on a regular basis. It takes only 5 minutes to look at your dog's eyes, ears, nose, teeth, gums, head, neck, chest, legs, feet, skin, coat, tail, weight, shape, breathing....etc. You'll quickly learn what's normal for your own dog, so it will become easy to identify when something changes.
I've prepared a guide to help you pay attention to your dog. "Symptom Checker From Nose to Tail" shows you what to watch for, and what to do if you find it. A free copy of "Symptom Checker From Nose to Tail" comes with my dog health book (see the bottom of this page).
Avoid side effects and unintended consequences.
Clearly it's better to prevent problems before they occur. But sometimes things happen, and you're faced with deciding what to do about it.
For example, your dog doesn't feel well. You take him to the vet, who palpates your dog's abdomen and finds it a little tender. Everything else seems okay. The vet says, "I don't think it's anything serious. He might have eaten something in the yard that disagreed with him or maybe picked up a stomach bug." The vet suggests an anti-nausea injection, followed by a 10-day course of antibiotics.
Holistic health care means looking at the whole picture. Remember that medications may fix one problem while taking their toll on your dog's overall health. Always look for the gentlest treatment that is still likely to work.
To which the Old You would have said, "Sure, okay." Because it's tempting to just turn the responsibility for choosing a treatment over to your vet and not have to think about it anymore. The trouble is, conventional vets often choose treatments that are immediately effective for the problem at hand, regardless of the potential for side effects or unintended consequences.
But the New You (who has read my free articles and my dog health book) thinks, "Well, an anti-nausea med has side effects. And speculating that my dog 'may have picked up a bug' doesn't really warrant bringing out the big guns of antibiotics, which have their own side effects. Also, antibiotics can create resistant germs when over-used, so I'd rather save them for another time when they're definitely needed. Is there an alternative? Yes, medicinal herbs and supplements such as slippery elm, aloe vera, apple cider vinegar, and ginger are good for an upset stomach, with no side effects. Let's give my dog's immune system a few days to handle this."
Congratulations! You're practicing holistic health care. You're looking at the whole picture, not just the intended result of a treatment. The vet might say that negative side effects are nothing to worry about, but this kind of thinking is not holistic. Negative effects add up over time. Think of all the things we know that can cause cancer. They don't cause cancer immediately. There's a time delay. So whenever possible, try to look for treatments that are still effective but have fewer side effects.
Putting it all together
We've talked about the three aspects of the best health care possible for our dogs.
Prevention (everything matters)
Early detection (pay attention to your dog)
Avoid side effects (choose the safest effective treatments)
This isn't easy to learn on your own. I've been researching and writing books about dogs for many years. I've sorted out bad advice and commercial hype from what I believe is a better way to care for our dogs, a natural/holistic approach. You can start by reading my articles on feeding the best food, feeding the 2nd best food, vaccinations, and veterinarians.
Or you can read step-by-step directions for health-promoting practices in my book, 11 Things You Must Do Right to Keep Your Dog Healthy and Happy. (It comes with a free copy of Symptom Checker From Nose to Tail which shows you exactly what to look for when you "pay attention" to your dog.)