# Wanting to improve my best friend's quality of life.



## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Hi there - welcome. And yes, I read your whole post! It was worth it.

You sound like a wonderfully caring owner - Allie is so lucky to have you. 12 is an amazing age for her to have reached so well.

I don't know much about raw food diet - but have a look at the feeding and nutrition page - LOTS of great info there.

As for making her more comfortable, etc. you're right that getting off some of the weight will definitely help her. Do you live anywhere near a dog therapy pool? If she's having pain, and it seems she is, swimming is really the best exercise. And there are many ways to make her more comfortable. She may be beyond glucosamine. My girl, who is 10, was on it for many years, but I have recently "upped" her treatment to Sashas Blend (there's a current thread going on it). There is also extensive drug therapy and your vet can talk to you about that if the time comes that she needs more.

Is she on a senior or low cal food? I recently wanted to get a few pounds off my dog (she has beginnings of arthritis and had a tough summer in the heat) and I found just reducing the amount of food I was feeding did wonders. You might give that a try, too.

Good luck - glad you found us. Do you have any pictures of Allie?


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## empouse (Dec 16, 2010)

Thanks a lot! I really do try my best despite being super busy and in the most important years of highschool. :yuck: I owe her that much! Here are some pictures of Allie down at the creek I mentioned. 

http://i51.tinypic.com/zv6gk5.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/k2ekns.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/10r8lfa.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/30lchhj.jpg

This last one is the view from a hill at the creek. This is my town! Well, a small part of it, anyways. I really love it up here. Unfortunately, that hill has gotten a bit overgrown, and I haven't been up there in a good while for fear that there will be some unfriendly critters up there. Snakes are definitely around out here!

The pictures are pretty big and i'm too lazy to resize them and re-upload them, so for now you guys get links.  Wow...I took these pictures almost exactly 2 years ago. She's definitely aging fast! She's due for a good grooming, too. She's looking scraggly! :

I think swimming would be a great idea! Unfortunately, she's definitely not a fan. We have a baja step in our pool, and she loves to lounge on that on hot summer days, but I've never seen her actually swim. Not for lack of trying! No matter how much I coax her or and no matter what I throw in the pool, she doesn't have any of it!

My mom told me what the vet said she weighed, and I felt horrible about it. My poor girl is carrying upwards of 10, 15 pounds in extra weight! I want to get that off of her so badly. :/ What is a healthy rate for dogs to lose weight? I know a healthy weight for humans is about a pound a week, but what about for dogs? She is on a low calorie dog food, but honestly, I'm pretty sure it's pure junk. I'd really like to get both of my dogs on a natural diet pretty soon. They're carnivores! I don't like feeding them a food with "chicken by-product" as the first ingredient. BLECH!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

The key to a trim dog is to feed less of a good food. You don't need a special diet or anything fancy. Glucosamine/chondroitin supplements can help some dogs with arthritis, but the single biggest thing that will improve her quality of life will be to slowly lose pounds until she's the right weight for her size.

You need to measure the food you're giving her and cut it back slowly until she starts to lose weight slowly. Cut out table scraps and high calorie treats, and make sure everybody in the family is on board so nobody sneaks her extra stuff.

It's very possible to achieve reasonable weight loss on a dog, and it's the single biggest thing you can do to improve her health.


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

My older guy had a lot of problems with his hips and shoulders when he got older. He was diagnosed with multiple types of arthritis.

As far as supplements, he had fish oil, glucosamine/chondriotin, and later I started him on SAM-e at his orthopedic vet's recommendation. Earlier on he used Dualactin with great success. There are some threads on here about the various supplements. Some work better with an individual dog than others.

Copper also took Rimadyl in his later months at the vet's suggestion. Your vet is probably going to check allie's liver values to see if they are good enough to giver an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory). If she does start Rimadyl or one of the others, SAM-e and Milk Thistle are very good for liver function. The SAM-e just might help her inflammation too.

I also used a heating pad on Copper's hips and shoulders and it made him feel better too. That's the cheapest help there is.

He also went to a holistic vet and had acupuncture and cold laser therapy, but that can get expensive. It did make an immediate improvement in his mobility.

Sorry for the novel in return. Once you post 15 times, you can PM me for more information if you want. Until then, ask any questions here and we'll try to answer them.

Allie's story is wonderful. I'm glad she got a home where she is loved and adored.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

You are such a wonderful young caring owner and I love Allie's story. I'm sorry she is having such difficulties. Everyone has given you wonderful advice. I had one golden years ago that had a terrible weight issue despite calorie restriction and exercise. He was finally diagnosed as having a low thyroid at 13 years of age. Unfortunately we lost him to cancer just a few months later so we don't know if his weight gain was due to the low thyroid hormones.

I hope your vet is checking her thyroid. Low thyroid can result in weight gain. Treating it is relatively inexpensive with a daily thyroid pill. 

I'll keep you both in my thoughts and prayers and hope you get a good report on her bloodwork soon.


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## Shelby's Dad (Dec 16, 2010)

Empouse, this story is very touching. Allie is so lucky to have you. She has one thing medicines, doctors, and food can't give.... your love.

Pick a good senior dog food (I like Innova) and you probably can give about 1/2 to 3/4's of what they recommend (they are trying to sell dog food ya know). Definitely supplement with fish oil and glucosamine/chondriotin.

Best of luck to you and Allie. Keep us posted!


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Raw diet does NOT cause the dog to become aggressive, any more than feeding kibble makes them hunt down and kill large round objects that look like giant kibble.

Bender is 13, on raw, and the kids often step on her or over her, fall in her way and so on. She just goes with it as she always has, she's never done more than bark at them to give them heck. If you can do raw, go for it.

The main thing is to reduce what's going into her. Use green beans if you need to get 'filler' into her, but reduce the food. If you are going to use a kibble use an all life stages food that is good quality - avoid the diet/senior foods, as they often have more carbs that she doesn't need. 

Add fish oil and joint supplements for sure, they will help too. Keep on it and she'll soon shed some pounds and feel much better.


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## mm03gn (Sep 24, 2008)

I always forget the exact ratio - but Allie should be getting I BELIEVE 10 calories for every pound of her GOAL weight. ie - you want to get her down to 60 pounds, she should get 600 calories per day. If the quantity isn't enough, you can put in some canned green beans to help her feel like she is getting more. 

I know a lot of people on here swear by green beans when it comes to getting weight off of a heavy golden!

Please, someone correct me if I didn't do that calorie count right!


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Since everyone is giving you good suggestions on the food and suppliments, I thought I would suggest some other things. If your vet has not done a full senior panel on her, I would have one done. Including a full thyroid panel. If it comes back low normal, then I would have her put on thyroid meds. Goldens are prone to have low thyroids and it can cause many things like weight gain, problems with their skin, energy and other things. 

The fish oil, gloucosamine and arthritis medicine is good to help her. If you do change her over to another food, you can always add unsalted green beans to her diet to help fill her up. It fills her up but not gives her extra calories. 

Your story is just wonderful and you are great wanting to do everything you can to help her. She sounds like a great dog and is a pretty girl.


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## empouse (Dec 16, 2010)

Thanks to all of you for your kind replies. 

We got some great news today! The vet called with her blood work results, and she said that Allie has the best results for any dog she's ever seen of her age. Her heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs are all working great! I was so glad to hear that. I needed some good news. This week has probably been the worst week of my life! :uhoh:

Allie has perked up quite a bit today. I'm sure she's feeling good on the pain medicine the vet gave her. I could use some right about now! I'm sick with something that's making me awfully achy. Gotta suck it up and go to school, though. 

My main priority right now is just getting weight off of her. I'm going to see if she likes green beans at all, and then add those to her diet while subtracting some of her kibble. That is, until I can convince my mom to give raw a try. She's going to be getting glucosamine and fish oil, too. I'm really glad that it is something as reversible as just being overweight. I'd way rather here that it's just my fault and curable than out of my control. She's as healthy as an ox minus being fat and old! 

Thanks again for all of your replies. :]


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Hi! I'm glad Allie feels better, hope you do soon too.
Those were great photos, Allie is a beautiful dog.

I have similar problems myself these days with my older dog. The first thing I noticed about your story was Allie was with your 1-1/2 year old other dog.

If they're playing together a lot all day, Allie may not be able to keep up with your other / younger dog(s). I have to spend a lot of time now making sure my almost 11 year old guy isn't making himself lame playing with 1 year and 4 month old hyper Gladys. She wants to play with him and bug him all the time. Sometimes I'll be yelling at her to get off him and HE'LL be lunging at her in the background! He doesn't know he can't keep up with her until it's too late!

If your dogs spend all day together you may consider limiting some of their time together and/or making sure the youngun(s) aren't ragging on Allie all day long.

I'm trying to teach mine they aren't allowed to roughhouse inside anymore. I use a lot of sit/stay and down/stay. If they can't leave each other alone, they take turns in the crate. Eventually they settle down.

It may sound and feel kind of "mean" to not let them play together, but actually I think it's "meaner" to expect an old dog to physically keep up with a puppy.

You probably don't understand this, but trust me, it would be like being middle to oldish- aged and being expected to do cartwheels and back handsprings with a Junior High gym class. 

Good luck with Allie's new health regimen! I feel the same way about my dog and I wish you both several more healthy and happy years together. xoxoxo Dawn


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

empouse said:


> Thanks to all of you for your kind replies.
> 
> We got some great news today! *The vet called with her blood work results, and she said that Allie has the best results for any dog she's ever seen of her age. Her heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs are all working great! I was so glad to hear that. I needed some good news.* This week has probably been the worst week of my life! :uhoh:
> 
> ...


That is definitely good news! Sorry to hear YOU'RE feeling lousy. When you're better you can start the new diet and exercise regime! Hopefully the pain med will let her move around easier - and when the weight starts coming off she'll feel loads better.

Good for you for being so on top of it.


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## empouse (Dec 16, 2010)

I'm finally feeling better! Well, physically, that is. Allie seems to know I'm sick, though. She sleeps out in the hall and comes wagging in to my room whenever the door is open. :] When we first got her she slept at the foot of my bed every night, usually soaked from sprinklers from the night before. There is still a dirty spot on the wall to prove it!  

Anyways, we definitely don't have to worry about Allie being run ragged by Bailey anymore. My parents made me get rid of her today. Actually, about an hour and a half ago. I just stopped crying enough to see the computer screen. The door bell rang and no-one barked, and I lost it again. I can't believe they ACTUALLY made me get rid of her. She had been what seemed like deliberately peeing on the bathroom carpet in my parent's room. Today she actually pooped up there while my dad was taking a nap! I understand that that isn't cool, but still, they could have done a lot more than just gotten rid of her. 

My grandparents just moved out after living with us for 6 months, and as much as he didn't like Bailey, I think she really liked him. She could be upset about that, or me being sick, or just really not like my dad or the cat that is always in that room! My dad put on a clown mask when Bailey was just a little puppy and scared the wits out of her and she has barked at him ever since! When she was about 1 year old he put it back on scared her again for good measure! I can't even believe that man. Somehow he's shocked that she barks at him every. single. day. Well, not anymore. Also, it's been raining for the past 3 days straight, and Bailey absolutely hates going to the bathroom outside, so she was probably dying to go somewhere!

Anyways, Bailey went to a family with a 6 year old boy(same age as my brother) and they live on 2 acres in a town about 30 minutes from us. She seems like a really nice lady, but I got all choked up when I put Bailey in their van. I could hardly say anything as the lady was saying goodbye. :[ She said she'll email us and if anything happens, Bailey will go back to us, not to the pound or anything. I'm sorry to write about all of this here, where it doesn't really fit in at all, but I just had to vent to people that actually love dogs! I've tried to tell my mom that it's like having a child and then having to give it to someone else. You know that person is going to love that child and really wants it, but you love it too! She just doesn't understand and says it's "just a dog". 

Allie is doing well, though, and hopefully this means at least she'll get more attention and gifts for christmas. :] I hope you guys are all having a fantastic holiday.


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear your sad news. I hope the change will be good for Allie is about the only other thing I can think of to say. :-(


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear that Bailey has been rehomed, that must be quite a shocker for you. 

On the other hand, glad to see that Allie is feeling better and that she had some great results back from the vet! 

As someone else mentioned, have a peek at the Nutrition/Raw section if you are interested in making the switch, and there are also a couple of great books that are full of amazing information - one of them is called 'Raw Meaty Bones' by Tom Lonsdale, and I can't say enough great things about it. You can also join one of the raw feeders e-mail groups on yahoo. (do a google search and it should come up), there is a wealth of info there and of course you can always ask us questions here. Raw isn't for everyone, but if after reading some books you are still interested, don't be afraid to ask questions here! There is also pre-made raw that is much easier than coming up with the proper ratios yourself, that you could look into and maybe your mom would be more willing to give that a try (although it is much more expensive!).


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Whoops, I got the story mixed up. I thought Bailey was a boy so when you said "she got sent away", I thought you meant Allie.

I didn't mean to sound insensitive. Did you hear anything about how Bailey is doing in her new home?


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