Podcast Episode 62: Caring for An Old Dog

Everyone with a dog eventually comes to the point where they realize their dog is old. They start moving slower, getting up is hard, and they often start doing odd things. If you are a dog owner - no matter how old your dog is - you'll want to join us for this episode where we're talking about our (almost) 14 year old dog, how he's changed, and how we've been helping with some of his age-related problems through diet and supplements. For his weight, the vet told us he's the equivalent of 92 years old!  No wonder he's acting different. You'll find a few recipe ideas for "real" dog food that we've been trying, plus some cool things we've discovered lately.

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Caring For An Old Dog

Here are links to the episodes and blog articles that mention our almost 14 year-old dog, Samson:

• Here's where I first talked about Samson on the blog - how he was all the things I thought I didn't want in a dog and how he turned out to be just about perfect.
• Podcast episode 1, with the "rug incident" and the blog post here where I share how we were able to clean it (yay for wood floors and throw rugs!).
• Podcast episode 5, feeding him too much camping in our vintage trailer.
• Podcast Episode 27, how turmeric helped Samson's hip and back leg.

And because I'm such a big believer in turmeric for dogs, I'm linking to the original article about how it helped Samson's hip here and the video update here we made a few years later.

And we didn't talk about it, but here's another crazy thing our dog did that I wrote about - because it involved my seedlings I was starting inside.

Here's an article I found that shares the problems our holistic vet mentioned with feeding dry kibble to dogs.

What's Cooking

Old Dog Homemade Food Ideas

• You can buy a balanced premade raw dog food (you can cook if your dog won't eat it raw, like ours). Our vet recommends Answers Dog Food.
• If making your own food, you'll want to add a food grade bone meal with calcium and magnesium (this is the one I bought), cod liver oil (I chose these pills to minimize any smell that might make Samson not eat it), and flax seed oil to the homemade food. There are other things you could add, too - I'd encourage you to do a bit of research. I based these decisions off of the paperwork our vet sent home with us.
• Add bone broth to food. We have a lot in the freezer because it's easy to make.
• Cook food in coconut oil with black pepper and turmeric. You can also make a paste of it to add to food, though Samson won't eat this now.
• If your dog won't eat enough turmeric, our vet recommended a supplement called Boswellia which helps with inflammation instead.
• If your dog eats it, canned pumpkin is a great digestion aid for dogs.

Here are some meal ideas we've been doing that I didn't get a chance to mention during the podcast:

Easy Dog Meals

1. Buy a chicken and cook it in the slow cooker. Cut off skin and meat and mix with cooked (in coconut oil) vegetables like green beans, zucchini, carrots, spinach, squash or sweet potato. Add bone broth, 2 tablespoons of bone meal, some flax oil.

2. Brown a couple pounds of beef with cut veggies and coconut oil - add same extras as #1 at end.

3. Brown venison or any beef or pork chunks in coconut oil with vegetables - add extras.

4. Scramble a couple of eggs in coconut oil, add black pepper and turmeric (if they'll eat it) - add a cup of spinach right before the eggs are done scrambling, cooking until wilted.

And so on - see? It's really doable.

This is Really Cool!

Brian's: DK-1 Gopher Trap - the one that has finally worked!

Since we recorded this episode, Brian was able to make and upload not just one, but two videos on our gopher saga! Click Here to watch all the things we tried to get rid of the gophers, and Click Here to see how to prepare and set the trap that is shown above that has been working.

Jami's: New kitchen faucet: Single Handle High Arch Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet. See - doesn't it look nice? Such a deal, great quality, and easy install! (We didn't use the bottom plate when we installed ours because we didn't have holes to cover.)

 

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