Jenny has started to slow down a bit. While she's still eager for walks, it takes her longer to wake up, jump off the couch, or get into the car. As the owner of a twelve-year-old boxer, Jenny, I thought it would be a good idea to learn more about nutrition for dogs. Boxers who live to see "double digits" are apparently rare. While walking Jenny in the park I've been stopped by other boxer owners who marvel at her age and inquire about her diet. She has always had Pedigree Choice Cuts in sauce, which she laps up eagerly, and some kibble (which is mostly organic) that's delivered to the house as needed.
Jenny rarely gets any table scraps, and except for a few tomatoes and avocados that she manages to "steal", she sticks to this diet and is not overfed. Recently, I took her to the vet for a physical, and her blood panel showed that she is affected by hypothyroidism. For her age, though, she's quite healthy, except for her thyroid, which is a tad sluggish. Reluctantly, I give her a tiny pink pill (levothyroxine), twice a day with her meals. (I say reluctantly because I really don't like to give her any medication, especially one that she must take for the rest of her life, but if it makes her feel better, I will.) I haven't noticed a dramatic difference in her, but she seemed fine before ever taking this med. I picked up To Your Dog's Health!: Canine Nutrition and Recent Trends Within the Pet Food Industry by Mark Poveromo to find a possible "food cure" for hypothyroidism in dogs.
“Let food be your medicine.”~Hippocrates, the father of medicine
This book is a joy to read. It has adorable photos of dogs, and includes some recipes to treat specific canine diseases, such as kidney disease, diabetes, and cancer. Before writing To Your Dog's Health!, Mark Poveromo raised thirteen labs and opened Thomaston Feed, a store which sells nutritionally sound, holistic pet food for dogs and cats. He was inspired to write this book and share with a larger audience his knowledge about the importance of animal nutrition. I enjoyed reading this book, which is a good guide book for dog owners with an interest in optimum canine nutrition. The one thing that I wish this book had was an index. It has a table of contents, but I think an index would have come in handy as well, even though the book is short (under 100 pages). I really wanted to find out about hypothyroidism, had to search this book with a fine-toothed comb to find mention of it, and didn't discover any foods that would specifically help Jenny's condition.
Special thanks to Lisa, The Online Publicist, for sending me this book.
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