Does it seem to you that many of your friend’s dogs are dying younger these days? When I was growing up it was common for most dogs to live 15 – 18 years of age. Most were fed on raw butcher shop scraps and leftovers lived mostly outdoors, and rarely visited veterinarians. That was then, this is now. Today our dogs are fed highly processed diets loaded with synthetic additives, spend most of their time inside, and are often at the vet getting vaccines and chemical treatments for pests.  If you want your pet to live to be a senior, here are a few basic changes you might want to make.

Your pet needs to be fed a biologically appropriate diet. Food is the foundation of good health, and the closer you can formulate a natural diet for your pet the healthier that pet is going to be.  Dogs and cats are both carnivores so meat should always be the basis of these species’ diets. As an Obligate carnivore, your cat’s digestive system is designed to digest raw meat, and while dogs have a little more intestinal latitude, their ideal diet is raw meat with a small amount of natural carbohydrate material (fruits, vegetables).  Any diet you feed your pet that deviates from these basic forms will put stress on the stomach and intestines, and we all know how important gut health is, affecting almost every bodily system.  Today’s popular pet foods, such as kibble or canned diets, are dead foods bereft of life-nurturing enzymes and bioavailable vitamins and minerals which are only found in raw diets.  Dead food diets are highly processed and because of their convenience, they are commercially successful.  They are also usually full of artificial ingredients, cheap fillers, and chemicals that cause inflammation throughout the body – not so convenient for our pet’s health.  There is no doubt in the medical world that stress and inflammation in the body shorten life.

Another factor that can impact our pet’s health is their lack of outdoor exercise. Dogs and cats were designed to move frequently and freely, often at top speeds. While strolls and hikes with our dogs are helpful, in no way do they mimic the full range of natural athleticism our canines are capable of.  However, getting our dogs outside into fresh air and sunlight is always a step toward better health.  Today, most cats are kept indoors for safety reasons which is essential for their longevity but does deprive them of natural sunlight and the exercise that comes from exploring the outdoors.  Balancing your pet’s safety in the modern world against his or her needs for more exercise and sunlight is tricky and each pet owner will have to weigh the pros and cons themselves.

Your veterinarian should be your pet’s best friend. Their many years of schooling and experience make them invaluable allies in your decisions about the health of your dog or cat. Find a vet who has an open mind about controversial topics, such as correct nutrition, homeopathy, Chinese Traditional Medicine, the efficacy of vaccines, titer testing, herbal remedies, etc. Conventional vets, integrative vets, and holistic vets may have widely divergent views on these topics and their responses can have huge effects on the health of your pet. Educate yourself on these topics and choose a vet you can comfortably work with for your pet’s sake.

We all want our pets to live long, healthy happy lives well into their senior years. It is our responsibility as caring pet owners to see that this happens.