As a veterinarian, I am asked a lot of different questions about dog health, but the one question that comes up frequently, which puts fear into the hearts of most vets, especially when major decisions arise is…”If this were your dog, what would you do?”
I used to have a memorized canned response of “Well, this isn’t my dog, this is your dog. I do not have the same emotional attachment to your do
g and I live a different life than you do so what I would do with my dog may not be what you would do with your dog. I can only tell you what the options are and you have to make the best decision you can from those options.”
Most of the time I felt horrible giving that response because I could tell the owner was agonizing over what to do. Many people have a difficult time making decisions when strong emotions are involved, especially when that decision affects the life of someone/something that they love. Lucy was in pain! Her head was held low and she didn’t want to move…well except for her tail, which as she raised only her eyes to look at me, wagged slowly back and forth as if to say, “Please help me.”
Her kid’s away at college, what was once “the boys” dog was now Susan’s baby; and her baby was in pain. Lucy could not turn her head without wincing or crying out. Susan, being a strong independent woman with concern for a loved one let me have it. “Doc, I want you to treat this dog as you would your own. I have been reading on the Internet (Uh Oh I thought) and I believe Lucy has a problem with a disk (Well that is my first thought too) Surgery is out of the question at this point in my life unless it is absolutely necessary. I’d do anything for Lucy I could, but if we could do the conservative type of treatment I’ve read about (Oh boy what did you read I thought) I want to try that first, but as I said please treat Lucy like she was yours so (here it comes), if this was your dog what would you do?”
I don’t know, maybe it was the way she said it, or the look in Lucy’s eyes as we met, or the fact that this woman about 50 years old that had enough life experience and devotion to her pet that I knew my canned response would be thrown in the can that I decided to answer the question…truthfully! You will find those answers to Nutrition, Supplementation, Exercise, and Veterinary Care in the program “If this was your dog what would you do?”
We can follow my dog Meme, a border collie, through her life and also what I told Susan, Lucy’s owner and go through her life. Lucy is no 12 years old and in the sunset years. Life is changing for her but she is still pain free without having to have had surgery. We will find out how. Starting with the foundation of Nutrition – what do I feed Meme and why? Lucy being overweight needed to change her diet to help her lose weight and also reduce the inflammation she was experiencing. In some cases, simple nutrition is not enough and we need to supplement with different nutraceuticals and herbals. Learn which products are used to help reduce inflammation, support healing and help in the pursuit of a long healthy life for your dog. During the healing and rehab process there were certain exercises that needed to be done for Lucy. After she healed she needed an exercise program to maintain her weight and maintain strength in her core. For Meme, exercise is key to keeping her body and mind healthy. For veterinary care, it was easy for Lucy and Meme; they had me, but what did I do for them? What does your dog need every year and what did they not need? What should you expect from your vet if you want the best in veterinary care?
