Question:

Dear Clare,

We have a purebred blue heeler called Bess who’s almost 11 years of age and is starting to show some signs of wear and tear. She was spayed about three years ago and since then we’ve managed to keep her weight under control but now she- and we- are finding that harder because she’s unable to walk the long distances we used to enjoy. She has a reconstructed knee joint in one of her back legs after leaping too high to catch a ball and also managed to injure one of her front legs hurtling around as a pup. So she’s getting a bit stiff and sore, particularly after strenuous exercise - hence the need now for shorter walks.  We’ve noticed the rump muscle on her hind leg is a little thinner than the other leg. We’re assuming this is arthritis and would like to help her with natural pain relief rather than start giving her pills every day.

We’ve also noticed in recent months that’s she ‘s drinking a lot of water. There’s nothing wrong with her appetite – we generally feed her dog roll plus veges and treats like raw chicken skin and raw beef bones. In fact, Bess will eat almost anything! We never give her dried food and she no longer has canned food.

Do we need to alter her diet to optimise the quality of her life? In all other respects, she’s the personality she’s always been.

Thanks for your help.

Anne James, Highgate WA

 

Answer:

Dear Anne,

It sounds as if there are three things happening here!
 
The simplest one is to reduce the carbohydrate in her diet. Dogs don’t need much at all if they are overweight, and most dog rolls contain a fair proportion. Continue with the raw meat and bones, you may find raw chicken wings or raw lamb neck are easier to put into her food bowl every day along with veges and fruit. I would add two fish oil capsules daily and/or add cheap canned fish for the Omega 3 fatty acids which will help her metabolism. Add a teaspoon of kelp powder to help thyroid function, which brings us to the second issue.
 
It is likely she is hypothyroid if she is putting on weight and it is difficult to lose it by feeding her less, except the above suggestions may help. It would be worth getting a blood test to see if her thyroid hormone level is too low, then you will know or not if that is contributing to her weight, and this can be treated by a practitioner with natural or conventional treatments. Being overweight will be making her arthritis much worse than it needs to be, which brings us to the third issue.
 
It sound likely that she has arthritis in her knee from her previous injury. An oral glucosamine supplement may help a lot, also pentosan sulphate injections weekly for a month, then just once every few months, are a natural joint component and can also help a lot. There are many different natural therapies that can help with arthritis – acupuncture, other physical therapies, Chinese herbs and traditional herbs and homeopathics, but would need to be matched to the individual.

For more details on the diet see the article on Natural Diet for Dogs and Cats on Clare's website. www.claremiddle.com