Customer Reviews

Complete Care For Your Aging Dog

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This is the book to buy if you want to know if your dog really is a senior dog, what defines aging in a dog, how to recognize the difference between aging and illness, and how to provide just the right care for your furry senior friend. As the name says, it's a "complete" and thorough guide with plenty of tips to help you help your dog live happily and healthily through their golden years.
A multi-dog owner and dog-writer from Ohio.

Amy Shojai's _Complete Care for Your Aging Dog_ is a fabulous book for all dog lovers. Not only is it a must-have reference -- meticulously researched, easy to navigate, excellent examples -- but it is filled with heart and soul and love, mirroring all the best characteristics of our beloved companion canines. This is a book written by someone who obviously *cares* about dogs and the people who share their lives with them; even if your dog is still young you'll benefit by reading it. Ms. Shojai demystifies the aging process and her L.O.V.E. program for health validates and puts into practical terms the intuitive sense we often have that something is just "not right" with our companion. Throughout the book, Ms. Shojai emphasizes partnering with your dog's veterinarian to help your dog realize optimum health and longevity. I can't recommend it highly enough!

This great new update includes information from previously interviewed specialists along with their current locations and affiliations in case you need to track them down. Going to specialists in many of the areas she covers allows Amy to include up to date, hard to find health information that can make life easier for you and your senior dog.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One deals with the whole aging process of your dog. Useful tips on nursing care, advanced care and in the end, making choices for your elderly pet are all dealt with in depth.

Chapter Three has a great acronym for senior dog care: L.O.V.E. The "L" stands for "Listen with your heart". You know your elderly dog better than anyone else. So your intuition will go off when your dog is "not right". Respect your instincts! "O" stands for "Observe for changes." Carefully observe your dog's behavior as well as obvious signs of ill health such as diarrhea. Is he suddenly reluctant to go down the stairs when it is dark out? Do you have to get up in the middle of the night to let him out? A diary or journal can be extremely helpful in tracking any changes for his health history.

For the letter "V" Amy has "Visit the Veterinarian". Most senior pets should have at least two physical exams a year. This exam should be a thorough checkup from nose to tail. Bloodwork and a urinalysis may be suggested as well. Letter "E" stands for "Enrich the environment". Nutrition, exercise, grooming and mental stimulation are all important facets of great care for your senior dog.

Part Two of the book is A to Z Health Concerns. Amy goes through a wide range of potential senior dog ailments. Each ailment or condition section lists senior symptoms and treatments from conventional to alternative as well as nursing care and comfort care suggestions. Recommendations include the latest in the field of geriatric canine health care.

Sprinkled throughout the book are many heart warming, occasionally heart wringing, "Golden Moments" with real life accounts of senior dogs. This is a book that should be on every dog lover's shelf as, sooner or later, you will have a senior dog in your life.

Review previously published on DogMedia Examiner.com

I'd highly recommend this wonderful book. Not only is it a valuable reference for my kindle, but an enjoyable read as well that will give you a new insight into your old canine friends. I've owned multiple dogs my entire life and I've been down the aging dog road many times before, but I've been surprised just how much I've learned from this book. I wish I'd had it years ago and I'm glad I have it now. There is much wisdom within and it's worth every penny.

This very well-written book has helped a lot of people and will help a lot more. It covers so much material that is of tremendous value with an aging dog.

No matter whether you consider your dog "old" or not, this is a good book for you to read. It will help you to notice things, to prepare for things, and to think ahead. After all, it's not "if" our dogs will get old and pass on, it's "when." Being better prepared will help you make things better for your dog. It will also make SO much difference in how you are able to deal with the dog's aging and with your loss.

It's also very helpful in making decisions. There are many decisions to make about an aging dog's care--more than there have ever been before, I think it is true to say.

I remember when a dog of mine was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma, and the process I went through on making decisions. My veterinarian is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful at dealing with me and my dogs. I've been going to him since the early 1970s, and he's still doing a fantastic job with my Standard Poodle assistance/service dog. The book also discusses dealing with veterinarians. Over the years my veterinarian has referred me to surgical specialists and others with specific situations. You want a veterinarian who will do that when it's the right thing to do.

Read this book. You'll be very glad you did.

This updated, revised version of the award-winning book provides all the must-knows of caring for your mature canine. The aging process is defined, with great advice about how to manage dimming senses, and understand while making accomodations for your dog's physical changes and emotional needs.

Step-by-step home care advice (pilling, fluid therapy, massage and more), insurance options, and help explaining to children the end-of-life issues are offered. The most common "old dog" issues (arthritis to cancer, deafness to heart and kidney failure, incontinence and obesity to reversing doggy senility) cover details about diagnosis, drug/nutritional/natural treatment options, and specialists to help owners are provided.

Unique to the Kindle edition, though, is an incredible value-added in the form of click-able "hot links" to online sources of dog care products, information, and the experts who were interviewed for the book. Bow-wow! My dog edited this book and gives it five paws up!