How do We Give Our Dogs the Best Chance at a Long Life

Marty and Laura walk through best practices for giving our pets the best chance for a long life.

Our hosts share their experiences with losing dogs in old and young ages, while providing detailed recommendations to help our pets live long, productive lives.

“So preventive care is going to be probably the most important,” Marty said. “And that means routine blood work. That means routine dental cleanings, that means the right nutrition.

“There's some really important things that we can do for (our pets) that are pretty simple and pretty straightforward. They're not always easy, but they're pretty straightforward.

“I think going in for a routine blood work, people are like, ‘ohh, I don't need any, he's fine.’ No, you're going to be surprised at what kind of things we can find and preemptively get ahead of whether it's kidneys, whether it's liver function issues, whether it's heartworm disease or some of the tick borne diseases, other disorders that we can see. So if you're veterinarian says, ‘I think we should do blood work this year and it's usually an annual thing then you should go up and down with your head and say yes, yes, I think we should do that.”

Marty continues with food recommendations, why dogs should be crated in a car, weight management and more.

Working through final decisions about our pets is incredibly emotional.

“My favorite current book is Promises to My Pet,” Marty said. “It was written by a social worker who wanted to help people go through the process to let their pet go. And basically they go in and you can take pictures from your dog when it was young and you could put all kinds of things in there. But essentially what you're doing is you're promising your dog or your cat that you are not extending their life beyond what you think would be reasonable.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.