Posted on: Tuesday, January 9, 2007
The last word on how to keep your pet healthy
By Dr. Marty Becker
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
In the summer of 1998, Kathleen Gilligan and Chris Peck, who at the time served as the features editor and editor of The Spokesman-Review, a large regional newspaper in eastern Washington state and northern Idaho, traveled to Almost Heaven Ranch in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Their mission? To convince me to write a weekly pet feature in the newspaper's In Life section. I said no, too busy. I was resistant, but they were more persistent, and The Bond column had life breathed into it. Working with Gilligan (now Coleman) on The Bond was such a joy.
The column proved very popular, and we thought: If you can write for one paper, you could write the same column for several hundred.
Gilligan put me in touch with Mike Duggan of Knight Ridder Tribune (now McClatchy Tribune) in Washington, D.C., and they agreed to distribute my column to over 500 newspapers in North America. My first editor at KRT was Wendy Zang, who along the way was replaced by Karen Dinsenbacher. I loved working with them, and they remain close friends to this day.
In eight years, I've written hundreds of columns with one goal in mind: to help pets, people and my profession. It's now come time to say goodbye to all the pet-loving fans who've written, called, e-mailed or come up to me in the airport or on the streets to ask questions, introduced me to their pets, or just talk, pet lover to pet lover.
This will be my last column with the McClatchy-Tribune news service as I'm leaving to work with my coauthor and friend Gina Spadafori on a new newspaper feature called the Pet Connection.
I want to leave you with a list of the top seven things you can do to help your beloved pets live happier, healthier, fuller lives:
Dental care — Periodontal disease is the most commonly diagnosed problem in veterinary medicine and causes serious health problems. Sure, we want kissable breath, but more importantly, by taking good care of our pets' mouths (regular brushing, special dental diets, regular professional care) they'll live 15 percent longer, which is an average of two years. See www.avds-online.org.
Battle obesity — 50 percent of American pets are overweight or obese. We're killing them with kindness as these pudgy pets suffer from increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, cancer and skin problems. Keep your pet at its ideal body weight, and it will live 15 percent longer, amazingly, another two years of life! See www.petfit.com.
Socialization and behavioral training — Dogs that play well with other animals, like people, are well-behaved and are going to live a full life. Take them to socialization and basic obedience classes; consider these lifesaving classes, they're that important. See www.animalbehavior.net.
Feed the need and the breed — It's impossible for the average pet owner to weed through the tantalizing pet food ads and competing claims to know what to feed pets. Only your veterinarian is trained to look at your pet's age, breed, lifestyle, health status and emerging risks to determine the one food that should be in its bowl. Nothing you can do will affect your pet's longevity as much as what you feed it; and don't forget to keep pets on the slim side. Ask your veterinarian for a specific nutrition recommendation.
Parasite control — When I started practicing, external parasite control (for fleas and ticks) was like chemical warfare with dips, bombs, sprays, powders and collars. Treatment for internal parasites was hit and miss, and we saw many wormy dogs and dogs on death's doorstep from heartworm disease. Today, parasite control is simple, safe and effective with powerful once-a-month topical applications and pills that seemingly kill everything but the pet! Experts now recommend lifelong, year-round parasite control for all pets, regardless of geographic location, indoor vs. outdoor, etc. See www.capcvet.org.
Twice-yearly wellness visits — Pets age faster than humans, can't tell you when and where it hurts, and by nature hide their illnesses. I recommend people take their pets to the veterinarian for twice yearly wellness visits, during which time the veterinary healthcare team will do a complete physical, offer help with behavior problems, boost vaccines if necessary, alert you to emerging health problems and answer any questions. See www.npwm.com.
Let the vet run the tests — While a comprehensive physical exam is always the cornerstone of great medicine, veterinarians often recommend advanced diagnostics (blood work, urinalysis, fecal exams, radiographs, ultrasounds, skin scrapings, etc.) to identify health concerns before they become symptomatic and to provide you with a more accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. When your vet asks for permission to do tests, it's not a "want" it's a "need," so say yes. Because pets can't talk, veterinarians need the additional information to look past the obvious to catch things early on when they are more cost-effective to treat, in a period of grace, before they cause unnecessary pain or worse.
I look forward to meeting you again in many other places I frequent as a communicator: network and public television, radio, the Internet, magazines, newspapers, videos, seminars, book signings, maybe your home town. To keep up on what I'm doing and where I'll be, visit my Web sites: www.drmartybecker.com and www.petconnection.com.
I end with my favorite saying: There's only one greatest pet in the world, and everybody has it.
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