Birthday Dog

Today is our dog London's birthday; she's 13. We adopted her right before she turned five. She's in good health for an elderly dog, though she's had some issues over the past few months. She had a UTI which was taken care of with antibiotics. At the vet's suggestion we started giving her pain medication for arthritis in her hips. She was also a few pounds underweight, mainly because she had less of an appetite and wasn't eating her usual amount of food.

So we made some changes to her diet, starting with switching to the senior-dog version of the dry food we've been feeding her since we got her. That was already getting chicken broth added to it, but the Mrs. did some research into older dogs' nutritional needs and decided to supplement the dog food with "people food." Now her kibble gets mixed with chicken, sweet potato, rice, and broccoli that was cooked in a slow cooker, with the broth and a dollop of ricotta cheese plopped on top.

She's been eating this new regimen very enthusiastically for about three weeks now, with some tweaking of the amounts, and seems to have put back a couple of pounds (not that you'd be able to tell from the picture). I've also been adding milk to the "snack" I give her in the morning, which makes her gobble that right up most days, where before she used to ignore it all day. Overall she's perky again and seems much more like her old self. She's happy and comfortable, and that's what we want for her.