Our Middle Aged Boxer...

 

      Lucy on one of our many hikes. 

Well, Lucy is now 9 years old and she is starting to show signs of being middle aged. While she still has a lot of heart, she is starting to slow down just a bit. I think this is mostly because of joint discomfort in her hips. 

In an effort to allow her more mobility and relieve joint pain, we've been very careful in helping her maintain a healthy weight. She is now down to a healthier 65 lbs. versus the 78 lbs. that she was at. In addition to weight management, we've put her on a glucosamine supplement. Before we started on the supplement, she would sometimes drag her rear back right leg. This got our immediate attention. The glucosamine seems to have helped her regain quite a bit of flexibility. 

We've also placed her on a daily doggy aspirin routine. She gets a dose of 160 mg. aspirin twice a day. One tablet in the morning and one before she goes to bed at night. This too seems to help her flexibility. I say doggie aspirin because it comes from the Vet and tastes like liver. Yes, I tried one! Not bad!!! Even the glucosamine has a nice taste - if you are a dog! 

Since we live in fairly hilly terrain, we are very careful in where we take her on our hikes together. We stop a little more often than we use to in order for her to cool down and take a break. I learned this the hard way one day when we over did it just a bit and Lucy insisted that we either stop or I carry her home. I did a bit of both. I think she got overly excited in the first part of walk and over did it on a rather warm day. That leads me to another topic...

Boxers aren't equipped with the best cooling system. Due to their shorter snouts they can overheat in a hurry if you aren't careful. We tend to pick cooler times of the day to hike with Lucy. The cooler the better. You can see in the picture we also keep a coat handy for comfort on the cooler mornings and evenings. 

If you would like more information on the supplement and aspirin, drop me a note and I'll be happy share where you can find what we are giving Lucy. Until next time, cioa! 

Lucy has an allergy problem…

Wow, since we moved to Colorado this past spring, Lucy has been experiencing some allergy-related issues.  The symptoms include tearing of the eyes accompanied by occasional episodes of the sensitive stomach because of drainage.  We’ve tried to identify what is causing the episodes but we have not found the culprit yet.  So what do we do to treat the issues that she is experiencing?

What we have found that works to stave off the symptoms, is a common household allergy medication, e.g., Benadryl or a generic product containing diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl.  We find that this works very nicely.  After speaking with the Vet, she suggested that we give Lucy two tablets once in the morning and then two more tablets in the evening to ensure that drainage is reduced and her stomach is relieved of mucus which causes stomach issues.  So far this has been an effective treatment. 

In addition to the Benadryl, we monitor Lucy’s diet extremely closely.  We actually have her on a more humanlike schedule with meals, feeding her breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She gets about one and a third cups of sensitive stomach dog food that she loves at each meal.  As long as we don’t expose her to a treatment involving human food she does well, i.e., no throwing up and no grazing on grass.  I’ve actually seen her eat grass like a cow to either settle her stomach or produce vomit to relieve stomach pressure.

To sum things up, Lucy is enjoying her new home here in Colorado.  She is having a great time hiking and roaming around her new environment.  She’s even made friends with a couple Mule Deer that hang around the property.  They have great starring competitions.  Allergies are a fact of life for her here but she responds to the medication that we provide her and she seems to take the issues in stride.  Not much slows her down.  

While looking up natural remedies for Lucy's issues we did come across one author that seems to be based on natural treatments for ailments such as Lucy's. I'd like to get someone else's opinion on this. We purchased the book and seems to be straight forward. Click here to examine it yourself.

Thanks

Don’t let your boxer get too much sun!

I just read an interesting article discussing the fact that boxers are particularly prone to the development of mast cell tumors, lymphoma and brain tumors. The white boxer and colored boxers with white markings should be protected from the sun as they are liable to develop skin cancer if allowed to burn. This hit me like a ton of bricks!


Lucy is an incredibly active boxer. We’ve known about the sun burn issue for some time but never knew that she was predisposed to skin cancer until recently. We try to monitor the amount of outdoors activity that she receives but it is difficult at times. We actively try to protect and guard against sunburn. One safeguard we’ve used in the past and still use when available is spray on sunblock, especially when we’re going to have her outdoors on trips or hikes. This seems to be working thus far.

Our daughter’s boxer Matty, has had some issues with mast cell tumors. She possesses a splash of white but not to the extent of being what is known as a bright boxer (boxers possessing a white splash covering more than 20% of their body mass). Matty is screened regularly and is currently undergoing treatment for the decease and is responding quite well as of this posting.

The bottom line of this post, I guess, is to make folks aware of the predisposition of boxer to the decease of cancer. Boxers should be screened for all types of cancer on a regular basis. There are tests that can be performed on boxers for all types of congenital predispositions. Breeders should perform these tests on all dogs that they are considering breeding. Regardless, get your boxer screened for cancer on regular intervals.

Lucy - a stranger in a newland...

High everyone, just wanted to give you an update on Lucy.  Lucy is now six years old and is doing well.  We recently relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado due my changing jobs.  Lucy is adapting well to her new environment here in Colorado.  She no longer has the big yard in Memphis to run around in but she's getting plenty of exercise due to hikes and long walks that we take to keep her fit.

Lucy is fully mature now and doesn't seem to be slowing down much.  We keep a keen eye out for any signs of illness or decease that boxer's are prone to have.  She still has the occational ear infection but we try to keep her ears clean.  We do a thorough cleaning about two to three times a month, which seems to keep the ear problems at bay.  I'll keep you updated on any future issues with Lucy's ears. 

Well that's about it for now.  We should be closing on a new dog house for Lucy sometime in the near future.  I'll post some pictures once we get settled in.  If you have any questions about Lucy or boxer dog issues, feel free to make a post.  I'd really like to hear from you and perhaps have a discussion or two on the blog.