Cushing’s Disease in Dogs: The Signs I Missed in Cooper for 18 Months
I want to tell you about the eighteen months I spent explaining away Cooper’s symptoms. He started drinking more water around age nine. “He’s always been a drinker,” I told…
Best Dog Food for Senior Dogs: What I Changed After Cooper’s Diagnosis
For nine years, Cooper ate the same food. A well-regarded adult dry kibble, a reputable brand, the kind that comes in a 35-pound bag and feels like you’re doing right by your dog. He seemed…
Dog Anxiety: What Actually Works (I Tried CBD, Thunder Shirts, and Medication)
Cooper wasn’t anxious about most things. But thunderstorms — and to a lesser extent, fireworks — turned him into a different dog. He’d start pacing about twenty minutes before I could…
Dog Eye Health After 7: What’s Normal Cloudiness and What Isn’t
I noticed it on a Tuesday morning. Cooper was about nine years old, and I was looking at him in the backyard sunlight — the kind of low, angled morning light where you really see a dog’s face….
How to Brush Your Dog’s Teeth When They Hate It: The Method That Finally Worked
If you had asked me five years ago whether I brushed Cooper’s teeth, I would have laughed uncomfortably and changed the subject. The answer was no. I tried a few times when he was young —…
Senior Dog Ramps and Stairs: What Actually Helped Cooper’s Arthritis
The first time Cooper slipped trying to get onto the bed, I laughed. He was eight years old and had always leaped up with no problem — it just looked like a clumsy morning moment. The second time he…
How to Clean Your Dog’s Ears (And Prevent the $400 Infection I Kept Getting With Cooper)
Cooper had his first ear infection when he was four years old. Then another one at five. Then two in one year when he was seven. By the time he was ten, we were at the vet for ear infections so…
Dog DNA Testing: I Compared Embark vs Wisdom Panel on the Same Dog
When I brought Birch home — a scrappy little mixed-breed pup with floppy ears and an underbite — I swore I’d do things differently than I did with Cooper. Cooper was my 13-year-old Lab who…
Dog Weight Management: Why Even a Few Extra Pounds Is Serious After Age 5
I remember the moment a vet first told me Cooper was overweight. He was six. The vet did that thing where she pinches the ribs — I’d seen it done before but never really understood what she was…
Quality of Life Decisions: The Hardest Conversation You’ll Have With Your Vet
I am not going to pretend this is an easy post to write. It isn’t. It’s the post I needed to read before I had to have the conversation, and it’s the one I didn’t find when I…