Dog dental health, longevity research, and what I wish I had known before Cooper.
When my golden retriever Cooper started limping at age 7, my vet mentioned Adequan injections as a potential treatment option. Adequan is a prescription injectable medication (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan, or PSGAG) that works differently from pain relievers — it actually helps rebuild damaged cartilage in arthritic joints rather than just masking symptoms. After Cooper passed from […]
When my vet first suggested laser therapy for Cooper’s arthritis, I thought it sounded like expensive pseudoscience. But after digging through veterinary research and talking to dog owners who’d actually tried it, I learned that cold laser therapy is one of the few alternative treatments with solid clinical backing—though whether it’s worth the cost depends
When my golden Cooper started gaining weight despite eating less, sleeping more than usual, and developing a dull, thinning coat, I knew something was wrong. After blood work, our vet diagnosed hypothyroidism—one of the most common hormonal disorders in middle-aged and senior dogs. If your dog is showing unexplained lethargy, weight gain, or skin changes,
When Cooper, my golden retriever, turned seven, I made a mistake that still haunts me: I kept pushing him on our usual three-mile runs because he seemed fine. By eight, he was limping. By nine, his arthritis was severe, and we lost him to cancer shortly after. If I’d known then what I know now
When I first heard about elk velvet antler supplements for senior dogs, I was skeptical—it sounded like something out of traditional Chinese medicine rather than evidence-based veterinary care. But after Cooper started slowing down at age 8, I dove into the research, and what I found surprised me: there’s actual science behind this supplement, though
NMN supplements for dogs are gaining attention in the longevity space, but right now, there’s no strong evidence they’ll extend your dog’s lifespan. After losing my golden retriever Cooper at just nine years old, I’ve spent countless hours researching anything that might help dogs live longer, and NMN sits in that promising-but-unproven category. The science
Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I’ve researched thoroughly and would consider for my own dogs. When Cooper was diagnosed with oral melanoma at age seven, I went down every rabbit hole
Affiliate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I’ve researched and would consider for my own dogs. When Cooper was alive, I fed him a boutique grain-free food for about two years. I’d done
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, dogagewell.com earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon products are affiliate links at no extra cost to you. If your dog has just been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), I know how overwhelming that moment feels. As a veterinarian who has worked with hundreds of senior dogs and
Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of these links, Dog Age Well may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we believe are genuinely helpful for dogs. There is a particular moment that many senior-dog owners describe to me —