The Forever Dog
Surprising New Science to Help Your Canine Companion Live Younger, Healthier, and Longer
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4.5 • 15 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller
In this pathbreaking guide, two of the world’s most popular and trusted pet care advocates reveal new science to teach us how to delay aging and provide a long, happy, healthy life for our canine companions.
Like their human counterparts, dogs have been getting sicker and dying prematurely over the past few decades. Why? Scientists are beginning to understand that the chronic diseases afflicting humans—cancer, obesity, diabetes, organ degeneration, and autoimmune disorders—also beset canines. As a result, our beloved companions are vexed with preventable health problems throughout much of their lives and suffer shorter life spans. Because our pets can’t make health and lifestyle decisions for themselves, it’s up to pet parents to make smart, science-backed choices for lasting vitality and health.
The Forever Dog gives us the practical, proven tools to protect our loyal four-legged companions. Rodney Habib and Karen Becker, DVM, globetrotted (pre-pandemic) to galvanize the best wisdom from top geneticists, microbiologists, and longevity researchers; they also interviewed people whose dogs have lived into their 20s and even 30s. The result is this unprecedented and comprehensive guide, filled with surprising information, invaluable advice, and inspiring stories about dogs and the people who love them.
The Forever Dog prescriptive plan focuses on diet and nutrition, movement, environmental exposures, and stress reduction, and can be tailored to the genetic predisposition of particular breeds or mixes. The authors discuss various types of food—including what the commercial manufacturers don’t want us to know—and offer recipes, easy solutions, and tips for making sure our dogs obtain the nutrients they need. Habib and Dr. Becker also explore how external factors we often don’t think about can greatly affect a dog’s overall health and wellbeing, from everyday insults to the body and its physiology, to the role our own lifestyles and our vets’ choices play. Indeed, the health equation works both ways and can travel “up the leash.”
Medical breakthroughs have expanded our choices for canine health—if you know what they are. This definitive dog-care guide empowers us with the knowledge we need to make wise choices, and to keep our dogs healthy and happy for years to come.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Dogs are dying prematurely of more chronic disease than ever before," warn animal health activist Habib and veterinarian Becker (Dr. Becker's Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats) in this must-read guide for canine owners. Their DOGS formula for optimal dog health consists of "Diet and nutrition, Optimal movement, Genetic predispositions, and Stress and environment." The authors draw parallels to health risks common in humans: obesity, for example, is dangerous for pets and can often result in heart disease and diabetes. Exercise is also essential for dogs' longevity, because they "need to move their bodies every day, and the type of exercise depends on your dog's personality, body, and age." The authors are wary of kibble and dog biscuits, instead suggesting a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, and raw meat, and for a pooch's environment they recommend cultivating a "rich social life for them" with a group of dog friends. Habib and Becker go deep and share plenty of scientific data (on dogs' microbiomes, aging, and epigenomes) along the way. For readers looking to keep tails wagging for as long as possible, this is a no-brainer.
