Thursday, March 28, 2024

DEAR FRANKIE Focus on health: TLC or overkill?

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DEAR FRANKIE

Focus on health: TLC or overkill?

GENEVA WOODRUFF

Frankie is a rescue dog and emotional support animal for Geneva Woodruff. Woodruff is a retired educator.

Dear Frankie,

I’m concerned that my mom is over-focused on my health. Once a month, she gives me pills to prevent heartworm, fleas and ticks. I’m OK with that; no one wants heartworms or Lyme Disease.

I also get a daily medicine chew for my hips and joints that tastes terrible. I won’t eat it unless it is smothered in something edible. My mom coats it with peanut butter. She thinks she is fooling me, but whatever, nothing like a peanut butter snack.

She insists on cooking my food. She says you can’t trust the dog food companies. Every time there is a recall for a toxic ingredient, she posts it on Facebook. She wants her friends to see what she has been telling them all along.

My food is cooked weekly and divided into 14 meals. She insists that two meals a day are necessary for good digestion.

A typical meal is an organic chicken seasoned with a pinch of salt (dogs need sodium), mixed with a powdered vitamin supplement, and fresh green beans.

When it comes to exercise, she is a fanatic. I go to doggie daycare four days a week for strength training and yoga classes.

I won’t go into the monthly grooming appointments or semi-annual physicals, dental exams, and cleaning.

Don’t you agree that her focus on my health is a bit of overkill?

Signed,

Marcia

Dear Marcia,

I agree that the monthly pills are essential. Excellent work on the peanut butter snack.

What’s your beef otherwise? Delicious home-cooked meals twice a day sound like heaven to me. It beats food poisoning.

Probably grooming every six weeks is sufficient. Nothing worse than a dog with matted and smelly hair.

If it’s the exercise that gets you, what’s so bad? In your golden years, you can look back on the years you looked like a canine goddess.

I do think the teeth cleaning twice a year is a bit much. Anesthesia shouldn’t be taken lightly and should be avoided whenever possible, especially in your twilight years.

Maybe it’s time for a new vet. When the vet walks in to examine you at your next appointment, growl, bark, and whine, maybe your mom will get the hint.

Best,

Frankie