Book Review: Young at Heart

A Fair Trade Book

Title: Young at Heart

Author: David Alderton

Date: 2007

Publisher: Readers Digest / Toucan

ISBN: 978-0-7621-0679-0

Length: 155 pages plus 4-page index

Illustrations: full-color photos

Quote: “This book has a wealth of useful information to keep your pet healthy and young at heart.”

The subtitle is 120 Things You Can Do Right Now to Give Your Older Dog a Longer Healthier Life. Readers may be relieved to learn that not all of these things are relevant to every dog. This book discusses basics like vaccinations, grooming, and exercise, and also specific treatments for conditions your dog may never have.

Some diseases are common among aging dogs of specific types or breeds. At one point Alderton interjects that although a lot of diseases are common among police-type dogs, this does not mean that the German Shepherd is a particularly sickly breed; rather, it's a popular breed that people try hard to keep healthy for as much active service as possible, so more is known about the geriatric care of police dogs than of other types. Though big dogs generally seem to age faster than small dogs, the breeds discussed in this book tend to be relatively healthy.

Information includes a fine-tuned vet's guide to the relative rate at which dogs and humans typically age, more precise than the traditional “one year for a dog corresponds to seven years for a human.” Giant dogs (over 100 pounds) have the medical profiles of middle-aged humans when they're three years old, geriatric humans when they're six years old, and abnormally long-lived humans if they reach nine years old. Small dogs, like cats, can be considered “older” at seven years and “old” after ten years, but it's not all that uncommon for them to live fifteen or twenty years.

So many vets, and animal haters disguised as animal rescuers, tout surgical sterilization for every pet that it's refreshing to see a veterinarian admit that spaying and neutering can have minus as well as plus points. For geriatric dogs, however, the pros may outweigh the cons. Dogs, like cats, don't necessarily lose fertility with age, as humans do. Geriatric pets can still have puppies or kittens if unaltered, but their risk for various complications and diseases increases with age. Both spayed and unspayed female dogs sometimes develop uterine infections that can usually be treated with antibiotics, but spayed females develop them less often. Both neutered and unaltered males sometimes get into serious fights (even females sometimes do), but sterilized dogs fight seriously less often. Pets sterilized at an early age are likely to remain active and keep their figures (if not encouraged to overeat), but those sterilized later in life often do become sluggish and obese. So, an honest, not greedy, vet may recommend that a healthy dog who's produced healthy pups in the past be sterilized at some point between four and ten years old, based on the dog's genetic profile and medical history, and that dog's human should take particular care to prevent (or reduce) obesity.

Alderton also discusses the variety of new treatments and adaptive devices available to aging dogs. In the real world some vets and dog owners still feel that when a dog's medical problems are beyond curing with antibiotics or even with home remedies the dog should be replaced as quickly and humanely as possible, but others are willing to try “physical therapy” and mobility-boosting devices for mobility-impaired dogs, dental surgery for dogs with damaged teeth, hormone supplements for dogs with glandular diseases, and more. Young at Heart provides an extensive survey of things these people have tried, apparently on the premise that any treatment available to humans ought to have a canine equivalent, and found effective in real life.

You might expect a book about veterinary medicine to be a gross-out. If so, you'll be pleasantly surprised by Young at Heart. It's designed to be a coffee table book that appeals to the eyes of people who don't even live with dogs, or want to. Almost every page contains a charming, inspirational photo of an old dog, or dogs—frolicking in meadows, splashing in water, “smiling” at the camera, “shaking hands” with humans, being petted...and the text is bland enough to sustain the cheerful mood.

At least it sustains a cheerful mood up to chapter seven, “Journey's End,” about the inevitable end of an old dog's life. Even here, though, Alderton tries to focus on “Moving Forward...to try to do something positive rather than just feeling depressed.” Only for humans who believe they are too old, themselves, to adopt a new dog does he recommend becoming a dog walker or a dog foster care provider—and even to them he says, “You could also look into adopting an older dog.”

Fine-tuning a senior-to-senior pet adoption plan seems a bit macabre to this reviewer, but geriatric pets are more likely than young adult animals to be legitimately placed in shelters, less likely to be adopted...and easy for imaginative older humans to relate to. It's also often observed that, although the way some humans sentimentalize old age is probably unique, some young adult animals will respect a geriatric animal where they'd be more likely to compete and quarrel with one closer to their age.

Well. There are several reasons why that “A puppy—any old puppy—to take the place of Nero!” reaction should be recognized as part of the grieving process, and then set aside. (Carol Ryrie Brink's child characters indulged that reaction in the only situation where it's ever been useful; their dog Nero was lost, not dead, and he found his way home.) Human families need a substitute to do the job the dog (or cat) used to do. Other dogs and cats need homes. Of course no other dog will ever “take the place of Nero,” or whomever you lost; what a ridiculous idea. The new dog will have its very own personality and will take its own place in your life.

For anyone living with an old dog, this web site warmly recommends Dave Barry's idea of adopting a Small Emergency Backup Dog. Size is less important than age, and the idea that the junior dog will be there to mitigate the misery of saying goodbye to the senior dog. (Works with cats, too.) If your pet is five years old, or more, get a spring puppy or kitten now.

Meanwhile, Young at Heart is a useful “companion” for any family that includes an old dog and its human. (It came to me from a Dog Sanctuary that has loved and placed several old dogs.)

Another type of reader may need this book even more. This is the person who wants to adopt a homeless dog. Recognizing that young healthy shelter animals, especially the ones that are or look like fancy breeds, have often been stolen from loving homes whereas elderly shelter animals have often been put up for adoption by people with disabilities, this person allows shelter staff to introduce him or her to “Our Pet of the Week,” a geriatric animal. The animal has an appealing face and approaches the prospective adopter in a charming manner. Then a series of “Yes, but...” thoughts begins.

Young at Heart is the book you need. It acknowledges all of those “Yes, but...” thoughts, and shows you, with dozens of examples, that the problems of adopting an older animal are surmountable. For sweet old dogs with damaged hind legs, there are dog wheelchairs! Most older pets don't suffer from degenerative diseases, though; they go on being pets, only slightly less energetic, less perceptive, and more vulnerable, into the geriatric stage of their life spans, and then leave this world quickly. Geriatric dogs often, though not always, develop especially endearing personalities; hence George Burns' venture into "country" music with the song about "only three things in this world that are worth a solitary dime: Old dogs, and children, and watermelon wine."

By way of criticism of this book, I'd suggest that Alderton might have said more about the importance of having bonded with your junior pet before your senior pet's life ends. I've known several house pets who had looked so comfortable, snoozing in a favorite corner, for so many years that their humans were unprepared for the day when Flopsy just didn't wake up. Some of the information in this book, about dogs' hereditary vulnerabilities and what's being learned about preventive care, can improve the odds that your senior pet will enjoy a long semi-retired old age...so you really need a junior pet too.

According to Bing, David Alderton is alive and well--although he's British, and this book has been edited to sound American. Whatever. Since he's alive, Young at Heart is a Fair Trade Book. Beautiful glossy coffee-table book though it is, it can be purchased here for $5 per book plus $5 per package (two copies would fit into a package) plus $1 per online payment, from which we'll send $1 to Alderton or the charity of his choice.