Lessons From Baby Blue

This is Baby Blue - our Blue Merle Collie who turned ten years old in August 2009.  Out of nowhere, Blue wasn't taking her daily walks, and then fell down 3 days in a row.  We knew something was very wrong.  When we brought her to the vet for a blood work up and X-Rays we learned that Blue has a herneated disk.  The best we could for for her was to help her to lose 10 pounds.  We've always been careful about how we feed her.  Now she's a senior and has slowed down to a point where it mattered.  We changed her diet according to the veterinarian's recommendations.  Decreasing dry dog food by one third, adding a cup of green beans didn't impress her very much.  Then, we entice her to eat by putting pieces of chicken breast at every meal.  As of her December check up, Blue had dropped 9.8 pounds. She isn't struggling as much to move around and has not fallen.  We keep her off the stairs as much as possible too avoid serious injury.  For 2010, I have decided to follow her lead.  I will substitute 1 cup filler vegetables for 1 cup - 1 serving of carbohydrate/protein and see what happens. Ten pounds is a good drop!