Lot’s of esercise = no medicatin for the dog!

I know, another post about my awesome lab but I needed to post another one today:)  I have had my dog at every 6 month appointment, religiously since she was born and last year she ended up on thyroid medication due to excess weight gain.  I have always been good about getting her outside and walking but last year she seemed to gain a lot of weight and they were actually finding fat deposits in her blood work, which can kill a dog only after a few years.  I was not OK with that so we put her on a small dose of thyroid medicine and it took her down about 5 pounds and she was better, but I hated giving her medication every day.

We moved into a smaller house but it has a yard 4 times bigger and she LOVES it!  My dog was an inside dog.  I am one of those dog people that treats my dog like one of my kids, I love her to know end.  I can’t keep her in the house now with this new yard and we love going outside everyday and playing with her.  Our last yard was small and had a 6 foot retaining wall on half of it, with no fence so I did not go out much with the kids, we had to depend on the daily walk for 30 minutes around the neighborhood.

Since we moved into this house 5 months ago I noticed my Shadow Belle looking too skinny and I got worried and took her off her medication about 3 months ago.  She has stayed lean and trim but does not look “ribby” anymore.  I took her to the vet for her 6 month check up tomorrow, and I did not tell them she was NOT on her m eds anymore, and to give her the normal thyroid test.  The Vet’s exact words “Shadow’s thyroid is perfect & so is her weight, so keep her on the does of thyroid she is on.”  My response “Shadow has not been on the medicine for about 3 months.”  The Vet “Oh, I guess she does not need it anymore, really, no medicine eh?”  Me “No because we have a huge back yard now and she refuses to come inside.”

I always worry that doctors like to keep people and animals medicated because of the $ involved so I did not want to tell them initially that she was not taking the medication anymore.  Not saying that this Vet is like that but better to be safe then sorry.

The moral to my story?  Well…my dog is getting 200% more exercise then she was before, so yes the thyroid meds were helping her initially but I love to see her healthy and un-medicated better!

I should have been walking her 60 minutes every day before rather then 30 minutes as who knows, this could have stopped the excess weight gain in the beginning.  I was pregnant a lot during that 4 years of her life and always sick so I know this had something to do with it.  I am so happy that she is healthy now though!