It almost never starts with a diagnosis. It starts with a pause at the bottom of the stairs. A walk that turns for home half a block early. A bowl that sits full until dinner.
Nothing you would call an emergency. Nothing that shows up on a chart.
So you mention it at the annual visit, and you hear the sentence I have been hearing in exam rooms since 1973:
"Well, he is getting up there."
And that is usually where the conversation ends.
I have spent five decades refusing to let it end there. Here is what I tell every owner who sits down across from me with a dog on the far side of seven.
- Graduated #2 in his class at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, 1973
- Called the "Miracle Worker" by Forbes Magazine
- More than 50 years in integrative veterinary medicine
- Bestselling author of The Nature of Animal Healing and The Spirit of Animal Healing
- Seen on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Martha Stewart Show and Good Morning America
Fifty years of exam rooms, and a few television studios along the way.
"Old" is not a diagnosis.
Age is a number. It is not a disease, and it is certainly not a treatment plan.
When a seven year old dog slows down, something specific is happening inside that body. Joints. Digestion. Immune function. How well a meal actually gets absorbed instead of passing through. Every one of those is something you can act on.
"He is old" is not.
The dogs I have watched do best in the last third of their lives were not the ones with the best genes. They were the ones whose owners refused to file the slowdown under old age and went looking for the cause.
Look in the bowl before you look in the medicine cabinet.
Most dogs over seven in this country are still eating what they ate at two. Usually something dry that was cooked, pressed, dried, then coated and cooked again.
The average store-bought pet food is blasted with nutrient-destroying heat and often made with low-quality ingredients. That is an efficient way to manufacture a shelf-stable pellet. It is a poor way to hand raw material to a body that is already working harder to extract it.
The usual wayBlasted with nutrient-destroying heat, then rebuilt with synthetic vitamin and mineral powders.
Never KibbledGently freeze-dried instead, to help protect the nutrients that keep a dog trim, active and happy.
I am not asking you to start cooking. I am asking you to turn the bag around and read the first four ingredients.
If the first four are not things you would recognize on a cutting board, that is the first thing I would change. Before supplements. Before anything.
After seven, a dog does not need more food. It needs different food.
This is the one people argue with me about.
A seven year old dog and a two year old dog are not solving the same problem. The older one is working harder to hold onto muscle, to keep cartilage cushioned, to keep an immune system steady. Feeding it more of a formula built for a young dog does not fix any of that. Most of the time it just adds weight to joints that were already asking for a break.
What has to change is the raw material list. Real protein first, because holding muscle gets harder every year. Antioxidants, because the load goes up. And the specific compounds cartilage is actually built from.
Those three things are the whole reason I stopped recommending other people's food and made my own.
What I built for dogs on the far side of seven
It is called Nature's Blend Active Vitality. Freeze-dried raw, designed for dogs ages 7 and up. Turkey, beef, salmon and duck are the first four ingredients, and 79% of the formula is real premium cuts of meat.
Then two additions that are not in the formula for younger dogs: tart cherry, a natural source of antioxidants, and New Zealand green mussel, a rich source of glucosamine and chondroitin.
Designed for dogs ages 7 & up
Nature's Blend
Active Vitality
- 79% real premium cuts of meat. Turkey, beef, salmon and duck first.
- Tart cherry for antioxidants, New Zealand green mussel for glucosamine and chondroitin.
- Never Kibbled. Gently freeze-dried, never blasted with high heat.
- Zero artificial preservatives, additives, fillers or synthetic vitamin and mineral powders.
- Third-party tested for purity and potency, and freshly manufactured in North America.
16 oz bag. The lower price applies when you create a free Dr. Marty Pets account. Free shipping on US orders over $50.
See Active Vitalityon the official Dr. Marty Pets siteBacked by the 90 day "Your Dog Is Healthier Or It's Free" guarantee.
Every ingredient, in order
Guaranteed analysis
| Crude Protein (min) | 40% |
| Crude Fat (min) | 31% |
| Crude Fiber (max) | 4% |
| Moisture (max) | 6% |
| Calcium (min) | 0.5% |
| Omega-3 Fatty Acids (min)* | 2.5% |
| Calorie content | 227 kcal/cup |
*Not recognized as essential by AAFCO dog food nutrient profiles.
4.7 out of 5, from 330 reviews
on Nature's Blend Active Vitality. Over 20,000 five-star reviews across the Dr. Marty range.
What owners of older dogs actually report
Every review below is quoted word for word from the verified reviews published on drmartypets.com, with the owner's own photo.
"We have a 14 and a 15 year old Havanese. They were both slowing down and had some stiffness that the joint supplement we were giving didn't really seem to touch. I was a bit skeptical of all the reviews but I have to say, they began aging backwards when they started eating this food.
I thought our 15 year old probably wouldn't make it past the next few months, he was so tired and lethargic. The 14 year old had gotten grouchy and developed a stubborn limp.
Now they both run and play. They're much more comfortable in their movement, and their energy is almost back to when they were 9 or 10. It still shows that they're older dogs, but they're healthy, active older dogs who are clearly enjoying life again."
"He keeps getting younger!""My senior Aussie has been on Essential Wellness for several months and has been transformed. When the Active Vitality formula became available, I thought I would try it on him. Another large improvement! He is just so happy and playful that he seems to be aging backwards."
"My dog Milo, 17, had been eating Nature's Blend for years and we recently switched to Active Vitality. He definitely likes the flavor more than the other because he is more likely to eat it plain. Milo is a miniature poodle. He is blind and deaf but still enjoys his nightly walks (and sometimes runs), every night, around the block."
"Best of Dog Foods""This is the best dog food I've ever given my Golden Retriever, who is 13 years old. Within a week of giving him your food just as a topper to his kibble, his coat became thicker. He has had hip issues in the last couple of years, but is moving around more smoothly with less appearance of achiness since he started getting Dr. Marty's Nature's Blend."
"We have 2 sisters, some kind of Lab Mix. They both love this new formula and seem to have more energy since starting it. They will be 10 years old in Nov. and we adopted them from a rescue out of Houston TX. on Father's Day weekend in 2018. They came to us already named, Katy and Perry!"
"excellent food""I have a 9 year old Sheltie who has eaten frozen raw food since she was 8 weeks old. Recently, she has declined all of the options. I have been using Dr. Marty's as a topper and as healthy treats, but have now been using it as her meals. She is back to eating food without additional 'enticements' to encourage her to eat."
"Active Vitality""My dog, Luna loves her Nature's Blend Active Vitality! Luna is a rescue that came to live with 6 weeks ago. She is 8 years old and acts like a puppy."
The three questions I get every time
"It costs more than what I feed him now."
"My dog is the pickiest animal alive."
"And if nothing changes?"
90 days. Your dog is healthier or it is free.
Send back the unused portion any time within 90 days and get 100% of your purchase price refunded. That is the whole policy.
