Leida Visee
DVM CVA CVC CVNN
Caring for your canine
Let’s work on your dog’s future
Leida Visee
Caring for your canine
Let’s work on your dog’s future
Calm, practical guidance for the dogs we love as they grow older
With more than 30 years of veterinary experience, I help dogs and their humans navigate the second half of life with more clarity, comfort and confidence.
How I support dogs and their people
Aging brings change, and those changes are not always easy to interpret. Some are subtle. Some overlap. Some may be signs of discomfort or pain.
Over the past 30 years, I have helped dogs and their humans navigate this stage with greater understanding and confidence. For the past 20 years, my veterinary work has focused mainly on complementary care, including acupuncture, chiropractic, herbs and nutrition.
I have seen how much we can do to support comfort, resilience and quality of life. I also know, through life with my own dogs, how beautiful and how difficult this stage can be.
My work is here to help you understand your dog more deeply, notice changes sooner, and support them in gentle, practical ways.
Here are three ways I can help
Insight Timer
Insight Timer is a free meditation and wellbeing app where I share gentle audio tracks for both you and your dog, with a focus on aging, comfort and connection.
E-books
Clear, practical and trustworthy guidance to help you recognise change, support wellbeing and care for your dog with confidence.
Happy canines
What is enrichment?
Enrichment is, simply put: making life more challenging and less boring. Older dogs often have to miss out more and more on fun things because moving isn’t as easy anymore, walking and exercising become more difficult, and/ or because ears and eyes gradually begin to fail. We can help by providing stimulating activities that the dog is still able to do. And that amazing dog nose is usually as strong as ever!
An example of an activity which is usually pretty easy to do is hiding treats/ kibble in a cardboard box. You can create endless variations on this! Start easy with an open, empty box and show your dog that you are sprinkling some treats in there. And then it’s snack time! Then gradually you can increase the challenge by closing the box a bit or by putting crumpled paper balls in the box for the dog to dig through. Build up the difficulty level slowly and make sure the dog continues to be successful in finding the treats. Destroying the box at the end of the game can also be part of the fun!
This is just a very simple example – there are so many more possibilities. The course covers them in detail!
Fruit
Did you know that blueberries are one of the top antioxidant foods? Wild blueberries in particular are packed with nutrients that we, as well as our dogs, desperately need.
Antioxidants are substances that help neutralize harmful molecules called free radicals. Free radicals enter the body through for example metabolism, but also through exposure to pollution and so on. Too many free radicals in the body can contribute to serious diseases such as cancer and intestinal problems.
Antioxidants can help prevent or reduce these harmful effects. They also strengthen the immune system and can slow down the aging process.
Most dogs tolerate blueberries well, and many dogs love them. If your dog won’t eat them out of your hand, you can simply add them to his food, mashing them up a bit if necessary.
Pro tip: buy frozen blueberries, which is much cheaper and more practical than fresh blueberries. Your dog won’t notice.
Giving blueberries is just one of the many ways we can use nutrition to support the older dog. In the course we will explore this in detail!
! If your dog suffers from food allergies, or has a serious intestinal condition, please first consult with your veterinarian whether blueberries are okay to give to your dog.
Use it so you don’t lose it
Older dogs often lose muscle strength, especially in the hindquarters. In the course we will discuss in detail different ways to maintain muscle strength for as long as possible, and even build it up again.
A simple exercise which almost any dog can perform, is to stand with the front paws on a small elevated target no higher than the dog’s wrist. This can be anything, depending on your dog’s size: a bathroom stool, a shelf, a book. As long as it is sturdy and not slippery. Your dog should not be able to slip on this target, and the target itself should not be able to slide along the ground. You can always start at a low level and make it higher later.
Put your target, between you and your dog, and see if he is willing to put his front paw on the target in exchange for a treat. If he finds this a bit stressful, you can first let him get used to the target by putting the treat on it and letting him eat the treat off it. This will usually work just fine. Above all, don’t rush, build up slowly until he no longer finds the target scary. And when he does put his paws on it, the treat is the reward – and praise him for doing well, of course!
Next, let your dog stand with his front paws on the target for a few seconds, and then gently coax him away from it with a treat. Don’t let him make any wild jumps! The weight shift puts the hind legs and back muscles to work.
If your dog can do this easily, you can also move the treat a little to the left and right while he is standing with his paws on the target, which will engage the abdominal muscles as well.
Reviews Insight Timer
What a beautiful & healing meditation. I listened with my dog and we both enjoyed it immensely.
This track is so beautiful. I sat on the sofa & listened with my 7 year old lab Indi and we both visibly relaxed. Thank you for this.
What a lovely start to the day for us both! 🌞🐶🙏
This was a brilliant & informative track. I learnt so much listening to this. I’m going to listen again & take notes. Thanks Leida!
A perfect way to connect with your senior dog and then remember them when when they are gone. Thank you so much.