Dear Dr. Forsythe,
My husband insists our dog is the stupidest animal he has ever known. Don’t get me wrong, he loves “Cupid” very much, but he swears he is just not bright. We have had other dogs in the past, but this little French Bulldog doesn’t even seem to know his own name! Could it be that traveling with him from SF to Sonoma every week confuses him? Is there something we could give him to boost his brain power?
Sincerely,
Frenchie’s Mom
Dear Frenchie’s Mom,
French Bulldogs tend to be pretty quick mentally and easy to train, so I’m surprised little “Cupid” isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. It goes without saying that based on his breed alone, Cupid must be downright adorable with his smashed in face and fruit-bat appearance. But his intellectual ability is limited by his genetics I’m afraid. I also doubt there is much you can do to sharpen his intellect. A good high quality diet and proper exercise are important to his physical and mental health, though.
I just hope neither you nor your husband got a bulldog for his smarts – because the Scripps Spelling Bee is not likely in his future. As long as he’s house trained, good natured, and happy and has a good quality of life, it doesn’t seem to me to be a problem that he’s dumber than a door knob, now does it? As Jay Leno said on Tonight: “A Canadian psychologist is selling a video that teaches you how to test your dog’s IQ. Here’s how it works, if you spend $12.99 for the video, your dog is smarter than you!”
Thanks for writing in.
Dr. F
Dear Dr. Forsythe,
Our cat Irma just turned 12. Almost on the day of her birthday she went from being an active, playful pet to very quiet and lethargic. There doesn’t seem to be anything specifically wrong—she still eats and drinks and sleeps on our bed at night. It just almost seems like she suddenly aged 10 years overnight. What could be going on?
From,
Irma’s Dad
Dear Dad
Any time a normally active and energetic cat suddenly has less energy and enthusiasm, I recommend having things checked out. Something serious could be happening that could cause a loss of energy, such as infection, metabolic disease or a tumor. However, aging can also occur in “fits and starts” and it could be that Irma is feeling more old and frail and needs more rest than before. Garrison Keillor says, “Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.” It does sound like at this point Irma’s function is to keep you a little worried, so I’d recommend you have a senior panel done on her to make sure her blood, urine and x-rays look OK—just good preventative medicine to be on the safe side.
Dr. F
