|
 |
 |
 |
|
Senior Dog Healthcare
Dogs age many times faster than humans do, and major health changes can develop in your pet in a short amount
of time. That’s why a wellness exam every six months is
essential to your senior’s well-being, and why an understanding of the health problems likely to affect your dog in his later years can help you detect signs of illness earlier, seek treatment faster, and possibly prolong your pet’s life.
Visiting the Vet
If you already have a vet you know and trust, there’s no need to change your primary practitioner as your dog ages, but you may need to see a specialist for a particular problem. Most good vets are used to older pets, but if you’re uncertain, ask if anyone on the staff at your vet’s office has
additional education in geriatric veterinary medicine.
If your dog is a new adoptee and you don’t have a vet, take the following into consideration when selecting one:
- Location: Don’t travel an hour to a vet’s office when another good one is only ten minutes away. In an emergency, a few minutes of travel time can make the difference between life and death.
- Hours: Check to see if the office is open at hours that are convenient for you. Clinics that are closed on weekends and evenings should have a backup office.
- The facility: The office should be clean and have a friendly staff that’s knowledgeable about geriatric dogs.
-
Equipment and procedures: While not every vet office can perform every medical procedure, most can do X-rays, ultrasound, acupuncture, laser surgery, behavioral therapy, endoscopy, electrocardiograms, and blood work. The vet you choose should provide many different services.
The Geriatric Screening
Once your dog becomes a senior, start taking him to the vet once every six months for a geriatric screening, even if he seems perfectly healthy. The screening includes:
- A thorough, hands-on physical exam
- Blood tests
- Electrocardiogram (measures heart function)
- Urinalysis and a fecal exam
- Other specialized tests, depending on your dog’s health history
If your dog has been ill recently, you should take him to the vet for a recheck exam to see what progress (if any) he has made toward recovery. Even if your dog appears healthy following an illness, your vet may still want to check your dog’s blood or urine to make sure. Dogs with chronic diseases are especially in need of this follow-up care.
Signs of Illness
If your senior dog shows any signs of illness, you should take him to the vet at once to determine the underlying cause. Symptoms to watch for include:
- Aggression or other behavioral changes
- Black, tarry stools
- Breathing difficulty or coughing
- Changes in the appearance of the eyes (red, inflamed, cloudy, bulging)
- Diarrhea or vomiting
- Difficulty moving
- Difficulty urinating
- Extreme lethargy
- Severe pain
- Sudden loss of weight or appetite
- Unexplained lumps or bumps
Vaccinations
While nobody questions the importance of vaccines for puppies, their efficacy, safety, and even necessity for senior dogs is a matter of debate. Some research indicates that the immune systems of older dogs aren’t as effective as those of younger dogs, and some people believe that seniors may benefit from more frequent vaccinations than their younger counterparts.
If you adopt a senior dog and don’t know his vaccination history, your vet may recommend that he be vaccinated all over again. This is a wise precaution. But when considering revaccinating a senior dog you already had vaccinated at a young age, discuss the options with your veterinarian. Most vaccinations are given in early puppyhood, but they last for years. This means that your senior dog, if he has been vaccinated as a young adult, may retain some of his immunity to the disease for which he was vaccinated.
What to Vaccinate Against
The illnesses that might require vaccination depend on several factors:
- Lifestyle: Seniors who spend lots of time with other dogs or are boarded often are most at risk for communicable diseases. A single senior who stays at home and doesn’t have much interaction with other dogs is less at risk for a disease.
- Location: Certain diseases are more common in some areas than in others. It’s not necessary to vaccinate your dog against a disease that doesn’t occur where you live.
- Your vet’s protocol: Different vets have different theories about what vaccines senior dogs should have and how often they should receive them. Some believe that senior dogs don’t benefit from revaccination, while others contend that the senior immune system is weaker and needs boosting. Talk with your vet about her protocol.
Age-Related Illnesses and Conditions
While dogs of any age can fall prey to disease, older dogs are at greater risk for many illnesses. Their joints are stiffer, their muscles are weaker, and their teeth are in worse shape than those of puppies or younger adults. Their internal organs are less efficient, and they have more trouble regulating their body temperature. Older dogs also have fewer resources to fight off infections and other diseases common to all dogs. The good news is that with excellent preventive care, good nutrition, and plenty of love, your dog can prosper well into old age.
The following are diseases and conditions commonly
associated with old age in dogs. All of these ailments require veterinary attention for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Cancer
Cancer is a very common ailment among old dogs: it accounts for about half of the deaths of dogs over 10 years of age. However, this doesn’t mean that all cases are hopeless or that there is nothing
you can do should your
dog develop cancer.
General symptoms of cancer include a sore that does not heal, an unexplained lump (especially one increasing in size),
appetite loss or other eating problems, breathing difficulty, and weight loss.
Most of the time, the cause of cancer is unknown and so is not possible to prevent, but there are three basic methods of treating cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation (usually with X-rays). Often a combination of these methods is used. If your dog develops cancer, talk with your vet about treatment options.
In some cases, treatment is meant to be curative, meaning that the cancer is eliminated and the dog makes a full
recovery. Treatment can cause a lot of side effects, however, and it may not be fully effective. Often, veterinarians and dog owners choose palliative care, which uses lower doses and has fewer side effects. This approach doesn’t eliminate the cancer but can extend the life of the dog and make him comfortable by getting rid of many symptoms, such as pain and bleeding.
Cardiovascular Disorders
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in older dogs. The main symptoms of heart disease in dogs include fatigue, labored breathing, exercise intolerance, and an irregular heartbeat. Some may also have a recurring cough, especially at night.
Common heart problems include congestive heart failure (CHF), an enlarged heart, a heart murmur, and arrhythmia. Your vet can usually detect these symptoms by listening to your pet’s heart.
Fortunately, there is a variety of new devices and drugs designed to treat and prevent heart disease, depending on the condition present in the individual dog. Treatment can range from the use of electrocardiograms or ultrasounds (echocardiograms) to dietary changes, drugs, or pacemakers, among other options.
Ear Problems
Ear infections are so common in dogs that 9% of all veterinary visits are for this condition. Older dogs are no more prone to ear infections than younger dogs. However, for seniors, the scratching at the ears that often indicates an ear infection may signal something more serious—a tumor, for example. Often, the tumor is visible inside the ear canal, but your vet will want to X-ray or biopsy it for a complete analysis. Fortunately, many of these tumors turn out to be benign, but it’s still best to have your dog examined by a vet if you notice a tumor.
Eye Problems
Just as with people, dogs tend to develop eye problems as they age. Their eyesight dims, the lenses of their eyes thicken, and other degenerative changes occur. Cataracts, or opacity of the lenses, are common in senior dogs and require surgery to remove.
If your dog exhibits any of the following eye problems, take him to your vet for diagnosis and treatment:
- Apparent blindness
- Bloodshot eyes
- Bulging eyes
- Discharge for 48 hours or more
- Gray or cloudy eyes
- Irritated, painful-looking eyes
- Squinting, scratching, or pawing at the eyes
Treatment depends on the underlying cause and may
include the application of a soothing or cleansing lotion, eye irrigation, antibiotics, or surgery.
Gastrointestinal Disorders
The gastrointestinal (GI) system extracts and processes nutrients from food and passes waste from the body. As dogs age, they tend to have higher numbers of unfavorable bacteria in their intestines and so may experience more gastrointestinal problems, including bloat, diarrhea and vomiting, and flatulence.
You can address many GI problems by adjusting your dog’s diet, but bloat is a serious medical emergency that leads to a painful death within hours if left untreated. In this condition, the stomach becomes dilated with gas or fluids and twists on itself, blocking blood flow to the stomach and other vital organs. Symptoms include a distended belly, pacing, salivating, unsuccessful attempts to vomit, and pain. If your dog exhibits signs of bloat, emergency veterinary attention is required.
Musculoskeletal System Disorders
After a lifetime of playing catch, running up and down stairs, and just having a good time, an older dog’s skeletal system shows some stress, just as an older human’s does.
Virtually every old dog develops arthritis, a degenerative bone disease that affects cartilage, bone, and surrounding soft tissues. As dogs age, the cartilage that protects the ends of their bones becomes less resilient, heals more slowly, and is more likely to break down. As it wears away, the ends of the bones come into direct contact and can grind against each other, resulting in painful inflammation. This process is progressive and incurable, although it is amenable to a number of treatments, including medication, exercise, physical therapy, and surgery.
Nervous System Disorders
As your dog ages, he becomes more susceptible to certain neurological disorders, such as canine cognitive disorder (CCD) and old dog vestibular disease.
- CCD: The older your dog is, the more likely he is to be a victim of CCD, a syndrome associated with the aging of the brain. Signs of CCD include confusion, a loss of responsiveness, increased thirst, loss of housetraining, sleeping all day and barking all night, and a loss of recognition of the owner. The condition is treatable with medication, and there is evidence that a proper diet can prevent or delay the onset of CCD.
- Old dog vestibular disease: This condition occurs when the vestibular equipment—receptors in the middle ear that regulate balance—develop problems. The afflicted dog usually tilts his head to one side, walks in a drunken or circular way, or vomits. Usually, however, the situation rights itself within 72 hours as the dog gets used to the altered receptor signals and compensates. If the problem doesn’t go away, this behavior could be indicative of other underlying problems ranging from an ear infection to a brain tumor.
Respiratory System Disorders
An older, less efficient respiratory system makes a senior dog more likely to fall prey to various problems, including canine flu and pneumonia.
- Canine flu: A mysterious respiratory disease that developed in recent years, the canine flu is most dangerous to senior dogs. The most common signs include a persistent cough, thick nasal discharge, and a high fever in severe cases, although not all carriers of the flu exhibit symptoms. There is no real treatment, but a veterinarian can provide supportive care for an afflicted dog.
- Pneumonia: An inflammation of the lungs, pneumonia can be acute or chronic and is more common in dogs already weakened from other diseases. Symptoms include respiratory distress, fever, nasal discharge, and exercise intolerance. Pneumonia is treatable with oxygen, intravenous fluids, rest, and antibiotics.
Skin Disorders
Skin disease is one of the major reasons that people take their dogs to the vet, probably because it’s so noticeable. The most common symptoms of skin disorders include lumps, bumps, and swellings, which can sometimes be cancerous growths. However, poor skin condition is often the first sign of another disease or a nutritional deficiency, so have your senior examined if you notice signs of a
skin problem.
Urinary System Disorders
The urinary system generally starts to give out as a dog ages, leading to a variety of health problems, including bladder and kidney stones, kidney disease and failure, and incontinence.
- Bladder and kidney stones: Senior dogs are more prone to this ailment than are younger dogs. Some dogs show no symptoms at all, while others may have more frequent, difficult, or painful urination. Sometimes there may be blood in the urine—the exact symptoms depend on the location, size, and number of stones. Treatment ranges from dietary changes to surgery, depending on the same factors.
- Kidney disease/failure: Kidney failure affects more than 1 million dogs and cats in the United States alone every year, and the older a dog is, the more likely he is to be affected. Unfortunately, dogs may not show signs of renal failure until two thirds or more of their kidney function is already lost. Symptoms of renal failure include blood in the urine, diarrhea, increased thirst, lethargy, and vomiting. Treatment is only useful in earlier stages and can include dietary changes, IV fluids, and the reduction of stress levels.
- Incontinence: Incontinence is a loss of voluntary urinary control that can be the result of numerous underlying problems. An afflicted dog seems to forget his housetraining and is unable to hold his urine. Treatment for this problem depends on the cause—your vet can diagnose the problem and offer the necessary medication or other solution.
| Text & Photos Copyright © 2007 TFH Publications, Inc. | Acknowledgments & Disclaimer |
Tags
No one has tagged this page yet... Be the first.. Log in using the link below and return to add your tag
