Articles » Aging Dog Care
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Read This List Of Possible Aging Problems If Your Dog Is Getting Older
Foul Breath, Plaque, & Gingivitis: All of these are common in old age, especially if you have not taken care to keep your dog's teeth clean throughout her life. Regular dental checkups may be necessary to ensure that any serious problems are quickly treated.
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Loss Of Vision & Other Aging Problems To Look Out For
Dogs who begin to have vision problems - whether it's glaucoma or cataracts - can pose a problem for themselves and for you. There are certainly veterinary medical solutions to some visual problems. In the meantime, you can try to substitute auditory cues, like words, phrases, or claps, for things you used to rely on vision to convey to your pet - it's just the opposite of the hearing-loss problem.
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Obesity is a very big problem in our society, and this problem goes for dogs as well. All dogs are susceptible to gaining weight as they become less active in old age. But some breeds have been reported to be more likely to become obese than others as they watch the birthdays fly by. West Highland white terriers, beagles, cocker spaniels, collies. cairn terriers, and retrievers are breeds that are noted for obesity in old age.
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Sensitive Older Dogs: Preventing Pain Or Fear Induced Aggression
Fear induced aggression or pain induced aggression is a condition that every older dog is prone to attract. This is simply because many dog owners do not realize that the aging dog is very sensitive to the feelings of pain, surprises, and aggressiveness – even from innocent play.
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Very often a dog will suffer spinal damage from degenerative processes. This is usually referred to as "slipped discs," but they are not really discs at all, and they have not really slipped. Essentially what has occurred is a loss of resiliency between the vertebrae, and so-called slipped disc can be the result of an accident or, more likely, a gradual degenerative progression that shows itself in one of the body's weakened areas.
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Watch For Pain Or Symptoms When Training The Aging Dog
Dogs very often tell you when they are in pain, although not always. Should you find the down placement very painful for your dog, and should he find it painful to lie down apart from his obedience lesson, then it may be more beneficial to dispense with the DOWN command altogether. These conditions vary with the individual dog, so that ultimately you have to trust in your own evaluation of the situation and then follow your inclinations.
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Use Care With Obedience Training For The Older Dog
Obedience training can certainly be accomplished at any age, yet we must use discretion when training the older dog, since obedience training is psychologically demanding. We should differentiate between old and seriously infirm. To effect a good program of obedience, we must always have infinite patience. But, with the older dog, we sometimes need more patience and gentleness than usual.
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Understanding The Benefits Of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrate
In the hopes that your older dog can enjoy a golden age that you never thought possible, it is wise to look into the evolvement of a nutritionally wholesome, additive-free, all-natural dog food. The rewards would be a constant improvement in the overall health of animals fed on such a natural diet. Such rewards include the improvement of almost every disease and condition affected by nutritional deficiencies.
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Understanding Balanoposthitis In Your Older Dog
Certain disorders are rather common occurrences in many older dogs and are potentially life threatening. In the female dog, conditions such as mammary gland tumors and pyometra, as well as the less serious false pregnancy and mis-mating, can be prevented to varying degrees by ovariohysterectomy. If your mature dog has already had such surgery you have removed the sources of several major threats to her continuing good health.
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Taking Extra Precaution With The Older Dog's Diet: A Lesson In Illness
A proper, well-balanced diet is essential, especially for the older dog. Every degenerative disease your older dog suffers, whether it is a heart problem, arthritis, cancer, kidney failure, or cataracts, is in some way related to nutritional deficiencies or to poor absorption of nutrients.
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Questions To Ask Your Vet Regarding Prescription Drugs
Modern drugs are surely a benefit to the practice of veterinary medicine. They have helped save the lives of many critically ill dogs and restored countless others to normal health. Yet improperly used, they cannot only fail in their intended function, but can actually create a more serious threat to your dog. An antibiotic given at haphazard and infrequent intervals can create a resistant strain of bacteria. A corticosteroid abruptly discontinued after long use can precipitate a dangerous adrenal gland hormone imbalance. A drug intended to be given four times a day may produce a dangerously high blood level if given, only twice a day, but at double the dose.
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Which breeds tend to have the greatest incidence of pyorrhea (bone degeneration), leading to loss of teeth? The two breeds with the most frequent incidence of periodontal disease are the Dachshunds and Schnauzers. The host resistance factor seems to be lower in these breeds.
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Do older dogs lose their teeth as do humans? Yes, but for slightly different reasons. Excessive tartar builds up. This creates a bacterial climate whereby destructive agents invade the gum and bone surfaces, causing damage or destruction to both, and eventual tooth loss in some dogs. Machines such as the cavitron have been used with some success in removing excess tartar from a dog's teeth. Once the dog has bitten down on a piece of food, the outer surfaces are not utilized very much so most of the tartar forms on the outside of the teeth. The inner surfaces are being stimulated more by the action of chewing and therefore remain cleaner.
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Is the surgical risk greater in the older dog? Usually yes, again depending upon the status of the heart and the kidneys. All of this should be thoroughly checked out before the older dog is anesthetized. The anesthesia provides a greater risk than the surgery. If the dog is competently evaluated before surgery, there should only be a one-percent risk factor of anesthetic death. During the time when sodium pentobarbital was more widely used for anesthesia, many dogs never woke up because of a condition called acidosis. Over-dosing caused excess absorption of the pentobarbital into the body. Just when you would think the dog was nicely asleep, his fat began to release it, thereby effecting an overdose in the dog. When sodium pentobarbital is in the blood stream, there is no control or reversal. Today, with gas anesthesia, risk is almost zero because of the greater control the vet has.
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How old should a bitch be when weaning her last litter? In general, a female should not be more than five years old when weaning her last litter, nor younger than the second heat, which means between one and two years old. She should also be bred only every other heat, which means a total of three or four litters throughout a female's lifetime.
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Can older dogs develop cataracts? Yes, but cataracts can also be seen in younger dogs. Do mixed breeds live longer than pure breeds? Researchers have not found that the longevity differs greatly between mixed and purebred dogs.
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What can be done for a very old dog with severe dysplasia problems? First, the condition would have to be evaluated through X-rays. The symptoms may be due to a neurological problem and not a bone problem. If surgery is indicated, and the dog is checked out as a good surgical risk, operating can prove very helpful in alleviating the pain. Excellent results have also been obtained using vitamin C therapy.
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Is there any special training equipment that should be used for the older dog? No. A chain collar and six-foot web leash are applicable for all training sessions with a normal healthy dog, regardless of age.
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Is Your Dog Loosing His Hearing?
One sign of your dog aging which can be very upsetting if you don't fully appreciate what is truly happening, is an increasing inattentiveness and apparent loss of obedience training. When you call to him, your dog seems to be ignoring you, or else he responds so slowly that you tempted to punish him for disobedience. Nothing of the sort should be done!
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Hyperplasia In Older Male Dogs
Hyperplasia of the prostate gland is a benign enlargement due to an increase in the number of cells within the gland and occurs in about 2/3 of older male dogs. However, only a small percentage of these dogs ever show any noticeable signs of the abnormality. The underlying cause is unknown but is thought to be an imbalance of the hormones produced in aging testicles. As the prostate is located directly below the rectum, the enlarged gland may press up against the rectal wall and cause difficulty and discomfort while defecating, straining, and constipation. Unlike man, there is rarely any pain or difficulty in urinating.
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How To Handle Your Dog's Emergency Heat Stress
Both obesity and advancing years reduce a dog's tolerance to extremes of heat. The brachycephalic breeds (those with the pushed-in face) are particularly susceptible, due to their normal respiratory difficulties. It is through respiration that the majority of your dog's excess body heat is eliminated. When you and I get overheated, we breathe rapidly and perspire all over our bodies. Because of their hair coats, dogs are unable significantly to per- spire through their skins, although a small amount does occur through the underside of the paws. For all practical purposes, excess body heat must be removed by rapid respiration.
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How To Determine If Your Older Dog Is Sick
You and your dog have been together for many years and have shared many good and bad times. When you were a child, you could tell your parents if something hurt or was not well with you. Even as a baby you could at least cry to indicate that something was wrong. However, our beloved pets cannot do either. Besides, a dog's pain threshold seems to be considerably higher than that of humans, and they will not whimper or cry until the discomfort is quite severe. It is therefore necessary for you to know what is normal for your dog, any changes will be quickly detected. One good way to do this is to develop the following habits of observation.
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Health Concerns Commonly Found In Older Dogs: Part III
Baldness: A chronic slow loss of hair, due to ill health, is sometimes found in older dogs. Feed a diet of raw foods: meats, vegetables, and fruits. Give brewers' yeast, kelp, and desiccated liver. Add raw corn, olive, peanut, or safflower oil to the food for unsaturated fatty acids. Chopped dandelion leaves (high in copper) may be added to the food. Balding areas can be bathed daily with an infusion of rosemary leaves, marigold flowers, or daffodil leaves. Castor and eucalyptus oil can also be massaged into the balding areas.
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Health Concerns Commonly Found In Older Dogs: Part II
Arthritis: Arthritis has become a common ailment in dogs, especially the older dog. Several factors contribute to this condition, including an all-cooked-food diet, lack of exercise, poor absorption of minerals, and lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. It occurs as an inflammation in bones and joints. The onset is gradual and the owner notices the dog having increased difficulty in walking, getting up, lying down, running, and moving in general.
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Health Concerns Commonly Found In Older Dogs: Part I
Abrasions: Abrasions are often caused by scratching and biting skin surfaces that itch. Herbal treatments include an infusion of blackberry leaves, rosemary leaves, or elder flowers and leaves to which a little witch hazel has been added. Apply topically to abrasions. It is recommended that no greasy preparations be used because they will retain moisture on the skin surfaces and retard healing.
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Does Your Aging Dog Have Lymphosarcoma?
Accounting for better than five percent of all tumors known to occur in the dog, lymphosarcoma is the commonest malignancy seen in aging dogs, especially those in the eight to twelve-year range. Its cause is unknown and is relentlessly fatal, but early diagnosis combined with one or more of the therapy modes just described can comfortably prolong life for eight months to a year.
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Changes You Can Expect As Your Dog Gets Older
Your dog's body takes a beating throughout his life. Muscles are pulled, joints stressed, and organs scarred by infection. Cell structure breaks down, decreasing the efficacy of organs and tissues. All of these traumas cause abnormal cell development, which in turn create tumors and arthritic conditions. On the outside, he can appear as healthy and active as any younger dog, but inside his organs are not functioning as efficiently as when he was younger.
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Aging dogs are less adaptable to, and more adversely affected by, stress and change. Yet so many dog owners do not take this into consideration when making plans involving their older dog. For example, for years you and your dog enjoyed those races through the woods or around the playground. You may still enjoy it now, but your older dog possibly finds it difficult to keep up with you.
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Administering Anesthesia To Your Older Dog
Up until the late fifties and early sixties, the successful outcome of many surgical procedures for older dogs was somewhat uncertain. This was due in small part to the surgical techniques and materials employed at the time, but primarily to the types of anesthetics that were available then. Those anesthetics were often unpredictable, sometimes produced longer periods of anesthesia than were needed for the operation, and they had to be detoxified and eliminated largely by the liver and kidneys, organs which usually are already under stress in the older dog.
