senior dog care - search results

Even if your dog appears healthy, routine vet visits are essential for early detection of health issues, disease prevention, and maintaining a high quality of life.

Though you may have seen pictures, memes, and videos on social media about drunk dogs, we have a simple public service announcement on behalf...

Building a relationship with your dog takes time and effort. Although it’s plenty of fun to bond with a new dog, your four-legged friend might not adore you instantly.

Dog owners nationwide are concerned about a severe canine respiratory virus that doesn’t respond to traditional medications and is killing some dogs.

Each of us has, at some point, wandered into a room and realized that we've forgotten why we've gone there. When that happens, chances are we are momentarily perturbed with ourselves, but typically we chalk it up to too much on the brain, remember why we're there, then move on. Should our dogs wander in the same fashion, it could well be a sign of cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS), a condition quite similar to Alzheimer's in humans. CDS happens when the aging process affects brain pathology, resulting in behavioral changes, including cognitive decline (memory and learning).

The older we get, the more we need a backup plan for our dogs, in the event of our deaths.

Tooth loss is somewhat preventable in senior dogs, as it is in humans, but you need to start dental care sooner rather than later.

Older dogs, like older people, have an easier time getting around if they aren't overweight. Losing weight can be a challenge for dogs at any age, but more so as dogs grow older. Still, weight loss for dogs is worth the effort. Slender dogs not only get around more easily, but also actually live longer. A 14-year study showed that dogs fed 25 percent fewer calories than their free-fed littermates lived nearly two years longer, showed fewer visible signs of aging, and enjoyed an extra three years of pain-free mobility before developing canine arthritis.

My senior dog, Otto, is nearly 13 years old. He often acts like a big grump around any puppies or foster dogs I have...

Canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD), also called cognitive dysfunction syndrome, is comparable to Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Dogs with CCD may show signs such as confusion, disorientation, anxiety, irritability, apathy, reduced interaction, house soiling, forgetfulness, and aimless wandering or pacing, especially at night. CCD can rob a dog of quality of life, and make living with an old dog difficult.

Exercise is essential for dogs of all ages. It helps maintain muscle tone, a healthy weight, joint flexibility, good circulation, and overall health and happiness – but when movement causes pain, it's only natural to slow down or stay still. That creates a vicious cycle in which inactivity contributes to pain, pain reinforces inactivity, and the dog's health deteriorates.

In recent years, dog flu and severe canine respiratory disease of unverified etiology (causes) have resulted in many illnesses and even deaths in dogs....