Senior Dog Health Issues

Although older dogs can be a joy to be around,
they often begin having significant health
issues as they age. We've had a number of dogs
who live to be 16 and 17 years of age. By that
time, the dogs are usually suffering severely
from arthritis, loss of hearing, decreases in
eyesight, and probably numerous other
afflictions and issues. Although there is not
much stopping some of these conditions from
occurring and progressing in your canine, taking
her or him to the veterinarian on a regular basis
can greatly offset some of the effects of these
diseases and conditions.

In several of her older dogs their hearing was
all but gone in the last several years of their
life. One of our dogs had an extensive
vocabulary to understood so much of what we were
saying all the time that it became necessary for
us to spell the words out just as if the dog was
a child. We cannot say the word walk were outside
without the dog becoming extremely excited and
running back and forth to the door. But as her
hearing left, the problem became less and less.
But as she was unable to hear us, we missed
being able to communicate with her. It seemed a
natural progression, but along the way she
actually learned our own version of sign
language. She was an extremely intelligent dog
and could actually pick up our hand movements
and learn what we were wanting her to do simply
by vocalizing it via our sign language. It was
quite interesting to watch this.

Another problem older dogs have is gaining
weight. Just as with people, this is a serious
issue in canines. If there are any arthritic
symptoms at all, the extra weight that the bones
have to support simply aggravate the arthritic
conditions in the animal. It's far better if the
dog is slightly on the thin side versus slightly
overweight. Not only are they far healthier and
cardiovascular ways, their joints do not suffer
from the added stress and strain that is caused
by the added weight.

Arthritis in dogs can be quite profound in
overweight canines. And since there is no cure
for this joint disease, it will only become
worse with age. Enough increased age also brings
along increased weight for the animal, this is
like a double whammy and simply hurts the dog
more. It may be difficult but your older canine
on a diet, but remember it is for him or her
that you are doing it for. In fact, staying on
the thin side, may actually give your pet a year
or two longer of a healthy happy life. Another
drawback to being overweight is that their
activity level decreases. And of course, just
like in people, when the activity decreases,
other problems can set in and usually do.

Another thing to remember about older dogs is
that they usually do not require the same
vaccinations on a yearly basis. Ask your
veterinarian about this, but in most cases he
will skip most of the yearly vaccinations and
make them every other year. This is because some
of the medicines in the vaccinations can be
harder on older dogs and they probably already
have a good immunity to the virus anyway after
so many years of vaccinations. But again make
sure to ask your veterinarian about this and
whether or not it is necessary for your
particular dog.

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