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.

Visit our site for more info about using a liquid glucosamine such as Synflex for treating dog arthritis.