Park Hill Vet: Aging Gracefully
Ways To Make Those Golden Years The Best For Senior Pets
By Margot Vahrenwald, DVM, CVJ
For the GPHN
Aging is inevitable. We cannot stop the clock for ourselves nor our pets. But there is much we can do to make the golden years some of the best years of life.
For older pets, that care entails seeing your veterinarian twice a year as cats’ and dogs’ physiologic time clock runs faster and this allows us to do more to support age-related changes and diseases to maintain a good quality of life.
Some signs of aging like greying hair, decreased hearing and cognitive changes are easily noticed. Others are more subtle, like the slow loss of muscle mass. Evaluation of a pet’s muscle mass and body condition can help to define whether a pet is aging in a healthy manner versus developing disease. Sarcopenia is the age-related progressive loss of muscle that leads to weakness as we age. It can be prevented, supported and/or improved with appropriate physical activity and good nutrition.
Your veterinarian is always assessing body condition and muscle condition at examinations to look for changes of concern. The most common change associated with decreasing muscle mass in all mammals is arthritis. Arthritis, in fancy medical terms osteoarthritis, is known as chronically progressive, degenerative joint disease and is caused by the inflammation from damage to the joint cartilage through wear from daily movement. That increased friction in the joint leads to a continuous cycle of boney changes and further inflammation and pain.
Clinical signs of arthritis in dogs and cats include difficulty getting up and down, walking with a stiff gait, lameness in one or more legs, reluctance to jump or go up/downstairs and changes in stamina. Many pets will also develop reluctance to be touched in sore areas and sometimes can react with aggression if very painful.
Many factors contribute to the development of arthritis rather than there being one single cause as it develops over time. These can include being overweight, confirmational structure, congenital joint issues, injury and more. Arthritis is not a disorder that can be cured, but it can be well-managed with food, exercise, supplements and medications.
New therapies for dogs and cats that are not non-steroidal anti-inflammatories are now available through your veterinarian as once-monthly injections. Solensia for cats and Librela for dogs are new species-specific monoclonal antibody injections that are markedly effective in the majority of patients for decreasing arthritis pain.
Keeping your pet lean and continuing to exercise is key. Supplements for joint health, along with prescription medications for pain management, are also a cornerstone for arthritis management. Additional therapies can also be considered, such as acupuncture, cold laser and physical therapy. Being a multifactorial disease means that treatment is often multi-pronged.
Aging, in and of itself, is not a disease, but it does open the door to physiologic changes that lead to illness, inflammation and/or pain. Key to helping your pets navigate their senior years gracefully is seeing your veterinarian regularly for preventive care examinations every six months, keeping teeth clean with regular dental cleanings and seeking your veterinarian’s care when seeing changed in behavior, mobility or seeming sick.
The month of November celebrates senior pets – celebrate yours with a visit to your veterinarian to get everything checked out from nose to tail.
Dr. Margot Vahrenwald is the owner of Park Hill Veterinary Medical Center at 2255 Oneida St. For more information, visit www.parkhillvet.com.