Veterinary medicine today repairs and protects the health of dogs and they live a longer life than they used to live earlier. Similar to humans, dogs also pass through different stages of life of maturity, growth and aging.
Signs of dog aging
Owners should be able to recognize the signs of aging. Aging in dogs is a slow procedure. Senses start declining, organs starts deteriorating and above all energy starts flagging.
Old age of dogs arrives at various times for various breeds and for dissimilar individual dogs.
The dogs that belong to giant breeds usually are more likely to age early than the others as their expectancy of life is less than ten years. The dogs that belong to breeds that are medium-sized and large have a life expectancy of eleven to fourteen years whereas the breeds that are small have a life expectancy of fifteen years or more. Dogs that are neutered or spayed before the age of six months will live a longer life than the dogs that are not.
Preventative care
Though the owners cannot avoid aging, they can try to delay the process by having sensible management of their dog in their mature years.
The owner can take the dog to the veterinarian for annual visits to protect the dog from hepatitis, parvovirus, distemper, leptospirosis and kennel cough in addition to vaccination of state-mandated rabies that are the start of a perfect program of health. The next on the list should be checking for intestinal parasites and annual heartworm. And this should be followed by controlling the external parasites in the home and on the dog.
Similarly to humans an old dog may go through vision loss, hearing loss, kidney or liver disease, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, incontinence, hormonal imbalances and cognitive dysfunction. Hence, it is recommended that old dogs should be taken to the veterinarian for regular checkup every six months.
Next is giving your dog a very good nutrition and should not give the dog cheap or generic dog food.
Old dogs care also includes cleaning the teeth of the dog so as to control gum disease.
Grooming the dog is required as well to keep the coat and skin healthy and to find out for any problems like brittle or thin coat, dry skin, sore spots or body odor.
The ears of the dog should be checked for gunk or odor developed due to infecting organisms.
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