Our dogs, cats and exotic animals are part of our families and a very important part of our lives.
Each time they are longer lived and live more and more with high hope and quality of life Thanks to the care of the owners: good nutrition and preventive medicine.
The aging of our pets is a natural physiological process marked by the passage of time and to which everyone will arrive with more or less quality of life.
We consider that our pets enter in geriatric ages according to their weight, size and species. In the case of dogs and cats, geriatric check-ups from 7 years old are considered necessary.
During aging, a series of physical and metabolic changes will occur in our pets. It is a period in the life of our animals in which the organs begin to manifest the consequences of progressive wear.
The most common signs are:
– Reduction of the animal’s metabolism and consequent reduction of its activity
and an increase in body weight.
– Decrease in thermoregulation capacity.
– Changes in sleep-wake patterns: nighttime wanderings.
– Less ability to respond to infections.
– Tendency to dehydration.
– Loss of the senses of sight and hearing, smell and sense of taste.
– Increase in the body fat / muscle ratio. With loss of muscle mass and degeneration of articular cartilage that produces slow and painful movements.
– Changes in fur and skin. Hyperkeratinized plantar pads. More dry and hard. Long and brittle nails.
– Loss of hygiene habits.
– Decreased mental alertness.
– Dental alterations. Increase of plaque or dental plaque, periodontal disease and loss and breakage of teeth.
The most common diseases in our geriatric pets are:
Dental pathologies
Cognitive dysfunction syndrome.
Prostatic pathologies: BPH, tumors ..
Obesity
Tumors
Dry keratoconjunctivitis
Endocrine pathologies: Hypothyroidism (dogs), hyperthyroidism (Cats), Cushing syndrome, Diabetes Mellitus.
Anemias
Cardiac pathologies
Degenerative osteoarticular pathologies (arthritis, discoesponidiloarthrosis ..)
waterfalls
Urolithiasis (vegiga stones)
Urinary incontinence
Hepatopathies
Renal insufficiency
In our Veterinary Center we will advise you on the appropriate therapy for each case and recommend you to perform geriatric preventive and image analysis to assess the general condition of your pet and its needs for medical therapy, physical therapies or protocol to be applied and diagnostic tests necessary to perform a complete diagnosis
Request an appointment with our Veterinary Team:
916200098-609045384
Info@vetcarehospitalveterinario.com
