Pet Advice - Senior Pets
At Family Vets Athlone we believe seniors are special.
Most pets are considered senior citizens once they reach the age of seven years. We recommend at least once yearly visits for your senior pet so that we can detect any illnesses they may be developing earlier on in the disease process and put a treatment plan in place. This helps keep our senior pets healthier for longer.
As our pets become older signs of chronic disease may become more obvious and they require symptomatic treatment.
Lameness and stiffness
Our pets may become slower on their walks, spend more time lying down and find difficulty in getting back up.
This can be a condition called Osteoarthritis where inflammation and swelling can make the simplest tasks such as walking or sitting quite painful. Simple strategies at home can help make your pet feel more comfortable such as providing plenty of bedding to put under your pet to support those painful joints, placing rugs over slippery floors will provide much needed grip for your pet shorter walks, monitor weight gain to ease the strain on their joints.
While these strategies will help provide comfort to your pet, a treatment plan may need to be put in place for pain management.
Kidney Disease
As you pet gets older, its internal organs such as their kidneys and liver may not function as well as they did when they were younger. This can lead to failure in these organs, kidney failure being one of the more common conditions we see in our golden oldies. Drinking more leading to frequent urination, decreased appetite, lethargy and vomiting are all classic signs of these chronic diseases.
That is why we at Family Vets believe strongly in regular check ups for our senior pets to check for signs of these conditions . Tests such as urine and blood tests can be offered to detect early onset of these
diseases. If these diseases are detected at an early stage there are many things that can be done to slow their progression such as dietary changes and supplements.
Heart disease
Heart disease can be a common condition that affects our senior pets. Some of the symptoms associated with it include lack of energy, fainting & collapse, coughing, reduced appetite, swollen abdomen, sudden weight loss. However one of the most common early symptoms of heart disease in dogs is a heart murmur. This can be detected at your pets senior consultation with one of our highly trained vets. If a heart condition is detected a treatment plan will be carefully tailored to suit you and your pets needs.
Dental disease
Dental issues are seen regularly in senior pets.
Common symptoms of dental disease include halitosis (bad breath), decreased appetite, weight loss, red, painful & inflamed gums.
Dental disease can be very painful for your pet so if it is caught in time it can be managed and your pet will be pain free & continue with an excellent quality of life into their old age.