My Older Dog Keeps Having Illnesses. What Can I Do?

Every dog is prone to disease to a certain degree. Genetics, environment, nutrition and living conditions all play a role in this.

But did you know that older dogs are even MORE prone to disease?

Senior dogs have to fend off an additional category of diseases called age related disease processes. This includes things like chronic kidney disease, heart disease, cancer and more.

So what do we do? Well- let’s talk about 2 simple things you can do help your senior dog in relation to this.

The first thing is bringing your senior dog into the vet every 6 months for wellness visits. We recommend that all senior dogs (whether they are ‘early seniors’ or geriatrics) have physical exams every 6 months so ask your vet if your dog is a senior yet.

The second thing you can do is be vigilant at home. Pay attention to appetite, and bathroom habits, energy and give your dog a good once over both by looking at them and feeling them for anything new or different once a week. Things change so rapidly in our senior dogs and these 2 practices can help you and your senior dog in big ways. If you notice any of these, call your vet and bring them in for an exam. We routinely do more diagnostics like bloodwork or xrays on senior dogs to help us detect these disease processes.

Who has seen something come on out of the blue with their senior dog?