today we're gonna talk about four things to make life a little easier on your senior dogs life with a senior dog is different than life with a young dog senior dogs have different ailments and different needs that can often make navigating the final years of their life and making them more comfortable a good bit challenging so today I'm gonna talk to you about four simple things that can make life's a little bit easier on your senior dog involving the brain and the body if you like this type of video please be sure to let me know by hitting that like button hit subscribe and hit that Bell notification so that you can continue to receive updates when we post new videos doing that helps make videos like this possible so if you'd like to see more please hit those buttons now let's get right into it the four things that we're gonna talk about today have to do with cognition comfort mobility and wellness wellness being the first thing that we're gonna tackle and for the wellness topic I thought it was important to bring in an expert so we went over to Baxter veterinary clinic where we talked with the senior owner there dr. Baby about the differences in the needs of senior dogs as in coming in and out of the medical facilities lab work and just what their overall basic needs are that differ from that of young dogs so I'm going to show you guys the recording that we did with dr. baby to give you a more in-depth look at why it's so important to tend to them differently when it comes to medical needs than you would otherwise with young dogs I am dr. Kelly meaty from Baxter veterinary clinic and today I'm going to talk to you about the importance of twice-yearly senior exams so dogs and cats age a lot more quickly than people every year of their life give you anywhere from 7 to 11 years of our lives you can imagine as they get older things can start to change much more quickly inside their bodies some things are obvious and we from the outside you might see a growth or you might see changes and the eye coloration some cloudiness and some things can only be detected with a really good physical examination x-rays or lab work so we recommend doing twice yearly exams for most pets starting at the age of seven for a lot of animals that's not really considered old but that is the time where these changes can start happening and so we like to be cautious and try to prevent things versus address them once problems start to occur now there are certain breeds where twice-yearly clamps might be recommended by your veterinarian a little bit earlier in life in particular those are going to be your giant breeds of dogs because they tend to age a lot faster than the smaller breeds so sometimes we may recommend to h5 seeing them twice a year at the twice a year exam some certain things that your vet might do would be a good exam they're gonna check the joints and check for arthritis they're gonna palpate the abdomen and check for anything internal that feels like it might be enlarged like an organ that might be enlarged they're gonna feel all of the skin and lymph nodes to check for any enlargements or lumps or bumps that could be considered abnormal the teeth are very important sometimes as dogs and cats age they might just start to develop dental disease and that can really be painful and can affect their quality of life they're also going to look at the eyes and listen to the heart and the lungs amongst other things for some pets particularly if they're on medications we might recommend twice yearly lab work to monitor the side effects of that medication for others once a year lab work might be appropriate for your pet in some cases depending on genetic predispositions or family history we might recommend x-rays to monitor the heart or to check for problems that might be occurring in so just a little tip to help you keep your pets healthy definitely recommend having them checked out twice a year the earlier we can prevent problems the better we can keep them with you for a long healthy happy lives thanks so much for dr. Beatty for helping to explain the importance of being able to catch the disease process early especially in senior dogs we really appreciate her time now that we've covered wellness we're gonna pop over into cognition the brain so it's important to understand that age affects the brain just as it just as much as it does the body the brain breaks down just as the body breaks down so we're gonna talk about some of the differences that happen and some of the things that you can do to help with their cognitive dysfunction as it is there is such thing called canine cognitive dysfunction which is kind of similar to dementia or Alzheimer's and people and it is a breakdown of some of the brain's abilities to put it in layman's terms Washington State University determines that up to 85% of senior dogs actually aren't even diagnosed with canine cognitive dysfunction but it is a neurobehavioral syndrome that's important to understand because their brains are not going to be the same they're not going to be as sharp or as quick or as easy to function as they would be when they were younger dogs so there are a couple of things that you can do about it one there are diets out there that help support brain function there are also supplements out there that help support brain function those are things that you need to talk to your veterinarian about or your nutritionist about to get more information about those they seem to have a minimal effect and some report better outcomes than others do but it's something worth trying if you feel like your dog's cognitive functions are starting to fail the other thing that you can do to help encourage your dog's brain capacity and function is continue to engage them mentally continue to provide stimulation for them continue playing with them as much as they can physically playing games like puzzle games with them that helps increase the use of their brain and kelp helps keep them a little bit more sharp than they otherwise would be if you just kind of let them deteriorate on their own the most important thing to understand when we're talking about canine cognition especially in the aging scene your brain though is patience you have to understand that you might start to notice your dog doing different things that they hadn't otherwise done like pacing or panting more licking the floor for getting some of the boundaries that you've once laid down in the house hold that for 10 11 12 years of their life they understood and obeyed now things start to change a little bit some of these things you can alter and some of these things you cannot some of it is a natural process as the brain begins to age and the body begins to age as well so having a lot of patience and understanding for your dog is gonna be your biggest tool and helping make life a little bit better for them as they age alright so in talking about comfort the next thing that we're going to discuss is how to make life a little bit more comfortable for your senior dog next we're talking about comfort as you start to age things simply just hurt more same goes the case with our senior dogs now the difference between dogs and people is that dogs can't tell you what hurts more obviously we speak a different language but dogs are also stoic meaning that they don't always outwardly express the amount of pain that they're feeling on the inside this is simply a matter of survivability that dates back to their ancestors that were wild once so you think about wild animals like wolves and other wild animals they don't always show what's going on on the outside even though they're experiencing some sort of pain or sickness this is so that they don't get killed or picked off by other members of the family so thinking about their wild genetic roots we know that our animals our companion animals don't always show the pain that they're feeling on the outside first thing that we're gonna talk about to help provide a little bit more comfort for your dogs are the types of dog beds that you can provide your senior dogs you'll see boda bear here is laying on one example so the first one that I'm going to go over is the one that he's laying on this is a supportive bed sometimes they call them orthopedic beds but it's really just based on the type of foam material that this dog bed is made out of it's a little bit more supportive than the super cushy fluffy pillow beds that we'll look at in just a moment you can see here over here I'll give you a little sneak peek at this one of our younger puppies that we were we had here at the house chew this up so they're giving you an inside look at this foam but you'll see it's a nice thick kind of dense supportive material this really helps their joints so that when they lay down on the bed they have some support and it kind of evens out their bones their muscles and their body on that bed this will help with things like getting up and getting down if you have a bed that's too soft or too squishy squishy which is kind of this next bed that we're gonna look at right here then it can be a little bit more difficult for them to actually get up and down because there's just not enough surface to push off of and not enough support you can see this one here is like a big giant pillow and though it's nice and soft and squishy and they like to dig and make nice beds out of it this can be a lot more challenging for senior dogs so if you have a bed like this it's a good idea to provide more support by eye they're adding some of the foam layers to it and making it a little bit stiffer on the bottom or just forgoing a bed like this altogether keep this one for your younger dogs and give something with a little bit more support and thickness to your older dogs now the other thing that you can do too is provide lots of nice thick cushy throw rugs kind of like this shag carpet that's right here so if they like blankets and they like soft things and they're not as keen on a flat boring orthopedic bed something like this is actually suitable as well because it provides that same sense of comfort and digging into the bed and the blanket with the shag and the thickness but also there's a flat surface underneath with a carpet pad and the floor so that they're able to get up and get down without sliding or losing traction ok so while we're on the topic of the dog beds I'm going to talk about providing a safe space for your senior dog remember that things just tend to hurt a little bit more so if you have a very active house or other dogs children in the household it's important to provide a safe space where they can get away from all of that action just to rest and recover as needed so having if they still use a crate having their crate open and available to them where no one else goes in and out if you have a little dog giving them something up off of the ground that's easy to get on to where no one else bothers them the other animals and other members of the family understand that when they're in that place nobody messes with them so you can use something like soft stairs or a soft ramp to help your little dog get up onto the couch where they can be away from the other animals and take a rest break the other thing that you can do is just provide a quiet calm air in the house in a corner somewhere with one of their dog beds and just label that their safe space where the other animals don't interact with them and other people don't so when they need to take a break and they need to arrest a recover they know that they can go to that safe place and they can do that the other thing it's important to be aware of if you have children or other dogs in the household is that as dogs age their roles can change in the household so for example even if your older dog kind of made the rules and the younger dogs kind of follow their way as they age you might see a shift in kind of those roles to where the younger dog now starts to take over kind of what's happening and determining what steps come next whereas the senior dog tends to fall in the background as that happens you might notice some behaviors in your younger dog like pushing your senior dog around running into them from time to time stealing some of their food so it's important that you kind of mitigate those behaviors and you teach your younger dogs to have decent spatial relations around your senior animal so that they don't accidentally or inadvertently get hurt because remember they're a little bit a cure there a little bit creepier so having a younger dog run into them is going to have a higher level of discomfort than it would have when they were younger same goes with children in the family it's never good to have children climbing on the dogs or pulling on their ears or tails anyhow but in particular senior dogs can be more reactive because it simply just hurts more so make sure that young children in the household are very gentle with your senior pets teach them about why they have different aches and pains and why it's important to also be respectful of their safe place and their feelings make sure they're handling them very gently they're petting very gently and again they're giving them that space that they need so the last thing I'll mention about providing comfort for your dog is that sometimes you need some medical intervention as they get old and stiff things like arthritis and joint inflammation can set in so if you notice that your dog is very uncomfortable or starts to experience some of these things that are causing them to really have difficult time going up and down stairs or getting up and down out of their bed or off of the floor talk with your veterinarian oftentimes they can prescribe pain medications or anti-inflammatories that can help your senior dog just kind take that pain edge off and feel more comfortable but that's something that you definitely need to discuss with your veterinarian there's nothing wrong with pain management and any way that you can make them feel more comfortable in their final years the better for them now that we've covered comfort we're gonna talk a little bit about mobility because when your dog is comfortable they move better so let's talk about some things that we can do in the house to make mobility easier and safer for your senior dog next we're gonna talk about mobility now as we mentioned before it's a little bit harder for senior dogs to move they just don't get up and down nearly as easy the problem with that is that it makes them a little bit more inclined for injury so we're gonna talk about a few things that can help avoid potential injuries just as things get harder for them to move just a few simple things you can do throughout the house to make their mobility much easier now before we do please remember that if you like this kind of video and you find value in it please hit that like button and the subscribe button it really helps me understand the content that you find value in so I'll continue to make videos that you like ok let's start with mats so down here on the floor I have a simple bath mat so you can use something like this a bath mat or you can even use carpet square samples that you can get from the carpet store the important factor is that the bottom has a no-slip surface to it right here and the top is soft but it's not super soft and pillow like so it's firm that they can actually move and get up the no slip surface bottom is important so that this doesn't slide as they get up if you have a blanket on the floor it's very slip slick and they can lose their footing and lose their balance and that can cause injury so we're looking for things that will help prevent injury no slip surfaces so you'll notice here is my carpet then I have a very slick hardwood surface and then over there another carpeted surface which is over in this stairwell what I want to do for a senior dog that's having difficulty getting up and with mobility is provide some in-between surfaces that are much easier for them to grasp so in this area ideally I would provide two or three of these little carpet squares or bath mats or a runner rug to get them from the area that's easy to stand on to the area of very difficult traction for them so they're less likely to slide and slip on this hardwood floor the bathmats are great to use anywhere throughout the house if you have hardwood floors same with the carpet squares if you want to do something that's a little bit more fashionable and matches throughout the house but it's important to cover up some of the areas of hardwoods in between so that they can get better traction and then are a lot less likely to slip and fall and hurt themselves okay another thing that you can do in the household is purchase booties now these little booties here for example are often used for outdoor wear for younger dogs the reason that they use these outside is because if you have hot asphalt or pavement or very cold surfaces or things that could potentially harm their paws this helps protect the paws but the other great thing about these is that you can use them in the house as well you'll notice that on the paw part down here this is also no slip this is very grippy so where their nails or just their imbalance might cause them to slide on a hardwood floor these help create some traction so that they can avoid slipping and falling and injuring themselves on the hardwoods these come for two asset you'll see here front paws and back paws and when fastened appropriately they stay on fairly well now you will want to condition your dog positively to this so introducing them to them giving them treats and rewards while you put one on at a time and just practicing with them on on their feet for short periods of time so that they can get used to them and it doesn't frighten them or it doesn't feel weird to them you might notice the first couple of times that they use them they heist up like a horse but remember it's something new and something different that they have to get used to but just having booties on in the household especially if you have hardwood floors can severely reduce reduce the likelihood that they will slip and fall and injure themselves these are a great tool if you can get your dog accustomed to them and you have hardwood floors so let's talk about nails just for a brief moment now the importance of talking about nails is to understand that as dogs age and they grow and their nails continue to grow if they curl around or they're much longer than their pads here you can see this one's right at kind of the level of a voda Bears pad is that it can make it more difficult for them to walk and make it more painful on their feet as they push down and against services the other thing too is that the nail surface is slippery so if you have hardwood floors that can cause them to slide so it's really important that you keep their nails trimmed and nice and tidy it's easiest if you use a dremel tool to kind of round out those hard surfaces and make it a lot more blunt so they're less likely to slide and slip and fall nail care and senior pets is very very important so that they're less likely to injure themselves so make sure that you keep them nice and tight and short and rounded okay so mobility just like comfort and wellness and cognition all boil down to one important factor for your dog and that's really quality of life they only have so much time left with you and you really want to make the best of it so I hope that you picked up a couple of tips today that really helped make life a little bit easier for your senior pets [Music]