Geriatrics

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Older Pets
require special attention to make their senior years comfortable. As pets age, minor ailments can signal developing diseases such as arthritis, cancer, congestive heart failure or lung, liver and kidney disease. Early detection and treatment of disease in older pets can add happy years to your best friend's life.

We offer a comprehensive work-up to determine the health status of your senior citizen and then implement the necessary medications and nutritional counseling.

Aging in Dogs
The age at which a dog becomes a senior citizen varies enormously according to the breed. You should consider this when choosing a pet. Very large breeds such as St. Bernard's or Wolfhounds have a much shorter lifespan than some of the smaller breeds such as terriers or small poodles.

Other factors which you control can help keep your dog young:

• plenty of exercise
• good nutrition
• weight control
• avoidance of heat and cold stress
• good veterinary care

Aging in Cats
Aging in cats by breed does not vary as much as in dogs. The same attention to your cat's care as with dogs is essential to their lifespan.

Routine for Older Pets

• Geriatric checkups: your pet will need to be seen more often to check heart and kidney function, digestive tract and teeth. We have a special chem screen test for seniors.
• Nutritional program: put your pet on a senior food with the right balance of protein, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Avoid weight gain - look for a senior light food.
  See supplies.
• Eyesight: watch for deterioration here and try to keep a routine for your pet that it knows.
• Hearing: your pet may lose this progressively until it is completely deaf. During this process you will need to supervise your pet's activities more closely.
• Teeth: a major source of infection for older pets. You will need to have them cleaned annually.
  Check our dentistry page.
• Skin: groom your pet carefully and use this time to check for lumps within and under the skin. If you find any have them checked promptly.
  Check our dermatology page.
• Spay/neuter: if your pet has not been spayed or neutered you should consider this seriously: unwanted pregnancies can be very serious for older females. Breast tumors, infections and tumors of the uterus and prostate glands are more common in pets that have not been fixed early in life.
• Environment: as your pet ages it is not able to withstand the heat and cold as well. Provide good shelter in all weather.