Concerns for Older Dogs

Video Transcript

"So what should some of your concerns for your dog as they get older, as they hit that geriatric stage. One of the thing you want to watch out for and be concerned for is loss of muscle mass. As your log starts to slow down, they're going to lose some muscle mass. As they lose their muscle mass they become weaker. Another thing your want to watch for is stiffness in the joints, in the bones. We're particularly looking at elbows and hips and knees. In larger breed dogs, longer bodied dogs, spinal column issues. We're looking at the stiffness and soreness that they can get in joints. When they are stiff and sore in joints, they are more likely to have accidents like falling. What you're going to find is that a certain point that dogs are behaving trying to run and do the same activities they could before, but they're going to get injuries from doing those activities. It's really your responsibility as a care taker to slow them down a little bit when they hit that point where their bodies can't keep up with their minds. The next thing you want to be aware of and be careful with with a geriatric dog is their tooth care, and we'll talk about that a little bit later on. Watching out for abscesses, infections, broken teeth, the ability to chew their food. There's a number of different issues that you want to be careful and keep an eye on when you're dealing with a dog as they hit in their later years."