Good Old Dog: Expert Advice for Keeping Your Aging Dog Happy, y, and Comfortable

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Our dogs are living longer than ever thanks to enormous advances in medical and a highly evolved understanding of what they need to thrive. No one knows this better than the faculty of the Cummings Veterinary School at Tufts, who treat more than 8,000 older dogs annually. Their philosophy of caring for aging dogs combines empathy for each individual dog and owner, a comprehensive approach to patient care, cutting-edge science and technology, and a commitment to innovation. Good Old Dog brings their renowned clinic into your living room, arming you with essential advice to see your dog through his golden years. Featuring • tional advice—not every senior diet is right for every senior dog • Emphasis on treating conditions common to older dogs so they live longer • How to evaluate complicated procedures and decide what’s right for your dog • The cost of caring for an older dog and how to shoulder the burden • How to identify cognitive decline and how to manage it • Advice on creating a y and comfortable environment • How to determine when “it’s time” and how to cope with the loss • And much more Common Questions About Aging Dogs Answered in Good Old Dog Q: Regarding a dog’s age, is it really seven human years for every year lived? A: Not exactly. For a medium-size dog who weighs between twenty and fifty pounds, yes, that’s about right. For a large dog, one who weighs more than ninety pounds, every year of life is closer to the equivalent of about every eight human years. For a small dog under twenty pounds, each year is the equivalent of about six human years. That’s why small dogs, on average, live longer than large ones. They "use up" fewer years with each year of life. Q: If I choose a dog food that says "senior" on the label, I’m giving my older dog the tion he or she needs, right? A: Who knows? "Senior" is a marketing term, not a specific tional term, so it means whatever the manufacturer wants it to mean. Some "senior" dog foods are high in calories, some are low in calories, and some have a ent composition that is not well balanced for all older dogs, with levels of sodium, protein, and other ingredients all over the . The only way to know if a food is right for your geriatric dog is to make sure there’s a sentence on the package that says the food is appropriate for maintenance, not for growth or gestation and lactation. Q: If a dog has , she or he will limp, right? A: Not necessarily. If the is in the same spot on both hind legs or both front legs, the dog may waddle or shuffle. That is, the gait will look symmetrical, unlike a limp. But waddling and shuffling are not normal ways of walking, and a dog who is not walking normally should be taken to the vet for an exam. Q: Why is it that dogs with cancer who are on chemo don’t go bald? A: It’s rare for a dog on chemo to lose hair because dogs get lower doses of chemotherapy for their size. In people, the with chemo is to try to cure the cancer. In dogs, it’s to extend life but not rid the body of the malignancy. Since chemo can be so debilitating, with side effects that include , diarrhea, and infections, and since an older dog with cancer will lose not decades of life but only a few years at most, the veterinary community feels it is not right to put such a dog through a medical regimen that will destroy the quality of life while affording the animal only a few extra months to a couple of years. Q: Why is it that you never hear of dogs dropping dead of a heart attack? A: Dogs don’t get heart attacks, generally speaking. They get heart failure, a progressive disease that takes its toll over time. Fortunately, much can be done to forestall the effects of heart failure and grant an affected dog several more years of good-quality life. Q: My ten-year-old dog doesn’t come when I call him anymore. Is he falling prey to age-related dementia? A: It’s hard to say. He might just be going deaf. Dementia is a bit tricky to diagnose in dogs because they are unable to communicate in words that they don’t hear or can’t see as well or have other declines that could be mistaken for dementia. Good Old Dog has a checklist with constellations of symptoms that, taken together, indicate when you should take your dog in for a neurological evaluation to see if he has the canine version of Alzheimer’s. New methods to treat the disease are emerging, and the sooner your dog is correctly diagnosed, the better chance you have of stalling any cognitive decline. Q: A dog will let you know when "it’s time" to put him down, right? A: Not necessarily. Many conditions in older dogs that look like "this is the end" are very treatable. While we believe that euthanizing a dog who is in constant pain and has no quality of life left is a responsible and loving thing to do, you should never make a choice to euthanize without first taking him to the doctor for a professional workup. We’ve delivered the good news to many dog owners that, despite their fear, the dog’s time has not yet come.