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Meeting The Nutritional Needs Of The Geriatric Dog

Meeting the Nutritional Needs of the Geriatric Dog

Leslie Ufford

American College of Applied Science

Abstract

As dogs age, they experience many physiological changes, some of which affect their ability to metabolize nutrients. Disease process that are common to aging such a kidney and liver failure, cancer, diabetes mellitus and osteoarthritis also affect or are affected by nutritional factors. It is important for professionals working with aging dogs to be aware of the special nutritional needs of these animals in order to choose or counsel owners in choosing a diet that will provide optimal nutrition to meet each dog’s specific needs.

Meeting the Nutritional Needs of the Geriatric Dog

Studies performed by the American Veterinary Medical Association concluded that the percentage of dogs age 11 years or older increase from 14.6% in 1987 to 15.5% in 2001 and the percentage of dogs age 6 ' 10 years of age increased from 27.1% to 32.1% in that time (Center for Information Management, 2001). The aging of the dog population has caused an increase in research on geriatric conditions and releases of guidelines on care for geriatric animals from veterinary association (Burns, 2006). A vital part of any care plan for a geriatric dog is nutrition.

The Healthy Senior Dog

Healthy dogs do not appear to lose function of their digestive systems as they age, although aging can cause metabolic processes to become less efficient. These changes can be dietetically managed to ensure that the senior dog is receiving optimal nutrition.

Protein restriction was touted for many years as a way to prevent kidney disease. Experiments in rats showed that protein restriction prevented the development of glomerular capillary hypertension, hyperfiltration and hypertrophy after partial nephrectomy (Brown, 1991). The assumption was made that dogs would respond in the same way, but newer research has shown that this is not the case. Bovée (1991), states that “results...