Old age defects

All joints can wering out, in the front legs, but also in the legs behind and back of the dogs. Dog who suffering from pain are not good listeners and they seem a bit stubborn. If you call them they don't come right away anymore. The oldies go their own way and their own tempo. Sometimes they lay down during the walk. They are not that enthousiastic anymore if the old dogs go for a walk. Old dogs can be moody and can be snappy at every other dog. 

A veterinarian can examen a dog and see if the dog has arthrosis. There a a lot of products (for human) on the market that you can give a dog for old age problems like arthrosis. These products are Glucosamine/Chondroitine = this products makes the joints flexible, also MSM is a good product if the Glucosamine/Chondroitine is not affective enough.

 

Symptoms by a hearing defect or sight defect

Old age dogs, who can not see so good anymore, they moastly walk behind you on their feeling. You have to keep  them in you're sight field, because sometimes they walk a wrong way and than it is possible that you loose them.

Symptoms with kidney problems

* less appetite
* more drinking and urinating
* bad breath
* lose weight
* vomiting and/or diahrea
* listless or weak

An bloodexam can tell you if the Creatinine and Ureum are good.


Symptoms with Heart problems

* less endurance and are sooner tired
* coughing moastly during the night or when they are resting
* lose weight, or have a tick belley, from the fluid behind their longs

Heartpatients wil be examend on the mucous membranes of the mouth and the eyes. With healthy dogs is the color of the mucous membranes pink. The color of the mucous membranes are with the heartpatients more red or bleacher than normal. The capillary refill time is longer by heartpatients, you can test this by squeeze on  the mucous membranes, within a second has the color change back to his original color.

Important with an heartexamen is the frequence of the heart (beats a minute) but also the extra noises and the regulairy of the heart. The longs will be examend. The puls rate needs to be feeled good, en has to be powerfull and has to be in unanimity with the heartbeat.

Our Keshia has a heartmurmur, after she has running, she always fainted. The veterinarian wanted to see what happend if she ran, and we had to let her ran. After a few seconds you saw her to start walking like a dronk person. So we took Keshia in to the kliniek, and the veternarian did not feel any puls.

If dogs hold fluid in their belly, the vet kan measure the dimension of the belly to critizise. Furter heartexams are, röntgen, an echo or an ECG (elektrocardiogram).


Medicine

If the outcome is an heartproblem, dogs can have heartmedication.

A note:
Good food can give an supporting factor for the heart. Our 11 1/2 year old Keshia is eating Raw Meat.  2005 Keshia had always a shortnes of breath. She had fluid behind her longs and she was coughing al day. The older she became the worse it was. She had to get medications to pee a lot, so the fluid would be out of the body.

In the winter of 2005  it went worse with our older shelties. Kalin was coughing and could walk very bad, Keshia was coughing and had fluid behind her longs. Savannah had seizure after seizure. 1 week a month. In march 2006 I was seeing no way out anymore, with 3 sick shelties. Than the vet gave me the advice to give one of my shelties Raw meat, without gluten and granes. I gave all my shelties Raw Meat, without Gluten and Granes. And all shelties started to feel better. Keshia did after a while not coughing anymore, we stopped some of her mediciation. She is more active than ever, she is happy, and likes to play again.

Keshia is allergic for the medication she needs, so we give her a milder medication for the heart, in combination with an homeopatic medication she does really good, for several years now.