Category: Care

For senior pet owners with their fur buddies experiencing terminal illness, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) suggests veterinary hospice care. This veterinary practice gives the care and companionship necessary for animals suffering with a terminal condition, essentially to prepare them for the passing away of these beloved pets. The terminally ill dog will be provided comfort and pallative care. Before deciding if hospice senior dog care is for you and your pet, you should consider the following factors:

1. An important consideration before turning to veterinary hospice care is the family or household dynamics. The veterinarian must confer with the clients regarding the animal’s illness and the expected outcome. The responsibilities of the veterinarian must be carefully outlined as well.

2. Before hospice care is considered, the fees must be discussed by the client and the veterinarian.

3. Pallative care is a primary consideration. The animal must be free from pain as much as possible and placed in sanitary care. The hospice team should administer the needed analgesics and must be able to give the owners proper routine care. Constant communication and regular visits must be done by the veterinarian.

4. Before you turn to veterinary care, make sure that they have a Drug Enforcement Administration and the appropriate state license. They must likewise have records of all the drugs and supplies that they give.

10 Senior dog care tips

5. Veterinary staff should be part of the veterinary hospice team. Insurance coverage for staff must be considered, and should include liability and travel coverage. The latter is important if staff members will be traveling to and from the client’s residence.

6. Clients should be advised, preferably before the animal dies, of their options concerning care of the animal’s remains.

7. In the case of home deaths, clients may need confirmation of death through absence of vital signs or pronouncement of death by the attending veterinarian.

8. Euthanasia service should be available if the client and veterinarian at any time believe this service is appropriate. If clients are to be present, they should be informed of the events involved in euthanasia prior to their occurrence. Clients may need time alone with the deceased companion animal.            Read more here.

9. Veterinary care should ideally be available all the time, including the availability for emergency care, advice, or euthanasia after regular hours. This must be clear from the onset.

10. There should also be a team approach—an all-encompassing professional care that not only addresses the physical needs but also focuses on psychosocial care.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxESQGIp4eI

Kevin DeTrude, owner of Beverly’s Pet Campus in Fishers, IN, and Dr. Jerry Flanders of VIP Animal Care discuss ways to keep your dog happy and healthy as he or she grows older.  Your dog may be considered “older” by the time they are about 6 years of age.  But you can check with your vet to see what issues you may or may not need to worry about with your dog in particular.  Take a good look at your fur baby’s food – be sure it is the right balance and nutrition for your dog.  You also want to make sure that you are giving your dog enough exercise and keeping them active.  This can go a long way to helping them both physically and cognitively.   And always be sure you ask your vet any questions you have and bring up any issues you may be seeing with your furry friend.  You know them best, so don’t hesitate to ask!  Better safe than sorry!

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the cruelest illnesses our beloved senior citizens have to endure. Its symptoms are very much like cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) in dogs. Characterized by cognitive decline, unusual behavioral changes and degeneration, CDS happens in senior dogs as early as seven years—although most pet owners don’t recognize it until the dog reaches 10 years or older.

Ideally, to test for CDS, an older dog should undergo a test called 3-DNMP or three-component delayed non-matched to position task. Sounds expensive? It’s quite uncommon, too. In lieu of this test, we pet owners can only rely on telltale signs in to determine if our senior dogs are suffering from CDS. Such symptoms include disorientation, altered interaction with people or other pets, sleep-wake cycle alterations, and a lower energy level. If you notice these signs in your old buddy, this doesn’t mean that your dog is automatically suffering from CDS. Self-diagnosis can only go so far; you need to go to a veterinarian to seek expert opinion.

If you’ve just confirmed that your old buddy is suffering from CDS, don’t despair just yet: there are available treatments for you fur buddy.

Dietary intervention is a good way to reduce CDS symptoms. You will also have to give supplements, such as Vitamins E, C, and E. Also give your old buddy L-Carnitine, Alpha-lipoic acid, and other natural antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables.

Another method to reduce CDS symptoms is by turning to behavioral enrichment. There are studies that suggest that behavioral enrichment is just as effective as dietary intervention. A few examples include more exercise, providing different toys or a kennel mate for environmental enrichment, and having your buddy undergo cognitive enrichment.

There are several methods, but what is the most effective, exactly?

Caring for an older dog with CDS

All these things are helpful for dogs with CDS, but what researchers discovered was that the combination treatment group – the one that received both dietary and behavioral interventions – consistently demonstrated greater benefit than groups receiving a sole treatment. Prior reports indicated that the “3-DNMP” task was too difficult for aged animals, yet this study showed aged dogs making fewer errors and responding more slowly (actually a good sign!) on these complex tasks.

“I think that, as in humans, if you don’t use it, you lose it,” says Dr. Wynn. “Some older dogs are left at home with nothing to do but dwell on their anxieties – the gradual loss of hearing and sight, increasing stiffness and pain. I really think they dwell on these changes unless they are given other things to do and to think about, and are provided with adequate pain control. So we should manage their pain very aggressively with acupuncture, massage, herbs, chiropractic, physical therapy, and drugs, and provide them with small projects, or if possible, keep them in training. Training and exercise should never stop.”  (Read more here)

You also have the choice of nutraceuticals or pharmaceuticals, some of which are specifically for treatment of canine CDS, while others are also used for Alzheimer’s in humans.

Whatever your choice  of treatment for your fur buddy’s CDS, one thing’s for sure: have faith that your old buddy will get well. Caring for an older dog with CDS is quite difficult, but your love for your beloved pet should beat the odds. Soon enough, and if you follow any of the methods previously mentioned, things will get better!

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With the rising costs of medical care and breakthroughs in medical technology, you might not have enough financial resources to pay for treatment for your beloved pet’s unexpected illness. This is why you need pet health insurance. Most pet owners struggle with how to decide on pet insurance—but it’s easy enough once you get a hold of it.

The first step in choosing pet health insurance is finding the right and the best insurance care provider. To know that you are truly with the best, certain questions have to be asked. First, is the insurance company financially viable? Since you’ll be paying for the premium in exchange for unexpected medical costs in the future, you need to know that they’re financially capable of paying when that time comes.

You also need to consider the reputation of the company—how long they’ve been in the industry.

How to decide on pet insurance that’s best for your old buddy

When you are researching if a pet health insurance company is financially strong and dependable you need to have a different period of time in mind. If you were searching for auto insurance companies you may look for one that has been around at least 50 years if not longer. This type of insurance just gained legitimacy in the United States in the past decade and has only been offered since the early 1980s. Lassie paved the way for other pets to be insured in the US way back in 1982.

So if you are looking for a good option for your pet health insurance you may want to look at companies that have been around at least 15-20 years. These companies have likely worked out a lot of kinks in the system and are performing at a rate that is welcoming to new customers. (Read More)

If you are confident about your choice of pet insurance provider, then by all means fill out the application form and submit it as soon as possible. This way, you can get your old buddy protected as soon as possible from killer medical bills.

Taking your old buddy to the vet for a serious illness—often requiring expensive medications and critical care—can cost as much as a five-figure bill. Pet owners have often had to subject their beloved pets to euthanasia because they simply can’t pay the mounting bills. A measly 1.5% of pet owners in the US, on the other hand, subscribe to pet insurance and are able to reimburse their expenses.

Should you consider pet insurance?

According to the American Pet Products Association’s 2009-10 National Pet Owners Survey, 62 percent of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 71.4 million homes. The survey indicated that $12.79 billion is spent annually on veterinary care alone. So why don’t more owners opt for this risk management technique?

The average plan for an animal under age 6 costs $30 to $40 a month for dogs and about 25 percent less for cats. This isn’t a huge expense for a dedicated pet owner, but many owners are unaware of the existence of pet health insurance, while others haven’t taken the time to investigate the options.  (Read More)

Insurance companies rely on veterinarians to sell insurance policies—but the latter have mostly been unresponsive and unwilling. This is because veterinarians don’t want to be salespeople, who would have to spend money and resources to do the paperwork and coding. What vets don’t know is that pet insurance is more like car insurance than human insurance—where there’s a fee for service indemnity and reimbursement for unexpected health bills, not for regular check-ups.

Deciding on an insurance policy can be tough, as vets themselves are hesitant about making recommendations. You can check out AAHAhealthypet.com, which gives a seal of acceptance for policies that meet their criteria. Another website you can consult is PetInsuranceReview.com, which will provide you with the basics of pet insurance and will help you shop for recommended ones. A good insurance policy is detailed enough to inform you of the following concerns: the monthly premium rate, the reimbursement period, and the annual cap.

But choosing the best insurance policy at the most affordable rate is not  all that you should look for—choosing the best insurance company is just as important. Some companies are downright confusing and deceptive, covering only certain breeds, specific genetic diseases, or the description of the veterinarian rather than the cost.

The better insurance companies, on the other hand, will have a strict 80/20 payment policy, and will insure pets of any age—without any need of going through the rigorous process of checking the specific procedure.