Stay on top of senior pet wellness

Dr. M. Margaret King
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND September 23, 2008 01:01 am

— September is National Senior Pet Wellness Month. We cherish our four-legged members of the family and want them to be with us forever. They are indeed living much longer than in previous years. This is due partly to better diets, better parasite control, vaccinations, regular dental care and better veterinary care in general.
We as Edmond residents are so lucky to have the access we do to advanced care and diagnostics for our pets. Within an hour’s travel time or less we have two board-certified surgeons, a board-certified internal medicine specialist, an ophthalmology specialist, a physical therapy specialist, access to MRI, CT scanning, chemotherapy and a state-of-the-art ER facility with several board-certified veterinary specialists located behind Sam’s on Memorial Road.
We also have a Center for Veterinary Health Sciences in Stillwater. In Tulsa we have access to a board-certified dermatologist, a board-certified pet dentist and a certified pet acupuncturist. Not every city in the country is so lucky to have all this available to our pets.
As owners of senior pets we need to be aware of the essential role that regular wellness exams play in our ability to detect and begin to treat sub-clinical (silent), as well as clinical diseases. Just as with humans, early detection of any disease is essential to effecting a cure or ensuring a much longer quality of life.
Various types of cancer, of course, top the list. For example, now that dogs are living much longer, they have a 25 percent possibility of developing mammary (breast) cancer if they are not spayed prior to their first heat cycle as a puppy. An early detection can allow for a cure.
Other diseases, such as kidney failure, can be identified and changes made to lengthen significantly the time available, and to make it a good quality of life. Changing its diet as soon as kidney compromise is detected in an older pet can, by itself, double the quality survival time.
Frequent monitoring and appropriate treatments of clinical signs as they begin to occur also add time and quality of life. For example, as the kidneys begin to fail, phosphate tends to become elevated because the kidneys are not getting rid of it like they should. We can put the pet on a phosphate binder to correct this and make him feel much better. We also know that starting a kidney failure pet on a blood pressure medication helps to slow progression of the disease and makes patients feel much better on a day-by-day basis.
Routine testing at least every six months is essential to maintain a good quality of care for seniors. A good physical examination and history of your pet’s activities at home also are needed. Remember your pet ages six to seven years for each of our calendar years, so a check-up every six months translates into one every three to four years in a pet’s lifetime.
If you have a pet 7 years or older, depending upon its breed, it is either a senior pet or approaching being a senior. A Great Dane for example at 7 years of age is an old grandpa and only can expect to live another one or two years. A toy poodle on the other hand easily may live to be 17-22 years of age.
Keeping a pet’s teeth clean is probably the second most important thing that will add years to its life, second only to regular blood work, vaccinations and physical exams. The teeth, if left dirty, lead to gingivitis and tooth loss. This can cause damage to other organs such as the kidneys, liver and heart valves.

DR. M. MARGARET KING, a longtime Edmond veterinarian, is a guest columnist. If you have any questions, send them to 1900 S. Bryant, Edmond, OK 73013.