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the Elderly BC - cognitive issues


KrisK
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Hi everyone, it's been quite awhile since I posted here. My Cricket will be 15 in a couple of weeks.

. She has arthritis which inhibits her mobility to a degree but she manages with pain medication and supplements.

What is concerning to us, is her cognitive abilities. While she seems to hear and see well enough, she seems to 'stare off into space' a great deal and doesn't acknowledge that we are speaking to her.

We know that we are fortunate to have her for this long and we just want to make her remaining time comfortable as possible.

Does anyone use supplements that might help?

 

Thank you.

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Don't know about supplements, as I do not give them to my elder dog. Kit turned 16 in December. She sometimes stares into space. Sometimes she will go to the door to be let out, go out, pee, come back in and then stand there a minute ("ok, now, what was I doing??") and go back to the door again. I think she forgets that she just went out. :) These kinds of things are, to my understanding, very normal in an elder dog. We all become a little spacey and sometimes forgetful as we get old.

 

If she is not acknowledging your speaking to her, the most likely thing is that she doesn't hear you. What are you using as your criteria to say that she has no hearing issues? Most often hearing and eyesight do become weaker in elder dogs. Sometimes you have to make some noise to get their attention. With Kit, I clap my hands, and then she knows to look at me and find out what I am telling her. She is just as eager to do what I want as she always was, she just needs a little help. Probably the same is true of your dog.

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I'd also wonder if she wasn't suffering a hearing loss. My old Jesse lost most of his hearing by age 14 and he did a lot of staring off in the wrong direction. I could accidentally startle him sometimes, if he didn't know I was there and I came up behind him.

If she's not distressed by anything, I'd say just keep doing whatever you do to keep her happy and comfy. :)

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There are medications that can help. I looked into it a couple years ago for one of my guys. Don't remember names but was told it can take 3 weeks to begin working so I didn't pursue it. Also some RX dog foods that have been shown to help. Talk to your vet

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Maybe inquire about Selegiline=generic. Eldypryl brand name for humans. Veterinary brand is Anipryl if you want to be massively ripped off.

 

I had Minnie's compounded at a vet pharmacy so it was 1/4 the cost of the brand name that my former vet hospital offered. I'm going back 10 years since I used it so there may be something better. There were no dangerous side effects as I recall. A dog may or may not respond but it may be worth a try.

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Purina has a food named "Bright Minds" that you might want to check out. Both people I know who put their old dogs on it noticed an improvement. Not a miracle, but improvement. Also Anipryl. The same two people also tried Anipryl (one a vet and another a breeder of labs) and felt that there was improvement.

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