Senior Wellness

Everyone loves a cute, cuddly, playful kitten or puppy, but what about when those adorable furballs age?  They are loyal to us, waiting at the door each night when we get home, but do we give them the same attention we did when they were younger?  First we need to realize that our pets need different levels of care at different ages and stages, and then we need to remember that our pets age remarkably faster than we do.  We want to share with you four principles of senior wellness that will help keep your loyal friends comfortable and content well into their senior years.

• Health Fair Blood Work:  As our pets age (they do age faster than people), monitoring blood values becomes important. Regular Health Fair Blood Work can help establish baseline values, identify unseen disease processes at an early stage, serve as a pre-anesthetic health screen for any surgical or dental procedure, and monitor effects of medications.  

• Dental Care:  Over 80% of pets we see have some sort of oral disease.  Yes, this does include mild to moderate tartar.  Not so bad, but over time, this tartar buildup in senior pets leads to severe periodontal disease, including the destruction of the supporting structures of the teeth.  Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for us to see teeth from pets that are rotting out.  
  
  We recommend annual dental cleanings, as well as home care routines that help keep maintain your pets oral health.  Call today for a free dental check.  We will be happy to talk about your pets oral health, and the best practices to keep them clean.

• Nutrition:  Just as with people, as our pets age, their nutritional requirements change.  It is important to be educated and informed about what you are feeding your pet.  Marketing specialists are hired to market pet food so that when you catch site of fancy packaging, watch highly produced commercials, and read words on the labeling, they make you feel warm and fuzzy if you feed this food.  Keep in mind the contents may truly not match up.  At Altitude, we believe strongly in the power of good nutrition.  There are 3 things to consider when buying pet food.  If the pet food you buy doesn’t match up to these 3 considerations, we suggest you change diets.  We sell and recommend Hill’s Science Diet.  The vets #1 choice to feed their own pets. 

• Multi-modal approach to pain relief:  One final mode of senior wellness is pain relief.  As our pets age, being able to tell if they are in pain, can be difficult.  Some signs may include panting, appearing restless, or tenderness to touch of a body part, but it is also acceptable to assess by observation of behavior.  If your pet sleeps more, does not jump as much, or chooses not to go for walks, they may be telling us they are hurting.  When we think of helping our pet with it’s pain, employing different methods at the same time can have a positive synergistic effect.   If you think your pet may be painful, let us help.  There is much to gain in understanding from an exam and discussion of behavior.