Senior Pet Care

Is your pet 7 years or older?

Then it's time For Your Pet’s Senior Wellness Exam, especially as winter approaches.

As our pets grow older we expect to see some changes, but what is normal aging?  And how do we best care  for them at this life-stage?

There is great variation in our dog & cats life expectancy but as a general rule any pet 7 years or older is considered middle aged or old aged.  

Normal changes include gradual hearing loss, greying fur, particularly around the muzzle, loss of muscle tone and a blue appearance to the eyes.  However, there are many diseases that can also cause these or similar  changes.  It is all too easy to dismiss our pets’ slowing down to old age when if fact they are often suffering with very treatable diseases.  For this reason it is even more important to get wellness examinations with your veterinarian. 

Here at Bendigo Animal Hospital we recommend a Senior Wellness Examination every 12 months and in some cases every 6 months.  These examinations are a great opportunity for you to receive tailored information on how to accommodate your pet’s changing dietary, exercise and environmental needs and will aid in the prevention of disease or early detection is the best path to keeping happy healthy furred members of the family.

For more information or to see how old your pet is in human years go to the link below.

http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresources/pdf/en_us/smallanimal/practice-management/steps/preventive-brochures-age-chart.pdf

Pet Food Safety

As a naive young veterinarian and pet owner I was until very recently under the impression that commercial pet food had to be safe for pet consumption.  The pet food industry is in fact self-regulated under the Pet Food Industry Association of Australia Code of Practice, however, pet meat producers do not operate under the same regulations.  (How could I be so silly as to think that pet meat was pet food?)
Disappointingly pet meat can legally contain levels of preservatives that cause serious clinical disease in our pets.  Even those foods that meet Australian standards are not necessarily tested to ensure they are safe and complete.
At Bendigo Animal Hospital we are happy to discuss appropriate nutrition for your pet.  We have a new range of diets in clinic that provide preventative nutritional support.  Hill's VetEssentials is a range of premium pet food that supplies a superior complete diet for your pet.  These scientifically backed foods have added benefits to aid healthy digestion, manage your pet's weight, keep adult teeth healthy, provide all the nutrients for superior skin and coat health as well as providing your dogs with nutritional support for their joints and providing your cats with a diet appropriate to maintain bladder health.
Feeding a clinically proven diet of the best quality provides peace of mind that you are providing your pet with the nutritional support for a healthy, happy life.
Dr Lyndel