Senior Pet Care
Owning your pet through to its senior years is a gift and privilege.
As their muzzles turn grey and they prefer to plod about the home and curl up on the sofa and snooze the day away, their routine becomes part of yours. It is common that as pets age, their dependency and need for extra care and love from you increases.
We will work with you to ensure they remain happy and comfortable for as long as possible. Having senior pet checks is a great way to ensure that any age-related changes or diseases are detected earlier so that appropriate care measures can be put into place. We will treat you and your pet as individuals and come up with a holistic approach that suits you (including consideration of emotional and social factors).
Osteoarthritis
Many pets suffer from feline or canine arthritis as they age; be it due to injury earlier in life, wear and tear, or developmental disease. The earlier this is detected, the sooner we can implement changes to slow progression of the disease, improve your pet’s quality of life and control the day-to-day pain they feel. A good resource to help you assess your own dog for signs of pain and arthritis is The Canine Arthritis Management site https://caninearthritis.co.uk/
Our pain relief plans are tailored to the individual pet since each one will respond and tolerate things differently. The approach is multifactorial and can involve medications, nutraceuticals, weight loss, physiotherapy, and exercise advice. Medications include non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and other drugs that control or block pain, whilst nutraceuticals encompass injectable or oral joint supplements and diets for joint care. Weight loss plays a massive role in reducing an animal’s pain and improving their mobility. Our nurses can provide complimentary diet plans and weight loss monitoring to assist you in achieving this.
We are also keen advocates of hydrotherapy and physiotherapy
‘Use it or lose it’ as they say, and this couldn’t be more true. Keeping your pet moving is key to retaining as much active muscle as possible to support their aging joints and maintain their mobility. We routinely collaborate and refer our patients to Sheryl at www.pettherapy.co.nz
Acupuncture can also be an alternative therapy for controlling pain and some pets respond brilliantly to this.
See our acupuncture link here.
If you are unsure about your pet’s quality of life or would like a thorough senior pet health check then feel free to book an appointment.