Although your four-legged friend will inevitably grow older, suffering from the problems that often come with advancing age is not a given. In fact, you can easily keep your senior pet comfortable, healthy, and happy throughout their golden years with a few modifications to their schedule, environment, and care. Follow our Valley Center Veterinary Clinic team’s tips for supporting your senior pet as they age.

#1: Incorporate daily exercise into your senior pet’s routine

Daily activity is crucial for preventing or minimizing many senior pets’ health problems. Regular exercise helps maintain muscle mass, flexibility, strong joints, and a healthy body condition. Pets who are kept at a healthy weight enjoy a longer, better quality of life and are more likely to avoid debilitating arthritis.

As your pet ages, stick to low-impact, gentle exercises to prevent excessive joint strain. Ideas include:

  • Walks up and down hills
  • Stretching exercises
  • Obedience skills
  • Hide-and-seek with treats
  • Swimming

Many activities exercise your pet’s mind as well as their body, which is crucial for warding off cognitive dysfunction. 

#2: Avoid extreme temperatures and weather conditions

As your pet grows older, regulating their body temperature becomes more difficult. Certain common conditions in older pets, including hypothyroidism and obesity, also make thermoregulation more challenging. While having to worry about extreme cold in Valley Center is unlikely, you should be aware of dangerous hypothermia if you travel outside California with your pet.

When exercising or playing with your pet outdoors, keep a close eye on their comfort level. Watch for early signs of overheating, such as labored panting, thick drool, and lethargy, that indicate your pet needs to go inside and cool off. Senior pets typically need fewer outdoor activities to stay comfortable and safe, so play for shorter, more frequent sessions to ensure your furry pal gets the exercise they need.

#3: Help your senior pet with grooming

Arthritis commonly affects older pets, but can also occur in young cats and dogs. Often, the decreased mobility and flexibility, plus joint stiffness and pain, makes staying on top of their grooming difficult for arthritic pets. Cats in particular struggle with maintaining their coat and hygiene, so help your senior pet stay clean and tangle-free with regular brushing and bathing. Older pets can also develop an assortment of health conditions that cause flaky, dry skin, or excessively oily skin, so choose an appropriate bathtime shampoo. Medicated shampoos may alleviate your pet’s skin condition.

Another tip—pay special attention to your senior pet’s paws during grooming. Trimming fur tufts short and keeping nails at an appropriate length can reduce slipping on slick surfaces. When trimming your pet’s nails, avoid manipulating their legs, paws, and toes too much, as they may have uncomfortable arthritis in these joints and excessive movement is painful.

#4: Restructure your senior pet’s living area for improved access and comfort

Older pets can develop health issues that make getting around their home a challenge, so ensure they can easily and comfortably access everything they need by:

  • Providing traction — Place carpet runners, rugs, or yoga mats on slick floors to prevent slipping.
  • Raising food and water bowls — Arthritis frequently attacks elbows and shoulders, especially in cats, so placing their food and water bowls in an elevated stand makes mealtimes more comfortable.
  • Installing ramps or pet steps — Keep your pet from struggling to jump with ramps or steps next to furniture or leading to the outdoors.
  • Providing firm bedding — Firm orthopedic bedding better supports aching joints.
  • Plugging in nightlights — Senior pets often experience vision loss, so plug in nightlights in dark hallways or rooms to guide their way at night.
  • Choosing low-sided litter boxes — High-sided or enclosed litter boxes are difficult for senior arthritic cats to clamber in and out, so swap out tall boxes for low-sided ones.

#5: Schedule more frequent preventive care visits for your senior pet

While you may associate your pet’s preventive care visits with vaccinations, these wellness check-ups entail so much more. As your pet reaches their senior years, more frequent veterinary visits are recommended for more reasons than vaccinations. 

Increased wellness visits benefit your senior pet by:

  • Detecting early stage disease — Although age is not a disease, many health problems occur later in life. Frequent monitoring of your pet’s health status through wellness screening tests can detect disease in its earliest stages and provide a better prognosis.
  • Managing chronic conditions — Chronic conditions change over time and can require frequent treatment plan adjustments. Regular monitoring via wellness visits can preserve your senior pet’s quality of life.

Growing old doesn’t have to be a hardship for your four-legged friend. Give our Valley Center Veterinary Clinic team a call to schedule your senior pet’s wellness visits to keep them active, comfortable, and healthy.