Today's Veterinary Practice

SEP-OCT 2016

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

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tvpjournal.com | September/October 2016 | T O day' S Ve T erinary Prac T ice P rac T ice BU i L din G Peer r eviewed 103 The evolution of medicine, technology, and the pet–parent relationship has created an abundance of geriatric pets. a s a profession, veterinarians have many opportunities to give our aging companions and their caregivers the additional services and support needed as they navigate the unstable waters of "getting old." SENIOR PERSPECTIVES i n the not-too-distant future, both of us will qualify as seniors, and we will kick and scream our way through this realization. However, unless we develop life-limiting disease or chronic illness, our expectation is to make it through our 60s and 70s unscathed. That said, we know that when we reach our 80s and, hopefully 90s, even without disease present, we are going to start to struggle. We'll have limited mobility, sleep pattern changes, decreased vision and hearing, thermoregulation issues, and probably some cognition changes. We will rely on family support to help manage care, safety, health, and mental stimulation. a ging pets experience a similar scenario. How often does a healthy 8-year-old Labrador retriever come trotting into your clinic and, upon your dec - laration that the patient is a senior, the owner gives you the evil eye? This is often followed by a rant about how this pet is n OT a senior. y ou may even test a few senior wellness "upselling" techniques on the client, only to be huffed and puffed at. However, when the same patient returns at the age of 13, his status as a senior pet is more apparent—he is cautious on the tile floor, his eyes are hazier, his hindlimbs shake with lack of strength, and his coat has lost its glow. He actually looks old. Bloodwork may appear normal, and aside from evidence of arthritis on radiographs, everything checks out okay. But the patient's age is also apparent at home, and the owner knows changes are occurring, even if she doesn't know how to improve her pet's quality of life. GOALS OF GERIATRIC CARE a s veterinarians who limit our practice to in-home hospice and euthanasia, we have a unique view of the family's home and pet's surroundings, and we also see the major challenges faced by geriatric pets and their owners. i n our practice, we help approximately 20,000 pets each year, and of those, 22% have not been seen by their regular veterinarians in over a year. Subjectively, we estimate that 43% of those pets would have benefitted from basic medical care, including pain and/or anxiety medications, hygiene support, and mobility support. These numbers support our industry's initiative to educate families of senior pets on the importance of annual (preferably, semi-annual) visits. With that said, many families have shared with us why they are hesitant to pursue veterinary care for their pets—they fear "unnecessary" care and treatment (vaccines were most commonly cited) and expensive diagnostics and therapy. However, with appropriate marketing and education, we can demonstrate that the goal of proper and effective geriatric pet care is to enhance the quality of life for pets and their owners. This care empowers owners to properly attend to their geriatric pets, motivates the veterinary team to embrace geriatric patients, and maintains the strength of the human–animal bond. WHAT AGE IS "OLD"? What qualifies a pet for the geriatric, or senior pet, title? For cats and small dogs, many consider 11.5 years of age geriatric, while medium and large dogs are considered the same at 10 and 9 years of age, respectively. i n 2007, the a merican Veterinary Medical a ssociation reported that 30% of dogs were 6 to 10 years of age and 14% of dogs were over the age of 10. But, as with humans, this is all relative. We strongly believe it is not how old pets are but simply how they ARE. Caring for g eriatri C Pets in Your Pra C ti C e Mary Gardner, DVM, and Dani McVety, DVM Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice, lapoflove.com

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