How to spot signs of dementia in your dog

Time ravages our beloved pets as surely as it does for our less beloved human relatives and sadly even for ourselves.

But vets have identified several early warning signs that can help you give your dog the treatment he deserves — if you’re concerned that your aging, faithful dog may be suffering from dementia.

While the condition, known as canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCDS), may be more difficult to detect than cognitive decline in a speaking, writing human, there are still obvious signs to watch for.

“Dogs live in our homes and develop naturally occurring diseases just like we do,” said Margaret Gruen, assistant professor of behavioral medicine at North Carolina State University and co-author of a 2022 study on cognitive testing in dogs.

Gruen said her group’s findings “hold promise for both dogs and humans in terms of improving our understanding of disease progression and potentially testing treatments.”

Below are the top five signs of canine dementia that you can use to care for the senior pet in your life.

Slowed walking speed

In general, dogs will move more slowly than other adult dogs in the last quarter of their lives, regardless of size, according to new research released this month. Frontiers in veterinary medicine.

But a slower gait is also a key indicator of the aging pooch’s cognitive decline.

“When you look at functional aging, mobility and cognition are the two most important predictors of morbidity,” said study co-author Natasha Olby, chair of gerontology at North Carolina State University.

“For me, the exciting part of the study is not just showing that gait speed correlates with dementia in dogs and in humans,” said Olby‘but also that the method of testing we used is easy to replicate.’

The study by Olby and her team looked at off-leash running gait speed for 46 adult and 49 senior dogs. The healthy adult dogs served as a control group.

All dogs were encouraged to run a short distance to get some tasty food.

The older dogs were also subjected to further testing where their owners were also asked to complete a Canine Dementia Scale (CADES) assessment questionnaire. The results, according to Olby, turned out to be very accurate.

“It could become a simple screening test that any vet could perform on aging patients,” she said.

Disturbed sleep

Unlike people who suffer from dementia, dogs with dementia also suffer from sleep disturbances, according to research also coming out of NC State this year.

The study, led by postdoctoral researcher Alejandra Mondino, observed 28 senior dogs, 17 females and 11 males.

Researchers found that the older four-legged friends who struggled to stay in the deep NREM and REM sleep stages were more likely to also suffer from dementia

Each dog had a full physical and cognitive test prior to the sleep study, with owners also completing a CADES questionnaire.

These preliminary tests helped better assess the pet’s current state of cognitive decline.

The researchers then used a non-invasive technique to collect data for their study, which involved applying sticky gel electrodes to the dog’s skull. Each dog then did two sleep sessions, one to get comfortable in the lab and another to actually track their sleep cycle.

As published in Frontiers in veterinary medicine in April, Mondino’s team found that the older four-legged friends who struggled to stay in the NREM and REM sleep stages were more likely to also suffer from dementia.

REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement, is the dream phase of sleep. NREM stands for non-REM and is a deep sleep state that serves as the next best thing.

‘In NREM, the brain clears toxins, including the beta-amyloid proteins involved in diseases such as Alzheimer’s,’ says Mondino. “REM sleep is when dreams happen, and this stage is very important for memory consolidation.”

REM, which stands for Rapid Eye Movement, is the dream phase of sleep. NREM stands for non-REM and is a deep sleep state that serves as the next best thing. In NREM sleep, the brain clears toxins, including the beta-amyloid proteins involved in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease

Trouble recognizing loved ones

By the 13 questions on the Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Rating (CCDR) scaleonly two questions are weighted so important that dog owners are asked to multiply their answer scores.

One is ‘Compared to 6 months ago, does your dog not recognize familiar people or pets?’ Veterinary experts weigh this single sign of canine dementia as three times more important than any other question when assessing a dog’s cognitive state.

So if your dog doesn’t seem to recognize you or his best canine friends, it’s time to take them to a vet for an examination.

Vets weigh this single sign of canine dementia as three times more important than any other question when assessing a dog’s cognitive state: “Compared to 6 months ago, does your dog not recognize familiar people or pets?”

Trouble finding dropped food

The second most important question on the CCDR scale is ‘Compared to 6 months ago, does your dog have difficulty finding food that has fallen on the floor?’

You don’t have to think twice about this: dogs love food, especially leftovers that have fallen within reach and are there for the taking.

Difficulty keeping track of an item that their powerful sense of smell is well tuned to naturally serves as a clear sign that something is wrong with their mental faculties.

The next most important question on the Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Rating scale: “Compared to 6 months ago, does your dog have trouble finding food that has fallen on the floor?”

hearing loss

A typical healthy dog ​​can hear tones around 50 decibels (dBs) without any problems, with aging and hard of hearing dogs needing louder and louder sounds to register.

Last year, Olby and her colleagues studied 39 senior dogs looking for a correlation between the pets’ hearing problems and the general state of their cognitive decline.

“In humans, we know that age-related hearing loss affects an estimated one-third of people over 65,” Olby said. future.

“This study indicates that the same connection is at work in aging dogs,” she said.

Of the 39 dogs in the study, 19 had no problem hearing at 50 dB.

Of the rest, 12 dogs need a volume of 70 dB to hear, and eight dogs needed a volume of 90 dB – as loud as a commercial jet during takeoff.

These eight dogs closely matched those who scored high for cognitive problems on their owner’s cognitive questionnaire scores, as well as on their physical cognitive tests, as published in August in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

The NC State team has done so much research on this topic, not just because they care about dogs, but because the finding can be used to help people as well.

“By quantifying neurological and physiological changes in older dogs,” Olby said, “we’re not only improving our ability to identify and treat these issues in our pets.” We are also creating a model to improve our understanding of the same problems in humans.’