{"id":306,"date":"2015-09-30T21:48:13","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T21:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/blog\/?p=306"},"modified":"2022-06-20T14:01:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T14:01:35","slug":"cognitive-dysfunction-aging-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/blog\/cognitive-dysfunction-aging-pets\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive Dysfunction In Aging Pets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/518541726-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Cognitive dysfunction\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/518541726-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/518541726.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>As pets age, just like people, their cognitive function tends to decline.\u00a0 Cognitive dysfunction is the loss of behaviors such as learning, remembering and concentration.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/p>\n<h1>The following\u00a0are several symptoms of cognitive dysfunction in pets.<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Disorientation:<\/span>\u00a0 Lost in familiar place, not recognizing familiar people, going to wrong side of door, etc.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Interactions:<\/span>\u00a0 Altered interaction between owner and dog, may be more clingy, disinterested or irritable.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sleep-Wake Cycles:<\/span>\u00a0 May sleep more during day and less at night.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">House Soiling:<\/span>\u00a0 Soils in areas that they were unlikely to before, i.e. dogs may soil inside house or in unusual places outside.\u00a0 Cats may soil outside litter box.\u00a0 As pets age their need to eliminate may increase, dogs may need more trips outside, and cats may need extra litter boxes.<\/p>\n<h3>Two additional symptoms are:<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Anxiety and Agitation:\u00a0<\/span> such as vocalization, new fears or phobias.\u00a0 More clingy and overly dependent on owner.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Learning and Memory:<\/span>\u00a0 Unable to perform tasks previously taught.\u00a0 Unable or slowly adapting to any changes in household and schedules.<\/p>\n<p>You can help your pet maintain brain health through exercise, new toys, training and social interactions.\u00a0 If additional help is needed, working with your veterinarian can help your pet overcome some of these symptoms with proper treatments.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to have annual wellness exams for your pet, especially an older pet, to detect or rule out any underlying medical problems that may mimic symptoms of cognitive dysfunction. \u00a0Be sure to discuss any behavior changes with your veterinarian.\u00a0\u00a0The earlier a problem is detected and treated the more likely we can\u00a0help\u00a0him\/her live\u00a0a longer, healthier, and happy\u00a0life.<\/p>\n<p>Get more information by searching cognitive dysfunction at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/pet-resources\/articles.html\">https:\/\/www.communityanimalhosp.com\/pet-resources\/articles.html<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As pets age, just like people, their cognitive function tends to decline.\u00a0 Cognitive dysfunction is the loss of behaviors such as learning, remembering and concentration.\u00a0<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,4],"tags":[92,93,91,94,95],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging-pets","category-pet-care","tag-aging-cats","tag-aging-dogs","tag-aging-pets-2","tag-cognitive-dysfunction-in-pets","tag-older-pet-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cognitive Dysfunction In Aging Pets | Community Animal Hospital<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"cognitive dysfunction, aging pets, aging dogs, aging cats, older pet care, older pet behaviors, older cat behavior, older dog behaivor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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