Dog Dementia

[Catherine]

Quote:I often wonder how much of a "given" dementia with advancing age has to be...

I don't believe it is a given for humans or animals.
I think there are factors like food, exercise and mental stimulation that play a big part. A lot of city dogs never get a good run outside. They seldom see the outside. People are terrible when it comes to food and vitamins and a general well balanced nutrition. I mean this for people and their pets.

Some cases of a dog peeing in the house could be dementia, but the dog also might have an aging bladder that has less control.

A dog that seems lost in its own house might just be having problems seeing. The dog might not hear as well. our senses do decline with age a bit and so does our sense of balance.  With our pets we just need to keep that in mind and make allowances for the changes. 

There probably are cases of dementia in dogs, but that doesn't mean we should assume all old dogs have dementia or see any change in a dog to be the signs of dementia.

People are like that over Alzheimers. If you misplace something everyone immediately gives you that look. Now they are going to do that to the family dog.  It is hard to recognize an illness or condition and tell people about it without creating and "epidemic" of people thinking they are seeing signs of the condition. If it leads people to get an older dog checked by a vet that is good. If it leads to people abandoning or euthanizing a pet it will not be good. I guess it depends on how the information is handled and how it is made public.