How to care for older pets

3. Care and feeding
A recent study supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, found that, along with exercise and play, senior dogs were more likely to learn new tasks when their diet was rich in fruits, vegetables and vitamins. Enrich your dog's diet by giving him pieces of carrot or apple instead of dog biscuits, or adding cut-up broccoli, bell peppers, green beans, cherry tomatoes and even strawberries to his regular food.

"Dogs will try anything that's different," says Arseneau. "It's a matter of taste for the animal." She says fruits and veggies should make up no more than one-fifth of your dog's diet (if you feed your dog five cups of food per day, it could be changed to four cups of food plus one cup of fruits and vegetables). But good eating habits aren't only important to dogs. "Cats are probably more sensitive to food than dogs," says Arseneau, who adds that because cats' taste buds diminish with age, they become more finicky. A high-grade senior food helps both dogs and cats age better.

Choosing from the rows of food on the shelves can be a daunting task. To add to the confusion, more companies are offering diets designed for older pets. "There are as many different geriatric diets as there are pet-food companies," says Hamilton. "Every company is a little bit different, but basically what they have done is made the food more digestible and lower in fat, and the food has special proteins that create less work for the kidneys."

Senior diets are designed with a healthy pet in mind, but not all senior pets have the same activity level, so make sure the calorie count of the food is appropriate for your pet. While it's possible to compare a brand's protein content and other nutritional levels, the bag doesn't say what quality of food it is. Hamilton suggests talking to your vet when deciding which senior food is right for your pet.

What's age got to do with it?
Being aware of just what senior means can help you prepare for the added responsibility you'll have as your pet ages.

A dog's status as senior depends on his size: small dogs mature faster but live longer than large breeds; a medium-size dog -- one between 9.5 and 23 kilograms -- is considered senior by his seventh birthday (47 years old in human years). A cat's age isn't determined by size since felines have only one size category; all you have to know is that cats begin entering their senior years by age eight (48 years old in human years).

Click here for more pet versus human age comparison information.

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