Grey Muzzle Common Health Issues

Just like people, many dogs live with feelings of anxiety. Some dogs have anxiety due to past experiences, and others may have anxiety related to their breed. Some animals may have been anxiety-free their whole life and then develop anxious tendencies in their old age. Whether your dog has always been anxious or is just now developing symptoms, there may be some natural ways to treat it.

Osteoarthritis, or Degenerative Joint Disease, is a common disease in our older pets. While many owners chalk the stiffness and decreased mobility seen in these pets as just “old age”, they can dramatically impact a pet’s quality of life. Dogs with osteoarthritis rarely vocalize their discomfort with cries or a non-weight bearing lameness. The changes are often subtle and can involve symptoms such as stiffness, reluctance to climb stairs, weight shifting when standing still and a decreased desire to go on walks. Osteoarthritis is a combination of changes seen in a joint. In a normal, healthy...

In my last post here on the Grey Matters Blog, I described the “Silent Signs” dogs show us that they are potentially dealing with chronic pain specifically related to their joints or spine. We discussed that it is critical for us, as pet parents, to change our perception of pain when it comes to our dogs and actually LEARN HOW TO LISTEN to them differently than we do now. The truth is that most dogs don’t cry, whine, or whimper when dealing with chronic pain.

Living with a blind dog is neither as difficult as you may fear nor as easy as you might hope. Paulette Calleen has lived with Lily, her blind Shih Tzu, for several years and offers some recommendations that can help people with visually impaired dogs.