How to tell if a dog has Alzheimer's

One of the common questions in the veterinary office is the amazement at some diseases: Does my dog have cancer? Do dogs have epilepsy? Do dogs have diabetes? And, perhaps the most surprising thing is to say that dogs have Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's in dogs is very similar to human Alzheimer's, only it's not called Alzheimer's disease because Mr. Alzheimer studied it in humans and it has a rather complex name: Senile Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome (SDCS)

Senile cognitive dysfunction syndrome begins as a sign when the animal urinates and defecates where it did not before, it forgot what was educational, forgot what it had learned and then by forgetting what it had learned it relaxes and discarding organic issues, urinating and defecating without the containment of inhibitory brakes.

The second thing we can notice is the alteration of the wakeful-sleep rhythm. The dog that slept at night is now awake during the night and during the day it sleeps all day. It alters its rhythm and it is also the dog that at 2-3 in the morning groans looking at nothing itself

And there is also a change of character, the dog that was grumpy becomes calmer, more passive, and the dog that was affable happens to have certain grumpy tantrums.

Fortunately, veterinary geriatrics and veterinary gerontology provide drugs that allow Alzheimer's in dogs, perhaps something new to you, can be, I don't say cured, but relieved to make the last stage of our affections' lives happy.

When talking about treatments for Alzheimer's, it is necessary to be very cautious. Especially in humans in whom, as this neurodegenerative disease has no cure, any progress is received with great expectation.

It should be noted that especially the dog, but also the cat, suffer from this similar pathology that, as I said, is defined as senile cognitive dysfunction syndrome.

In the dog, there are some drugs that help to cope with the situation, and veterinary doctors specializing in old age know how to deal with these pathological circumstances with some margin of success.

The striking feature of recent research is the case of two old drugs: gemfibrosil, used to reduce circulating cholesterol, and retinoic acid, used for diseases as diverse as acne or psoriasis, have shown in mice that they can counteract brain damage and that they can even improve cognition.

Treatment with both drugs combined applied to animals has shown some potential success and some encouraging results.

Both drugs have the amazing ability to concentrate on cells of the brain, which look like stars intimately involved in the process that progressively and insidiously destroys the brain.

These cells, called astrocytes, have been found to be responsible for the accumulation of plaque that damages neurons in this disease of humans, dogs and cats.

It has also been found that when both drugs are used in combination, they force astrocytes to reverse their destructivity and reduce the formation and deposit of these plaques in the brain, improving cognitive function.

The findings suggest that, perhaps in the not too distant future, these drugs can be reused to “persuade” those cells to play a beneficial role, serving as “cleaning machines” for plaques by eliminating their accumulation and preventing Alzheimer's from destroying the brain.

Life expectancy is a genetic condition marked from the beginning of life, matching it with longevity will be a condition that will depend on how we treat life and its case: the body of our animals.

That way everyone will always become old, but it will be up to us not to make our animals old.

Old age is not a disease. Old age is just a stage of life.

Of course, coinciding with the logical deterioration of age, at that time, the chances of suffering diseases increase.

Life expectancy is a genetic condition marked from the beginning of life, matching it with longevity will be a condition that will depend on how we treat life and its case: the body of our animals.

That way everyone will always become old, but it will be up to us not to make our animals old.

Old age is not a disease. Old age is just a stage of life. Of course, coinciding with the logical deterioration of age, at that time, the chances of suffering diseases increase.

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