Article on Senior Mobility Contains Startling Fact
I was perusing an article in the most recent issue of Veterinary Practice News when I came upon a quote that really surprised me.
The article discussed the growing issue of mobility problems in older pets. As they age many pets develop arthritis, muscle weakness and neurological problems that lead to decreased ability to walk and engage in normal activities. Many humans experience similar problems. People often use walkers or wheelchairs when mobility problems become disabling. Although wheelchair-like devices exist for dogs (and they generally work very well), sadly some pets are euthanized when they can no longer stand up or walk.
Several tactics can help to prevent mobility problems in pets. The article mentions weight management and muscle strengthening exercises. As well, physical therapy, range-of-motion exercises and certain dietary supplements (omega-3 fatty acids and glucosamine) may help pets to remain agile.
However, one paragraph of the article really caught my eye. It wasn’t related to animal mobility. Rather, it was related to animal life spans. Here is the paragraph:
According to the American Veterinary Medical Assn., pets are increasingly living longer. In 1987, 31.7 percent of owned U.S. dogs lived past the age of 6. In 2006, 44 percent of the surveyed population lived past age 6. The feline population experienced an increase as well, from 15.3 percent living past age 6 in 1986 to 31.9 percent in 2006.
I was aware that life expectancies of pets were increasing. But I was stunned to find out that only 32 percent of cats were living past the age of six in 2006! For cats and most breeds of dogs, six years represents middle age. The vast majority of well cared for pets can expect to live past six.
My hunch is that the key phrase in the sentence above is well cared for. If the article is not mistaken, then I am afraid that there may be a simple explanation for this surprising statistic. Too many cats and dogs are not well cared for.
About the photo: Patches, who appears in a canine wheelchair (photo courtesy of doggon.com) clearly is well cared for! Patches is proof that pets can lead long, happy lives despite mobility problems.
You have questions. 
Hi Dr. Eric Barchas,
Thanks for writing this article. It really brings up some interesting points/questions we need to ask ourselves. In general I think animals with mobility problems are euthanized at the suggestion of their vets. We have a cat named Moki (who many people here on Catster know,) that has a neurological disorder. Moki didn’t always have the neurological disorder, it only appeared after he got extremely sick as a kitten. Many of the initial vets recommended euthanizing Moki. In the beginning, none made any recommendations about adaptive devices, physical therapy, or any of the many other alternatives that could help. It was only after we made it clear that euthanizing Moki because of the physical disability which resulted from the neurological disorder was out of the question, that we finally started to find the right vets, and get the others who had initially recommended euthanizing Moki to work with us. Its now been over a year and Moki continues to live with the physical side effects of his neurological disorder. We see a regular vet, a neurologist, a physical therapist, and soon will be consulting with an orthopedic surgeon.
It wasn’t until we started seeing a neurologist at UC Davis that anyone made any recommendations for physical therapy, and so forth. (By that time we had been to a number of different vets located throughout the S.F. Bay Area.) To say that I was quite surprised by the attitudes towards these types of animals by most vets would be an understatement. It was one of the main reasons I started Mokis blog. I wanted to help educate people in general (vets included) that these animals can live happy lives, since so many seemed to be unaware.
Mokis blog now includes everything from x-rays, physical therapy pictures and stories, to MRI images. The surprising part of it all? Well that was the number of people who thanked me for sharing his story. Many where unaware that such alternatives existed. With all of that said, I cant thank you enough for writing this article. There seems to be a general lack of information available to the public about such services and treatment, and not many vets, at least not here in the bay area, are doing enough to change that.
My dog is 17.5 years old. Has arthritis and lyme. She’s been on rimadyl for years. When she turns her legs go out or if she’s on hardwood or other slippery surface, her legs, front and back will go out. Most of the time she can climb the stairs, but has falllen a couple of times. We have rugs all over the house, but she’s getting worse. She still likes to ride in the car and does fine in grass. I love her and don’t want her to be in pain. She fell one time in the night and couldn’t get up and cried and woke us. My husband is very much afraid that something will happen when we’re on a trip and we have several coming up and he doesn’t want her to be in pain. Do you have any further suggestions? We have someone who comes in 3 times a day while we’re gone to take care of her. She’s an Austrailian Shepherd.