Topical reviewNutrition and Behavior in Senior Dogs
Section snippets
Recognizing Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome
Diagnosis of CDS can be clinical or neuropsychological, e.g., based on laboratory tests. The acronym DISHA is frequently used to describe the main behavioral changes associated with CDS: disorientation, altered interactions with people or other animals, sleep-wake cycle alterations, house-soiling, and changes in activity level.2 Apart from the clinical signs mentioned earlier, CDS may cause other symptoms, including an increase in anxiety (which is one of the main underlying factors of many
Managing CDS
Management of CDS includes dietary and pharmacological intervention. Additionally, changes in the environment may be extremely helpful and are dealt with in a different section of this article.
What Is Animal Welfare?
Before discussing whether and why CDS is an animal welfare problem, it is useful to provide a short overview of our current understanding of the basic principles of animal welfare.
Definitions of animal welfare can be grouped into 3 main approaches: a “feeling-based” approach, a “functioning-based approach,” and a third set of approaches in which welfare is measured by assessing whether the animal can live according to its inherent “nature.”18
According to the “feeling-based” approach, animal
References (30)
Therapeutic agents for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction syndrome in senior dogs
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
(2005)- et al.
Brain aging in the canine: a diet enriched in antioxidants reduces cognitive disfunction
Neurobiol Aging
(2002) - et al.
Comparison of cerebrospinal fluid monoamine metabolite levels in dominant-aggressive and non-aggressive dogs
Brain Res
(1996) - et al.
Serotonin, social status and aggression
Curr Opin Neurobiol
(1997) Indicators of poor welfare
Br Vet J
(1986)A re-evaluation of the concept of “non-specificity” in stress theory
J Psychol Res
(1971)- et al.
Physiological and behavioral responses to corticotropin-releasing factor administration: is CRF a mediator of anxiety or stress responses?
Brain Res Rev
(1990) - et al.
Cognitive functions and aging in the dog: acquisition of nonspacial visual tasks
Behav Neurosci
(1994) - et al.
The effects of aging on the behaviour of senior pets
- et al.
Prevalence of behavioral changes associated with age-related cognitive impairment in dogs
J Am Vet Med Assoc
(2001)