Tips To Make Your Aging Pet Feel Young!

“Aging is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

~Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan, a writer, a feminist and an initiator of women’s movement in America had mentioned the above words, meaning that aging is not about losing youth, but is a stage of living new opportunities and experience the strength. Although these lines must have been directed to humans, it also relate to pets. Aging can be equally exhausting for your furry friends as it is for humans.

However, you can always make your furry friends feel young and exuberant. Instead of making them feel that they have joined the category of “cannot climb or run”, you need to act in such a way that situations favor them. Generally when a pet is aging, he may start having joint aches, ignore food plates, lose their sight and hearing abilities, and have urinary accidents. If you succeed in helping your pets with these fading abilities, you may also succeed in making them feel young.

Let’s check how you can help your pets with these things while he is aging!

Painful joints- Try to subdue the ache

Arthritis is a major issue in aging pets. This condition may make your pet’s bones brittle and its inflammation induces pain while moving, jumping, running, or doing any physical exercise. It may happen that your pooch may not climb up or down the stairs in a single leap. Or, your kitty may not be able to climb her favorite counter.

What you can do to help your pets in such situations is that create an easy way for their activities. For an instance, keep a box or chair for your kitty to give less stress to her joints while she attempts to sit on her favorite counter. There are pet products available like pet ramps that give an easy access to beds and other places. Apart from these, you can keep your pets on joint care supplements like Glucosamine Chondroitin tablets, Canine joint support tablets, etc.

Lost appetite- Trigger their cravings

There can be various reasons for your mature pet to deny the plate of food. In this golden age, their teeth become weak or may fall. To overcome this situation, you may need to make their food easy to chew. Their sense of smelling may decrease with increasing age, and this may not allow them to find the food appealing. To solve this, heat his food in microwave for 10 seconds. This has a two-way benefit- first, it will soften the food, and second, it will work as a smell enhancer.

If your pet cannot chew the kibble, blend it with water. The other thing that you may need to keep in mind is that if he avoids eating; do not keep the food filled bowl near him. This may kill his appetite. Many felines prefer to have the owners beside them, stroking. Do as much is needed to keep your aging friend healthy. Sit with them while they are gulfing their meal.

Dotage- Boost their mental abilities

Being slow is natural in old age. Though, there are no limitations on your pet’s mind by his age. You can fill the gaps of hard physical exercises with mental workouts. Puzzle toys, training games, etc. will boost his mental abilities and keep the dotage behind. Make them practice the obedience drills often to let them feel that they are winners. Appreciate their success in what may sound naïve to you, like killing the toy mouse or doing a puzzle right. This will give them confidence and there is chance that they live longer with your love.

Weak senses- Signals and trails may be equally efficient

Blindness and deafness are two definite things that old age brings. With the ripening of age, your pooch or feline may go blind or deaf. Calling him for dinner, telling him to sit, finding the way to litter box, etc. may become difficult during your companion’s golden age. However, there are ways to make things right.

For your deaf pets, teach them hand signs that would suggest what they are supposed to do. Blind pets usually rely on their memory, so it is advised not to rearrange the furniture. You can use the signs like stomping your foot to call your blind pets. Help them find their way to litter boxes or food bowl by leaving certain trails that hint them. Being patient with the urinary accidents is a must when your pet starts getting old.

To conclude, unlike humans, pets do not need anti-aging creams and beauty products to age gracefully. The only thing that they may need from you is love and patience. Follow these tips and help your pets growing old beautifully.