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A New Diet Might Help a Senior Dog Stay Sharp
Research has shown that antioxidant supplements can spark significant improvement in elderly dogs that display signs of canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome.
Is your senior dog driving you crazy by pacing around at night, barking at thin air, house-soiling, getting lost in the yard, demanding to go in and out like a revolving door, and developing separation anxiety and noise phobias? These are signs of canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS), a sort of Alzheimer’s disease of dogs.
In one study, about a quarter of the owners of dogs aged 11 to 12 years and two-thirds of the owners of dogs aged 15 to 16 years reported at least one sign of CDS.
Drug therapy is sometimes helpful, but diet also can play a role, according to some researchers, is yes.
Dogs are a useful model for researching the relationship between diet and Alzheimer’s disease because they age faster than humans and experience similar brain changes with age as those seen in humans.
Researchers found that adding nutrients that reduce the amount of oxidants produced (mitochondrial cofactors such as alpha-lipoic acid and L-carnitine) and nutrients that help clear oxidants already produced (antioxidants such as vitamins E and C) will decrease the overall level of oxidants and of oxidative damage to the brain.
In one study, researchers tested pet dogs over the age of 7, randomly assigning them either plain senior dog food or senior food supplemented with antioxidants. After 30 days, owners of dogs fed the supplemented food reported improvements in four categories of undesirable behavior associated with aging. After 60 days, they reported improvements in 13 of 15 target behaviors, as opposed to owners of dogs not supplemented, who reported improvements in only 4 of 15 behaviors.
The researchers also examined laboratory dogs, including 48 Beagles aged 10 to 13, dividing them into supplemented and not supplemented groups. In this case, the supplemented food contained antioxidants, mitochondrial cofactors, and dried fruits and vegetables. The dogs were tested on a series of cognitive tasks afterward. Old dogs made more errors than young ones, but the old dogs fed the supplemented food did significantly better than the old dogs fed the plain food, especially on the more difficult tasks and when learning totally new tasks. https://www.akc.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php Get Your Free AKC eBook
Both veterinarians recommend commercially available diets such as Purina’s Bright Mind 7+, Purina Pro Plan’s NeuroCare, or Hill’s Science Diet BD. These products include supplements and/or therapeutic levels of nutrients that studies have shown may support cognitive functioning in senior dogs.
In addition, Dr. Tracy advises owners to feed diets high in omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oil) and medium-chain triglycerides (found in coconut oil), which may be neuroprotective and even decrease the likelihood that a dog will develop CCD.
Editor’s note: The above-named products don’t generally have the characteristics we look for in a quality dog food. However, if a trial of a month or more of feeding one of these foods results in any improvement in your dog’s CCD, it makes sense to continue feeding the product! Or, owners may opt to discuss with their veterinarian how best to supply their dog with nutrients that may improve their senior dog’s cognitive function. These may include arginine, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, another omega-3 fatty acid), and B vitamins.
Food and supplements can play a part in maintaining optimal canine cognitive functioning and supporting an aging canine brain. Dr. Fry advises talking with your vet about adding antioxidant supplements that have shown benefits for the brain, such as Denosyl, which contains S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM-e), into your dog’s diet. The most advantageous time to do this, he says, is in your dog’s “middle age” –before she shows any signs of CCD.
Brain food: feed your dog food with antioxidants
Like humans, dogs can undergo changes in their brain such as beta-amyloid accumulation and oxidative damage. The accumulation of beta-amyloids and oxidative damage appear to be connected. Researchers have found that these physiological changes are related to the development of CDS.
Antioxidants are commonly talked about in human health and medicine, and researchers have studied the effects of feeding a diet high in antioxidants to older dogs to see if there is an improvement in age-related cognitive dysfunction. What they have found is both promising and exciting. Older dogs that received a diet rich in antioxidants showed improvement in learning and spatial attention within two weeks of starting the enriched diet. When diet was combined with mental stimulation such as walks, housing with another dog, and training, the effects were even greater. In tests used to measure an elderly dog’s spatial memory and its ability to discriminate between objects, recognize objects, and adjust to new situations, dogs on diets high in antioxidants fared better than a control group of dogs fed a normal diet.
A typical antioxidant-enriched diet for humans contains Vitamin E, vitamin C, L-carnitine, DL-lipoic acid, and fruit and vegetable extracts. A pre-made similar diet for dogs made by Nom Nom is available by monthly subscription, but if you’d like to like to add some extra brain boosting foods at home, here are a few you can try:
Vitamin E: Add supplemental Vitamin E at up to 100 IU per day for a small-breed dog and 400 IU per day for a large dog. If your dog’s diet already contains large amounts of vitamin E, you may not need to add extra.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C is a very safe vitamin, usually requiring very large doses before side effects are seen. However, there is little benefit to providing mega doses of this. Try adding 50-100 mg per day depending on the size of your dog.
Fruits and Vegetables: Add fruits and vegetables to make up to 10 percent of your dog’s diet. Colourful fruits and veggies are likely to have the most benefits, so try things like blueberries, raspberries, spinach, carrots, tomatoes etc. Be careful that you don’t upset your dog’s stomach with these, so go slowly and add just a bit at a time. For a small dog it may not feel like you are adding any significant amount, but that’s okay, remember it doesn’t take much to make a difference for them.
Dog Dementia Treatments (Symptoms & 3 Key Ways to BOOST Senior Dogs Brain Health)
Old dogs commonly develop a form of dementia we call Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome. I’ve written about the signs of CDS and its treatment elsewhere.
Here I want to update you on the latest evidence about foods and dietary supplements that might benefit dogs with CDS. I’ll discuss each ingredient first and then the foods that might contain them.
Probably the most established food additive for CDS has been fish oil, and other sources of PUFAs. They appear to do little harm except in dogs prone to pancreatitis but there is surprisingly little evidence that they work for dogs. Just one paper on shape recognition.
Adding antioxidants to dog diets can improve cognitive function. The diet in the study was supplemented with Vitamins E and C, a mixture of fruits and vegetables, alpha-lipoic acid and l-carnitine (see below).
Recent excitement has been created by MCTs. Purina in particular have been driving the discussion via a new food.
There is much promotion of B vitamins, but no studies where they are used alone. Just one study where they were used in a combination.
One study showed that dogs fed BCAAs made fewer errors in agility trials. That’s all we have right now.
Cognitive function improved when L- carnitine was fed with a range of similar substances (mitochondrial cofactors), but not when fed alone.
As you can probably see by now, adding nutritional supplements to a senior dog’s diet is very hard to do well. It’s much easier (and possibly more reliable) to buy a food that used the latest evidence in its design.
My advice is to investigate the products available in your country and look carefully at ingredient lists. Almost certainly, not all the known beneficial additives will be present in one. However there should be at least one company offering a diet containing a few of these.
Additionally, don’t forget that diet alone is only part of the approach. Social, cognitive, and physical activity together with optimal dietary intake is recommended for successful brain aging.