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Home
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Pet Clinic /
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Common Conditions /
Cognitive Dysfunction |
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Cognitive Dysfunction |
| The Role of Nutrition: |
As a result of the advances in
veterinary medicine and nutrition there
has been a noticeable change in the
demographics of the pet population
and both dogs and cats are living
substantially longer. It is no longer
unusual to be treating animals that are
in their late teens and early twenties
and the veterinary profession is
increasingly asked to deal with the
physical and mental consequences of
old age in their patients.
One of the characteristics of cognitive
disorders in older animals is the
presence of behavioural patterns that
are out of context and often
exaggerated both in frequency and
presentation. In most cases the animal
will be given a clean bill of health
following a conventional physical
veterinary examination and therefore
appropriate history taking can be vital
to ensure the early detection of the
behavioural changes. Questions need
to relate to the four main categories of
behavioural signs, namely
disorientation, changes in social and
environmental interaction, changes in
sleep-wake cycles and loss of
previously conditioned behavioural
responses.
Within the category of disorientation,
dogs suffering from dementia will
show a delay in the recognition of
people, places and objects and in
some cases there may be no
recognition at all. Such behavioural
changes can be very distressing for
owners and when they are combined
with alterations in social interaction,
both with dogs and humans, the
quality of the companion animal
relationship can be significantly
decreased.
Alterations in sleep/wake cycle are
common in cases of canine dementia
and can lead to disturbed night time
sleeping but unless the dog is also
disrupting the owner's sleep this
aspect may easily go unnoticed.
During the day the sleep/wake cycle
may also be affected and dogs
suffering from dementia will sleep for
longer in the day but once again this
symptom may easily be overlooked
and considered to be a normal
change in a dog of advancing years.
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| Loss of previously conditioned behaviours: |
Loss of previously conditioned
behaviours is another feature of the
dementia condition and since house
training is a very important
conditioned response the loss of
appropriate toileting behaviour is often
seen as an important symptom of the
condition. Once again this feature may
remain undiagnosed for some time
since a breakdown in housetraining
may be expected in old age and
many owners do not make the
connection between this change in
behaviour and the process of brain
ageing.
While one of the main obstacles to the
early diagnosis of canine dementia is a
failure to ask the right questions during
routine veterinary examination of older
pets it is important to remember that
many owners will be reluctant to
discuss behavioural changes in their
ageing companion for fear of
suggesting that their quality of life may
be cause for concern. The assumption
that veterinary surgeons will offer the
solution of euthanasia can be a
significant factor in delaying the
reporting of symptoms of canine
dementia and owner education is
crucial if this obstacle is to be overcome
and the likelihood of early diagnosis is
to be improved. Once cases have been
identified it is important to structure a
treatment plan for the individual patient
and to inform owners that, while it is not
possible to reverse or stop the process
of ageing, it is possible to significantly
alter the rate of progress of the
condition. This will involve the use of a
combination of medical and nutritional
support which can make a real
difference to the pet's quality of life.
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| Antioxidants promote recovery in neurons: |
|
From a nutritional perspective the
importance of antioxidant rich diets has
been well documented. Antioxidants
are believed to prevent the
development of the age-related
neuropathology, which is implicated in
cases of canine dementia. In addition
antioxidants are believed to promote
recovery in neurons that are exhibiting
signs of neuropathology and therefore
nutritional manipulation is believed to
offer a useful addition to the medication
related treatments for canine cognitive
dysfunction.
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| AKTIVAIT can produce significant improvement: |
In a recent trial the use of the
nutraceutical Aktivait was investigated
and, in view of the resistance from
owners of older dogs to alteration in
their diet and restrictions on dietary
change due to concomitant organic
disease in older pets, the study was
particularly significant from a clinical
perspective. Constituents of Aktivait
include a range of antioxidants and free
radical scavengers including N-acetyl
cysteine, which is a primary precursor
to glutathione, alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-L
carnitine, vitamins C and E, L-carnitine
and Co-enzyme Q10. Essential fatty
acids DMA and EPA are also included,
both of which have been shown to be
beneficial in influencing the effects of
brain ageing in humans, and selenium
also features on the composition
breakdown of the product. In addition
Aktivait contains phosphatidylserine
which is a natural phospholipid the
main physiological effect of which is to
enhance and maintain the cell activities
based on the functionality of the plasma
membrane. Clinical studies have
demonstrated the role of
phosphatidylserine in cognitive function
of human patients and in experimental
animals, administration of
phosphatidylserine rapidly induced
dose-dependent improvements during
learning and memory tests.
The results of the trial, which compared
the nutraceutical Aktivait with a placebo,
have shown that nutritional
supplementation can produce a
significant difference in relation to
improvement in signs of disorientation,
changes in interaction and house
soiling behaviour and can significantly
improve the owner's perception of their
relationship with their pet and of the
quality of their pet's life.
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| This
page was last Updated: 27/01/2006 12:31:05 |
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This Page was submitted by:
Sarah Heath BVSc DipECVBM-CA CCAB MRCVS Behavioural Referrals | | | |
