Dogs, like humans, lose abilities as they age. So much so, that a study has found that the risk of cognitive dysfunction or canine Alzheimer’s, similar to dementia in humans, increases by more than 50% for each year that dogs over 10 years of age complete.
Furthermore, in the study, which has been published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Washington (USA) were able to observe that this neurological risk was almost 6.5 times higher in dogs that were inactive, compared to dogs of the same breed, age, health status, and sterilization that were highly physically active.
The veterinary tests were carried out on a group of 15,019 dogs that were analyzed between 2019 and 2020 and thanks to questionnaires about the behavior of the dogs – as if they were able to recognize familiar people – that their owners filled out in the same time frame.
Cognitive impairment could reduce dog’s physical activity
The dogs were divided according to their life expectancy in quarters, with 19.5% in the last quarter of life, 24.4% in the third quarter, 27% in the second and 29.1% in the first. from them. In addition, of the total number of dogs, canine cognitive dysfunction, such as memory deficits, altered social interactions, loss of spatial awareness and sleep disorders, was diagnosed in 1.4% of them.
Dogs over 10 years of age increase their risk of developing canine cognitive dysfunction by up to 68% for each year they are
The results showed that considering only the age among the dogs over ten years participating in the study, the odds they had of being diagnosed with canine cognitive dysfunction increased by 68% for each year of age they reached.
When other factors, such as health problems, sterilization, activity levels, and the dog’s breed type, were factored in and included in the analysis, the odds that the dog would end up developing this cognitive problem increased by 52% for each extra year of life.
Despite these results, the researchers caution against jumping to conclusions and their findings do not show a causal relationship between inactivity and canine dementia. In addition, they warn that cognitive impairment could be the cause of the reduction in activity and that further studies should be carried out to better understand the association.
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