Recognizing the Typical Signs of Dog Aging

Sunil Saleem October 24, 2023


 Recognizing the Typical Signs of Dog Aging


1. Loss of vision and other eye diseases.

Has your dog started bumping into everything, falling uncontrollably, or showing signs of discomfort in his eyes (redness, cloudiness, etc.)? She may suffer from visual impairment or loss. Deterioration of vision is part of the normal aging process in dogs. However, there are some things you can do to help your pet adjust to new realities. What to do if your dog develops symptoms of blindness by old age How to help if she goes blind? Ask your veterinarian for advice on handling blind pets and to rule out treatable eye conditions such as cataracts, dry eye, or conjunctivitis.

2. Frequent or strained urination.

Frequent or strenuous urination may be a sign of kidney disease or urinary tract infections, which are more common in middle-aged and older dogs. Fortunately, urinary incontinence or strenuous urination can often be alleviated with medication or food changes. Check with your veterinarian if you suspect your dog has this problem.

 

Is it true that dogs are color-blind?

In what colors do dogs see the world around them? For a long time, it was believed that they could only see in black and white, but science has proven that this is not the case. But what colors can pets see, how many colors can they distinguish, and why can't they see the way we do? Read on to learn all about dog vision and how they perceive the world.

Dogs are color blind?

While the popular theory in the past that dogs see everything in black and white has turned out to be false, the truth is that they see in roughly the same color range as people with red and green color blindness, While the eyes of people with normal vision contain three types of color receptors, called cones, that perceive the entire spectrum of visible light, then people with red-green color blindness have only two types of cones, making them unable to perceive red and green colors.

In the retina of the dog's eye, only two types of cones are located. This means that dogs are unable to perceive not only red and green colors, but also shades containing any of these colors, such as pink, purple, and orange. Dogs also cannot perceive subtle changes in brightness or color tone. That is, they see differently from a person.

What colors do dogs distinguish?

Dogs distinguish between shades of yellow, blue, and brown, as well as various shades of gray, black, and white. This means that if your dog has a red toy, it will appear brown, and an orange toy, which is a mixture of red and yellow, will appear brownish-yellow. This also means that if you want to fully engage all of your pet's senses while playing, you should choose blue or yellow toys to make them stand out against the duller shades of brown and gray in your dog's field of vision. This explains why animals love bright yellow tennis balls so much.

Your dog's other feelings

But do not rush to get upset because your dog sees the world in muted tones: what he lacks in vision, he more than compensates with his other senses. First, according to “Dog Health” dogs can hear a much wider range of frequencies than humans, including sounds that are so high that human ears simply cannot hear them.

But the dog's hearing is only second in acuity after the sense of smell. Dogs' sense of smell is at least 10,000 times (if not more) stronger than that of humans, according to NOVA PBS. A dog's nose contains up to 300 million olfactory receptors, while humans have only about six million.

What's more, the part of an animal's brain that analyzes odor is forty times larger than that of humans. All this means that your dog can “see” pictures with his nose that are much brighter than we can imagine. What she lacks due to poor vision and color perception, she more than compensates for information obtained solely on the basis of smells.

See what your dog sees

While we have no way of smelling the way a dog smells it, today you can get an idea of ​​what its world looks like with an online app. The Dog Vision app allows you to upload a photo and, after adjusting the colors and focus, see how it will look for your pet. This is a useful tool for those people who have never thought about how they look in the eyes of their dog or how dogs see the world in general.

The next time you look into your pup's expressive eyes, don't be discouraged that he doesn't see you as clearly as you see him. Your special scent tells your dog more about you than just the look, and he will recognize your scent anywhere, whether he sees you or not.

 

if you want to read more about different dog breeds then click the links in the list:


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