Will Your Dog Get Dementia? A Large New Study Offers Clues.

When Dante was about 8 years old, he started to look a little out of place. The 70-pound Bernese mountain dog will pace his family home in Interlaken, NY like a closed bear. Then he can stand still, staring like a trance at the pedals of the family organ. Or in the corner of a room. In the middle of the night, he would wake up and bark incessantly for no apparent reason.

Then the indoor incontinence began.

A brain scan confirmed that Dante had canine cognitive dysfunction, colloquially known as doggy dementia. It is often described as the canine analog of Alzheimer’s disease. Some studies have found that it can occur in at least 14 to 35 percent of older dogs. But since the symptoms are similar to those of other diseases, it is difficult to confirm its true prevalence.

A large new study of 15,019 dogs enrolled in the Dog Aging Project, an ongoing investigation into canine disease and aging, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, identifies the top factors associated with a dog’s risk of getting the disease.

An important finding: Exercise can play an important preventive role. Researchers at the University of Washington found that a cognitive dysfunction diagnosis was 6.47 times more likely in dogs that weren’t active compared to those who were very active. But he also noted that the disease itself could be caused by a lack of exercise, emphasizing that the study results, which are based on observations by owners, suggest correlation, not causation.

The chances of getting the disease are also increased in dogs that have neurological disorders, or have impaired hearing or vision. Annette Fitzpatrick, a co-author of the study and a research professor at the University of Washington specializing in dementia in people as well as dogs, commented, “When you don’t get stimulation from the outside world, it seems to increase the risk of our own Can’t even use the brain.”

The study, she said, “shows that there are other things we can be aware of to try to reduce the onset of cognitive dysfunction.”

And of course age matters. A dog’s life expectancy often depends on breed, size and body mass: think Mastiff (six to 12 years) versus Chihuahua (12 to 20 years). During the later years of a dog’s estimated lifespan, each successive year contributed to the likelihood of disease onset, the study found.

In fact, the researchers noted, the risk factors that are related to canine cognitive dysfunction reflect some of the factors common to humans with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Earlier studies of canine cognitive dysfunction often drew from veterinary assessments in small populations of older dogs; It is taken from dogs whose age ranges from puppyhood to their mid-20s. In the coming years, as these dogs grow older, the project, which has enrolled more than 40,000 dogs and is expected to reach 100,000, will release more complex findings on cognitive dysfunction and other diseases.

In this study, the prevalence of canine cognitive dysfunction was 1.4 percent among all dogs, young and old. But the dogs had an average lifespan of only 6.9 years, and only 19.5 percent of the dogs analyzed were in the last quarter of their lifespan.

“This study compares dogs with cognitive disabilities to dogs who do not have it,” said Dr. Fitzpatrick. “But as the years go on, we may see the same dog who probably had great cognitive function, but then declined.”

The results were obtained from a baseline accounting only and specifically from a high-threshold cognitive function questionnaire by owners of their dog’s health and lifestyle experience between 2019 and 2020.

Among the questions:

• How often does your dog move up and down, run in circles and/or move around without direction or purpose?

• How often does your dog get stuck behind objects and can’t move around?

• How often does your dog run into walls or doors?

• How often does your dog have a hard time finding food dropped on the floor?

If the study’s findings have a familiar, even intuitive ring, it may be because the Dog Aging Project, which receives funding from the National Institute on Aging, is a part of the Federal National Institutes of Health. Branch can shed insight into the factors affecting life. Humans term well dogs who share their homes.

Unlike laboratory animal subjects such as fruit flies and rats, companion dogs are affected by their owners’ environmental and social factors, such as secondhand cigarette smoke, lawn insecticides and access to health care.

“Human longevity is estimated to be about 75 percent due to the environment and 25 percent genetic,” said University of Washington biogerontologist Matt Caberlin, co-director of the Dog Aging Project. “So companion dogs give us an opportunity to really understand the role that environmental variability plays in the biological aging process.”

In addition, because dogs age more rapidly than humans, ongoing studies within the project provide opportunities for insight into human and canine aging with a quicker timeline.

Dr. Caberlin’s inspiration comes not only from his professional background but also from his many years as a dog owner. They shared stories of Chloe, her lively, loving, now-dead Keeshond, who stared blankly and tangled in furniture, plagued by canine cognitive dysfunction. Or Dobby, his current inspiration, the family’s long-haired German shepherd who is “just a special dog”, but who at age 12 has already defeated cancer once and is now on the hunt for soap bubbles. Can’t walk in the backyard.

“I would really like it if my dogs could live that long,” Dr. Caberlin said. “And I’d really love it if I could help other people’s dogs live longer.”

Trials are now underway within the project, which began in 2014 and involves researchers from the University of Washington and Texas A&M as well as Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and other universities, including potentially life-extending drugs and Contains a biobank. of tissue donated by the owners of dead dogs. It released a study that is shaking up the canine world, as it has been found that better health in dogs is related to a daily diet.

(As Dr. Kaberlein discussed that connection during a phone interview, two small, highly food-motivated dogs who had been snoozing at this reporter’s side suddenly sat down, crying and howling in protest. Dr. Caberlin hasten to add that the study’s observation is more likely that a commentary on obesity and morbidity is a recipe for feeding frequency, in keeping with the latest study’s positive correlation with exercise.)

Canine cognitive dysfunction is difficult to pinpoint. Ignorance of a dog’s general command may indicate deafness or old age stubbornness rather than an exploitative brain. Nicole Ehrhart, a veterinarian and director of the Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging at Colorado State University, said symptoms that look like cognitive dysfunction could actually result from stroke, brain inflammation, diabetes or Cushing’s disease. That said, veterinarians initially rely on keen owner observation, and then perform diagnostic tests.

“Look your dog in your eyes and see how long they hold your gaze, especially if you have a treat on your face,” she said. “Since dogs get dementia, they can’t focus on the things they normally focus on.”

Dr. Ehrhart, who was not involved in the Dog Aging Project study, called the new research “amazing confirmation of something we know in all species: that exercise is good for healthy aging and lifelong exercise habits for Alzheimer’s.” Can be a preventive for disease. and other cognitive issues. ,

In fact the average life expectancy of Bernese mountain dogs is six to eight years; Dante is now 11 years old. But he was particularly active in his younger years: He had the physical and mental acuity to gleefully navigate complex obstacle course competitions and leap impenetrably up the top stairs on a single bound.

But now, the typically love-seeking burner runs away from his household pack—three golden retrievers and two doting, anxious humans. Instead, he prefers to fall under his favorite lilac bush, even in torrential downpours.

“I used to try to get her to come in to be with us,” said her owner, Lisa Mitchell. “But after a year I thought, ‘Tomorrow might be his last day and he might be more comfortable there.’ So we have left him to be out alone if he wants to be there.

Although there are medications and diets that can temporarily correct a dog’s cognitive dysfunction, Dr. Owners need to be sensitive to their dog’s growing aversions, Ehrhart said. Don’t disturb their routine. Do not move around furniture. Secure your yard so the dog doesn’t wander around and get lost. If you want to host a loud dinner party with unfamiliar humans, place the dog in a comfortable environment that is not so stimulating.

And know that dogs, like older humans, can get “sundowner syndrome”: increased anxiety and disorientation as the day approaches.

“It turns out that probably the best model for human aging is aging with us for hundreds and hundreds of years,” said Dr. Ehrhart said. “It’s a two-way street: everything we’re going to do to improve the health and lifespan of our dogs is likely to improve us, and everything we humans are doing for our dogs.” There is potential to improve.” And who doesn’t want that?”