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Topic Dog Boards / Health / Good lifestyle for a senior?
- By Alfie_Brian [gb] Date 24.07.12 21:35 UTC
My Staff is 10 years old and she is quite active even after a small stroke and she has a small case of arthritis
Her daily routine:
Wakes up (usually around 11am-2pm)
Goes up the round to my grandmothers house to play with her young Shih-Tzu (around about an hour)
Comes back to her family home to walk around the pond astonished at the sight of the fish, continuously finding new ways to try and catch them.
Has her indestructible ball (5-10 minutes, 30 minutes per day)
Drinks, eats and relaxes for best part of an hour.
Goes back to my grandmothers house for some more play and remains up there until she comes home for a few more rounds of ball and her dinner.
Goes to sleep.
Wakes up to go to the toilet and make sure there's no foxes or any other cats apart from ours and then goes to my room and sleeps again.

She goes for long walks in the local park twice a week
Healthy diet
Always food and water for her as well as her daily cod liver oil tablets
Not overweight

Are me and my family providing her with the best life possible?
- By Stooge Date 24.07.12 22:32 UTC
Sounds alright to me :)
I presume she doesn't make her own way to your Grandmothers house.
The only thing I think I would do differently would be shorter but daily walks as I think this would have a better impact on her arthritis.
- By Celli [gb] Date 25.07.12 07:53 UTC
Sounds to me as if she has a pretty idyllic life.
I agree with Stooge though about the walking, it's been shown that arthritis is better managed with small daily walks rather than long ones.
- By Merlot [gb] Date 25.07.12 09:22 UTC
My old lady is much more sedate.
Get up 7.30am goes into the office and goes to sleep (She never wants to go out for a wee) ......
has a short walk 9.30am home then sleeps!
breakfast at 10ish...then sleeps...
changes position once or twice through the day...may go out in the garden to have a wee...doors always open...
short walk at 3.30 then sleeps!!
dinner at 7pm then time for a sleep..
out for a wee at 11pm and then bed...for a sleep!!
As you can see a hectic day full of fun and games !!
She is happy eats well and is not in pain so I let her dictate her days...
Aileen
- By LucyDogs [gb] Date 25.07.12 09:36 UTC
Sounds good to me with possibly the shorter more frequent walks. But the ball play should be keeping her fit anyway. My 10 year old Yankee has short walks virtually every day, ranging from 10 minutes to 40 minutes depending on when I need to get to work! But when the weather's nice at the weekend he is more than capable for a couple of hours or more if my hubby's doing his long distance footpath walking. :-)
- By Goldmali Date 25.07.12 09:53 UTC
Her daily routine:
Wakes up (usually around 11am-2pm)


This is my one query -do you really mean that sometimes she does not even go out for a wee until 2 pm? If so I'd worry a lot about that as it isn't healthy to keep a full bladder for so long.

Otherwise, it's whatever suits the individual dog, and they all age so differently. Breed will make a big difference as well as of course some age sooner than others. I have two 10 year olds that I don't even count as older yet, they are no different to when they were younger, except grey in the face. I am very reluctantly having to start considering that my 12 year may be getting on a bit as she's developing a few problems, but she is extremely full of life and very active indeed. My 9 year old is quite slow and tires eaisly but has been since he was 3. All are up before 7 each morning even if last time out was midnight. (Unfortunately LOL!!) My 7 year old is actually the one that acts the oldest and I bet he'd sleep in if everyone else let him. So it's so individual.
- By Alfie_Brian [gb] Date 25.07.12 22:42 UTC
She doesn't always wait till later to pee, she may sometimes get up early in the morning to do so.
- By Alfie_Brian [gb] Date 25.07.12 22:43 UTC
Thanks for the advice, I will take it to hand.
When she does go to my Grandmothers house, she escorts my younger brother.
- By LurcherGirl [gb] Date 26.07.12 09:54 UTC Edited 26.07.12 09:56 UTC
My 11-year old lurcher still has the exact same lifestyle as my other lot with an hours walk off lead in the morning running, playing and plodding around in the country park every day (at 5.30 am or any other time that I get up). He doesn't go to agility classes anymore due a cruciate op, but everything else is still the same as the younger dogs - and hopefully long may it last too. :-) The only thing I do add from about 7-years old is a glucosamine supplement to his food, nothing else changes in his diet compared to the younger dogs though.

I don't see 10-years that old yet for a staffie really. ;-)
- By furriefriends Date 27.07.12 20:03 UTC
I was going to say that lurchergirl hopefully a good few happy healthy years yet :)
- By STARRYEYES Date 28.07.12 22:57 UTC
my oldest girl (different breed) is 9.5 gets sleepy early on around 8 or 9pm but that is after a pretty busy day... she has 45 min to hr walk and plays football for 20 mins or more two or three times a day she bounces around like a loony and can turn on a sixpence... she certainly can keep up with our 15m old male and is bright and happy.
I know different breeds age early and late but 10 seems quite young.. I presume her illness slows her down.

and yes agree a pretty idyllic lifestyle with many more years to come..
Topic Dog Boards / Health / Good lifestyle for a senior?

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