Coping with Cognitive Dysfunction in Pets

While some say that certain pets and their owners begin to look alike, we also share other, perhaps more significant, similarities with our pets. Similarities that are more than skin deep. With advances in veterinary care, our pets are living longer lives and as they do, we are seeing aging processes and age-related conditions that might be more familiar in humans.  

Once again, Dr. John Moffa of graciously entertained my questions and agreed to share his knowledge and expertise regarding aging pets. More specifically, we spoke about cognitive dysfunction in dogs and pet dementia in general.  

Dr. Moffa was the right person to address these issues as he is well versed on the topic, due in part to his participation in a study on cognitive dysfunction in dogs and the use of a drug called Anipryl (selegiline) to treat it. A drug used to treat Parkinson's disease in humans, Anipryl has been found to be effective in treating the symptoms of cognitive dysfunction in dogs. 

Dr. Moffa reports that most of the patients to which he prescribes this drug show improvement. He tells of his own older dog to which he gave Anipryl. He initially prescribed the drug for one month, which he says is a typical trial run.  He was initially disappointed by the result and then took his dog off of the drug. He noticed the small ways in which his dog's symptoms obviously worsened. It seems Anipryl did help Dr. Moffa's dog, but the degree of improvement was not so great as to be immediately noticeable, even by someone with a trained eye watching for changes.   

He put the dog back on Anipryl and again noticed the improvements. "Part of the problem is that unlike antibiotics, which help a sick dog to become well, age is not a condition to be cured. Anipryl is useful to help slow the progression of the symptoms of cognitive dysfunction and they may get better on the whole, but it is not the fountain of youth. It will not cause a 15-year-old dog to suddenly behave like a 5-year-old," explains Dr. Moffa.

Cognitive Dysfunction can be a tricky to diagnose. There are no lab tests to run, just a list of questions and the observations of a concerned owner coupled with the knowledge of a good veterinarian. While an MRI can sometimes show a decrease in overall brain mass, this is not a test likely to be performed unless a tumor is suspected.    

As some of the symptoms we see in older dogs can be attributed to age-related physical changes, as well as to cognitive dysfunction, the diagnosis line is further blurred. For this reason, Dr. Moffa and other experts will first test for and rule out any physical reason for the symptoms. If it is established that there is no other medical reason for the symptoms, an open, honest discussion with the owner involving a standard list of questions is the only way to really diagnose canine cognitive dysfunction. It is at this point that Dr. Moffa might prescribe a month's worth of Anipryl. He will ask the owner to give it a try for the month and if they see improvement, or do not see a worsening of the condition, he might suggest the patient continue on the drug.

While Dr. Moffa does use Anipryl and considers it a very safe drug, there are some drug interactions to consider, and for this reason, he is very careful to study the history of the pet before starting him or her on it. "Like with older people, many older pets on multiple medications and this requires a veterinarian to do due diligence in ensuring there will be no adverse drug interaction," says Dr. Moffa.

Something that had me curious was any relation between cognitive dysfunction in dogs and Alzheimer's disease in people. Again, Dr. Moffa carefully explained that perhaps a better comparison would be to human dementia, as Alzheimer's has other physiological changes associated with it that are not typical in canine cognitive dysfunction. 

Dr. Moffa confirmed something I had suspected and even feared: Almost all of the older pets he sees have at one or more symptoms that could be attributed to cognitive dysfunction. Some will be treated and the progress of the symptoms will slow down, others will be managed without treatment and still others will go undiagnosed, their person attributing their symptoms to something else.   Whatever the case, the key seems to be, as it so often is, a close, thoughtful relationship between pet and person as well as a consistent relationship with a  veterinarian.