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Sarcopenia and weight management in older dogs
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Muscle loss, or sarcopenia, in old dogs is a real and frequent problem; this article discusses how best to recognize and treat it.
Matthew A. Kopke
BSc, BVSc (Hons), Dip. ACVIM (SAIM), Veterinary Nutrition Group, Sydney, Australia
Dr. Kopke obtained his undergraduate, veterinary, and honors degrees from the University of Pretoria, South Africa before undertaking a small animal internal medicine residency at Massey University, New Zealand. After completing his residency, he joined Veterinary Nutrition Group to offer remote consultancy in internal medicine and nutrition, and became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in Small Animal Internal Medicine. He also works part-time as a clinical internal medicine specialist.
Key points
- Sarcopenia is defined as a reduction in skeletal muscle mass associated with aging. The causes are multifactorial, but it is not associated with an underlying disease process (as is cachexia).
- When evaluating muscle condition and screening for sarcopenia, body condition scoring should be taken into consideration, as this influences the overall assessment.
- Treatment of sarcopenia entails a combination of exercise and nutritional interventions, with the former being the more effective therapy, but pharmacotherapy options are also continually evolving.
- Nutritional strategies for treating sarcopenia often include a combination of increased protein intake and supplementation of leucine, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and probiotics.
Introduction
Given that expected lifespan differs considerably across dog breeds, particularly when contrasting between small and large breeds, there is no exact cut-off for “aging”, and distinguishing between the various (arbitrary) age categories or life stages differs for each animal (1). According to the 2019 AAHA Canine Life Stage Guidelines, a dog is classified as senior (Figure 1) after entering into the last 25% of its estimated lifespan and through to the end of its life (2). The term geriatric has also been frequently used when referring to some of our more aged patients in veterinary medicine, and is often used interchangeably with senior, but an exact definition for this geriatric subcategory in animals remains to be defined. In human medicine, the term denotes a subpopulation of patients in the senior life stage category, often with multiple medical conditions, and is usually inclusive of senility or dementia (3). While such differentiation still requires a bit of fine-tuning regarding an exact definition, it does seem logical to differentiate or recognize geriatric animals as being separate from the broader category of senior animals. This is because their requirements (from nutrition to exercise) and general management are different (1).
So if such a classification is essential, how do we work towards better defining this subpopulation? In human gerontology, it has been proposed that a patient needs to exhibit at least three of the following criteria to be classified as geriatric (3):
- Weakness
- Weight loss
- Slowed mobility
- Fatigue
- Low levels of activities
While such criteria help distinguish geriatric patients from senior ones, there are other terms often used to describe this subpopulation further, whether it be in relation to monitoring and treatment strategies, or perhaps when discussing prognosis. Such terms include frailty, sarcopenia, and anorexia of aging, to mention a few.
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