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Posted: 28th June 2023

Slow walking linked to dementia in dogs, study finds
"It could become a simple screening test for any veterinarian to perform on ageing patients." - Natasha Olby
Measuring gait speed in senior dogs could identify decline in neurological function.

A new study by North Carolina State University has revealed that slow walking could be a sign of dementia in older dogs. The results suggest that dogs who slow down physically also slow down mentally.

The researchers say that measuring gait speed in senior dogs could be an easy way to monitor health and to record a deterioration in neurological function as they age.

Senior dogs can suffer from age-related mobility impairment, cognitive decline and dementia known as canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome. The ojective of the study was to identify if there is a link between gait speed and cognition in ageing dogs.

Initially, they measured the gait speed off lead in 46 adult dogs, that served as the control group, and 49 senior dogs. The senior dogs also did some extra cognitive tests, and their owners completed a CAnine DEmentia Scale (CADES) questionnaire. A higher CADES score indicates more severe cognitive decline.

The dogs were then grouped together based on their CADES and cognitive test results. Gait speed was first measured over a five metre distance while the dogs were on a lead and then off the lead over the same distance, while the dogs were encouraged to retrieve a food reward from their handler.

Walking speed was measured both on and off lead because dogs usually match the speed of their handler when on a lead. Despite being concerned that body size and limb length would affect gait speed, the researchers found that dogs in their last 25 per cent of their expected life span moved more slowly than adult dogs, regardless of relative size.

The results revealed that senior dogs that moved more slowly had more severe levels of cognitive decline based on the questionnaires completed by the owners, and also did worse on the cognitive testing.

In people, gait speed is considered a reliable and simple measure of physical function, and is an important method of evaluation because of its association with disability, hospitalisation, mortality and cognitive decline.

Co-author of the study, Natasha Olby said: “When you look at functional ageing, the two most important predictors of morbidity are mobility and cognition.

“Mobility relies heavily on sensory input, central processing and motor output – in other words, the nervous system – as a result, mobility and cognition are super interconnected. When you have less mobility, the amount of input your nervous system gets is also reduced. It’s not surprising that walking speed and dementia are correlated. 

“For me, the exciting part of the study is not only that we show gait speed correlates with dementia in dogs as in people, but also that the method of testing we used is easy to replicate, since it’s food motivated and over a short distance. It could become a simple screening test for any veterinarian to perform on ageing patients.”

The study has been published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.



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