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Posted: 4th October 2024

Researchers develop tool to assess older dogs’ frailty
The questionnaire considers five 'domains' of canine health.
The tool can predict short-term mortality and inform owners’ decisions.

A group of researchers conducting a canine neuro-aging programme has developed a tool which could support veterinary teams and pet owners with assessing elderly dogs’ frailty.

The screening questionnaire, based on a test for human frailty, could predict a dog’s short-term mortality and inform owners’ decisions.

The team, from North Carolina State University, was partly inspired by their suspicions that canine frailty was altering outcomes in their clinical trials. They also felt that frailty in dogs was poorly described.

Frailty in humans is often linked with disability and mortality, so the researchers consider it important that a screening test is developed for dogs.

To provide for this, the research team has developed a screening questionnaire that can be put to dog owners. This questionnaire considers five ‘domains’, which are also used in human frailty tests.

These five ‘domains’ are nutrition status (including body condition and appetite), exhaustion/energy level, muscle condition, mobility, and social activity.

Dogs which are classified as ‘impaired’ in at least three of these domains would be considered frail and twice as likely to die within six months than a dog which is not frail.

This tool was validated against two dog populations. Thirty-nine of the dogs were current participants in the neuro-aging study, while there were 198 dogs tested which were aged over 10 years, but were not part of the study.

The researchers believe that the development of this frailty phenotype, or set of characteristics, will have further benefits for veterinary teams and pet owners. Used alongside simple body condition tests, veterinary teams will be able to assess the short-term mortality of dogs, considering the likelihood of a dog dying within the next six months.

This could help inform treatment and quality-of-life decisions for elderly dogs.

The team says that the tool is a work in progress, but provides a starting point for discussing the care of an elderly dog. They are hopeful that this tool will lead to more complete phenotypes for canine frailty.

Natasha Olby, primary investigator on the neuro-aging programme, said: "Of course, the reality is that you never really know how long a dog will live, but this questionnaire coupled with body and muscle condition scores is good at predicting six-month mortality,

"And it is an easily deployable screening tool that doesn't require any lab work - a veterinarian can assess body and muscle condition with simple palpation."

The full study can be found in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

Image © Shutterstock



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