Senior dog welfare requires proactive pain management, cognitive support, and compassionate end-of-life decision-making to ensure good quality of life in the final years.
Senior dog welfare begins with proactive pain recognition and management. Osteoarthritis is chronically underdiagnosed — dogs rarely cry in pain; instead they slow down, hesitate at stairs, sleep more, and become less interested in activities they previously enjoyed. These are pain behaviors, not simply aging. NSAIDs, gabapentin, and newer therapies including monoclonal antibodies targeting nerve growth factor (bedinvetmab, frunevetmab) provide significant pain relief. Cognitive dysfunction — disorientation, changed sleep cycles, altered social interaction — benefits from dietary supplementation, environmental adaptation, and medication. End-of-life decisions require honest quality-of-life assessment; euthanasia is a welfare gift when suffering cannot be adequately controlled.