Super Senior Dog Care

Juju is nearly 15 and a half now. She's fully blind, partially deaf and still enjoys her daily sniff walk. She has doggie dementia since her first seizure in December 2024. She still sleeps mostly through the night except when she wants to have an early dinner at 6am. She woofs down her food like nobody's business.

There are two things that make a blind senior dog's life great: eating a good diet and daily walk.

DIET

As a puppy she was always active and extremely picky about her food. She's always been food motivated and extremely active. She was known to go on 32 hour hunger strikes because she knew there was better human foods she could smell and once and awhile would get to indulge on a treat. I didn't jump on the fresh food bandwagon until she was 9 when I discovered her chicken allergy. We needed to do things differently and I really wanted her to live the best life possible. I tried Just food for dogs, but her stool wasn't as firm as I'd hoped, and then started with the Farmer's Dog, which is great and she was on that food until she turned 14. I then started making her food, with supplements. But that got time consuming and it ended up not being as balanced for what she needed as a super senior. I give her a combination 50/50 between the below two brands, and no, I am not a paid promoter.

These two brands have given Juju so much energy. She's curious and takes less naps and drinks less water. I was initially skeptical about raw food diets, but seeing her 2" solid stools like clockwork every morning told me otherwise. I think there could be a bacteria in her stomach that is obsessed with raw food. I don't have to give her supplements anymore and she seems to be doing great!

EXERCISE

Juju consistently gets walks everyday. She enjoys walks but since she is blind, I call them sniff walks now. Walking a blind dog or any senior dog, you have to be more patient. Especially with the ones with doggie dementia. They may appear to be reluctant to walk at first, but eventually they will remember that they loved to walk. There was a time when Juju would take 10 minutes of just standing in the front yard on the leash before deciding to take her first steps into a walk around the block. I would start doing my own body exercises while I waited. This was a great way to be patient and productive without looking at my phone. The exercises might make me look strange to neighbors, but I am at the age now where I don't care what I look like to other people. I do squats, and unilateral squats, kicks, arm swings, and other various sets while I wait for Juju to finish sniffing her section of the walk. Now that we have developed a routine, it is easier to walk her now. Old owners and old dogs can learn new tricks!

Some other tips:

I hire an overnight dog sitter if I decide to go on short vacations of 4-5 days. I stopped going on long vacations of over 10 days since October 2025. I know she is a short chapter in my life and it would bring me anxiety if her health failed while I was gone. Juju as a super senior makes my long traveling days on pause.

I'm fully aware that she is in the last stage of her life, so patience is really key when she starts a new routine of waking me up at 6am demanding for her breakfast. But watching her chow down with a voracious appetite let's me know to keep doing what I'm doing and that she's doing alright for now.