Super Senior Dog Care

Juju is nearly 15 and a half now. She's 11 lb (but eats like a 15 lb dog), 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: dog parent being patient, a good diet, and daily walks.

DIET

As a puppy she was always active and extremely picky about her food. She's always been food motivated. Juju was known to go on 32 hour hunger strikes because she knew there could be better human foods she could smell and once in 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, a frozen fresh dog food, which is great and she was on that food until she turned 14. She got bored with it and didn't want to eat it one day. I was worried it correlated to her health. I then started making her food, with supplements and she was more enthusiastic. But that got time consuming and it ended up not being as balanced for what she needed as a super senior, sometimes it gave her pancreatitis (I think human grade salmon has too much rich fat for her). Now I give her a combination 50/50 between the below two brands, and no, I am not a paid promoter. I've tried a lot of different kinds, air dried, specialty canned wet food, you name it. The freeze dried raw (Nutra Complete) gives me the option to be more on the go with her food, without having to have a freezer on hand for the Raw Dynamic brand. She eats both with so much enthusiasm, but always chooses the frozen fresh raw first in a dish when they are mixed together.

These two brands have given Juju so much energy. She's curious again, takes less naps, drinks less water, and her coat is shinier. 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!

PATIENCE & EXERCISE

Patience is really key because as dogs age into super senior they start to reverse age. Suddenly they need more attention because they communicate differently. They could start peeing on the floor at night for no reason (Juju is not incontinent, she does not soil the bed). As super seniors with dementia sometimes they forget to ask to go to the bathroom, or they do it in a not so obvious way, for Juju, she will stand still in one spot, any spot, and if I don't let her outside every 2 hours past 6pm, she will pee if I am in a rabbit hole. Luckily it is always in the same spot. Before, at night time she would be able to go from 7pm-7am without asking to go to outside. As an old dog her kidney needs are not the same.

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. I have a fanny pack and connect the end of the leash to it, so I am hands free. 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, 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. Older owners and old dogs can learn new tricks!

Speaking of new tricks, as of a few days ago, I just started a new exercise routine with Juju. In addition to her walks, to get her outside more, we go "basket blading", she stands in a dog basket stroller, while I push her in my in line skates down the Ohlone trail. She gets fresh air, more oxygen, feels the sun on her fur, while also using her stabilizer muscles. We go about 10 miles per hour. She sometimes wears a bunny hat to keep her ears warm if it's a bit chilly out. We also stop and she gets to sniff new areas of the trail. Her nose is still working and it gives her enthusiasm and stimulates her brain.

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 used to travel with her on planes but since her blindness reached another level when she lost some hearing and acquired doggie dementia, it is not as feasible anymore. I know she is a short but significant chapter in my life and it would bring me anxiety if her health failed while I was gone. Juju as a super senior puts 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 I lose sleep because she started a new routine of waking me up at 6am demanding 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 just fine for now.