CANINE & FELINE DEMENTIA

Branislav Kovacech, Monika Zilkova, Jozef Hanes, and Rostislav Skrabana
Canine & Feline Dementia
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-53219-6_7

Abstract

Cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) in pet animals constitutes a pressing problem of the modern society. Millions of senior dogs and cats undergo age-related behavioral changes that impact their social interactions. Currently, it is difficult to discriminate between normal aging and dementing processes. The situation is akin to that in humans; however, human medicine receives enormous resources that resulted in a set of current diagnostic criteria including a number of dementia assessing scales, diagnostic assays, and novel potential biomarkers. While animal well-being is not in the limelight of societal interest, the dementia diagnostics starts to catch up. Nevertheless, biochemical markers related to the animal dementia are underdeveloped, despite the fact that dogs and cats provide natural models for human dementia.