Quick answers to senior exams
Safe age verification at home
Senior check-up for dogs and cats
Is your friend starting to age, drinking more water or feeling stiff in the morning? A senior check-up for your dog or cat is an invaluable investment in your pet's quality of life. We perform thorough health checks, blood tests and assessments in the safety of your home, at our clinics or in a clinic to detect and alleviate age-related diseases early.
Safe age verification at home
Quick answers to senior exams
Senior check-up for dogs and cats
Related terms
Senior check dog price, kidney failure cat symptoms, remove tartar dog Stockholm, uterine inflammation dog symptoms, FORL cat pictures
What does a senior check mean?
Dogs and cats are considered seniors from the age of 7-8. A senior check-up is a comprehensive and preventive health examination tailored for the older animal. The goal is to catch hidden diseases before they cause serious symptoms and suffering.
Age-related diseases in dogs
During a senior check-up for your dog, we evaluate common problems such as tartar and stiff joints. We also screen for hidden internal diseases such as canine kidney failure, Cushing's disease, and cognitive changes such as canine dementia (cognitive dysfunction).
Age-related diseases in cats
Older cats are experts at hiding illness. An investigation of senior cats focuses heavily on feline kidney failure, overactive thyroid (feline hyperthyroidism), feline diabetes, and the very painful dental disease FORL (TR).
Care guide: How to choose the right place for your senior check-up
Because we offer our services through home visits, at our veterinary clinics (Arken Zoo) and at our animal clinic in Östermalm, we can tailor the care to what suits your older animal best.
Home visit
Older animals are often fragile. An old dog with joint pain may have great difficulty jumping into a car, and a senior cat with high blood pressure may feel unwell from the stress of being in a transport cage. By performing a senior check-up at home, we can do a physical examination and take blood pressure while your pet is resting safely in their own bed, which gives us much more accurate values. We can also take blood tests in the place where your pet feels most comfortable.
Veterinary clinic
Our clinics connected to Arken Zoo (in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Uppsala) are excellent for weighing the older animal, doing a physical examination and taking blood tests. You can also take the opportunity to buy kidney food or joint supplements directly after the visit.
Animal clinic
Our clinic in Östermalm is the obvious choice when our senior check-up shows, for example, that it is time to fix the teeth. To remove tartar from a dog or extract teeth with FORL (TR) from a cat, safe anesthesia and dental X-rays are always required, which we perform safely and professionally here.
What does Vetathome do during a senior check-up?
It is inevitable that the animal will grow older, but pain associated with aging can be alleviated and managed. Whether we meet your senior at home, at our clinic or at one of our clinics (Kungens Kurva, Odenplan, Orminge, Askim, Boländerna), we tailor a plan for a dignified old age.
Identify
We carefully review the animal's routines; has the appetite changed, is the animal drinking more, or do you notice signs of dementia in your dog? The veterinarian feels for lymph nodes, listens to the heart to rule out heart murmurs, and palpates the stomach and joints. We also do a visual assessment of the mouth to see if there is tartar or suspected FORL.
Treat
We take blood tests (a panel specifically designed for our senior patients) and sometimes urine tests to check the kidneys, liver, thyroid and blood sugar. If the tests show signs of illness, such as hyperthyroidism, kidney or liver disease, we prescribe relevant e-prescriptions as soon as possible.
Prevent
When the test results are ready, we will create a long-term plan with relevant food, pain relief if necessary, and advice on how to adapt the home (e.g. carpets on slippery floors) so that the animal can live pain-free for as long as possible.
This is how a senior check-up goes step by step
1. History
We carefully review the animal's routines; has the appetite changed, is the animal drinking more or do you notice signs of dementia?
2. Clinical examination
The veterinarian feels for lymph nodes, listens to the heart to rule out heart murmurs, and palpates the stomach and joints.
3. Dental checkup
We perform a visual assessment of the mouth to see if there is tartar, mouth pain or suspected FORL in a specific cat.
4. Sampling
We take blood tests (senior panel) and sometimes urine tests to check the kidneys, liver, thyroid and blood sugar.
5. Plane
When the test results are ready, we will create a long-term plan with possible medication, relevant food and pain relief.
Do you have more questions?
Contact our customer service and we will help you further.
When is action required at a clinic or animal hospital?
A home visit or clinic visit is worth its weight in gold for diagnostics, blood tests and screening, but many of the diseases we detect in older animals require advanced measures under anesthesia or intensive care in a well-equipped clinic.
When a clinic or animal hospital is necessary:
- Dental procedures: To remove tartar from a dog, or extract diseased teeth from a cat, the animal must always be anesthetized and closely monitored (anesthetizing an older dog for tartar is safest done in a clinic).
- Uterine inflammation: If your unneutered, older female dog suddenly drinks a lot of water and has purulent discharge, it is a sign of acute uterine inflammation. This is life-threatening and requires immediate, emergency surgery at an animal hospital.
- Acute renal failure: In case of acute symptoms of kidney failure in a dog or cat, where the animal stops eating, urinating or vomits persistently, intensive care with an intravenous drip is required.
Symptoms of age-related diseases in dogs
Uterine inflammation: One of the most common and dangerous conditions is uterine inflammation in an old dog. Early signs (symptoms of uterine inflammation in a dog) are that the bitch suddenly becomes extremely thirsty, tired, licks her backside a lot and sometimes gets a fever. Another clear symptom is a swollen abdomen.
Kidney problems: How are kidney problems detected? Symptoms of kidney failure in dogs often come on gradually. You may notice increased thirst, weight loss, and nausea. In the later stages, neurological symptoms may occur, where a dog with kidney failure may shake.
Dental problems: It is incredibly common for us to discover tartar in dogs during a senior check-up. A dog with severe tartar will have bad breath, may have difficulty chewing hard bones, and may suffer from painful periodontal disease.
Behavior: If your dog seems confused, gets stuck in corners, or barks at night, it could be a sign of canine dementia, which can often be alleviated with proper care and supplementation.
Age-related diseases in cats – the silent suffering
Older cats almost always hide their illnesses. If a cat suddenly starts drinking a lot and losing weight, this can be a symptom of diabetes or chronic kidney failure. Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) also causes similar symptoms, but then the cat is often extremely hungry and restless. The joint disease osteoarthritis in cats is often completely missed by the owner, as the cat rarely limps significantly but instead stops jumping up on the sofa or starts urinating outside the litter box because it hurts to step over the edge.
Dental health: TR (Tooth Resorption), also known as FORL, is an extremely painful disease where the body's own cells break down the roots of the teeth. If you look at pictures of FORL online, it often looks like red, bleeding, and inflamed gums growing over the tooth.
When should I book a senior check-up and when is it urgent?
We recommend an annual senior check-up from the age of 7–8 (even earlier for really large breeds). By taking blood samples when the animal is healthy, we create a safe baseline to compare with when they get older. However, if you see acute changes, such as signs of acute kidney failure in a dog (the animal collapses or stops urinating completely), or purulent discharge from a bitch (uterine inflammation), you should go to the veterinary emergency room immediately. The same applies if your old cat with diabetes collapses due to a severe drop in blood sugar.
How do we find the correct diagnosis?
The senior check is detective work where we use different puzzle pieces to find hidden age errors.
- Clinical control of organs and heart: We perform a physical examination where we listen to the heart and palpate the animal, among other things.
- Medical history: We review the patient's medical history and any symptoms such as increased drinking and behavioral changes to detect early diabetes or kidney failure.
- Senior panel analysis: We measure kidney values, sugar and thyroid levels via blood tests to ensure the animal's internal status.
- Dental X-ray and referral if necessary: If painful FORL or tooth loss is suspected, we refer directly to the clinic in Östermalm.
Treatment of dog age-related ailments
Early diagnosis gives us many treatment tools, for example, early caught osteoarthritis can save the dog several years of silent suffering through treatment with painkillers. However, when diagnosing uterine inflammation in an early stage, antibiotics alone are rarely enough, surgery (castration) is often recommended immediately to save the bitch's life. Aftercare after surgery for uterine inflammation requires strict rest for a couple of weeks.
The time afterwards – diet and teeth
Many people ask about the best senior dog food, we often recommend food enriched with omega-3 to lubricate stiff joints. Some age-related diseases require a specific food to support internal organs, such as diseases related to the kidneys, requiring a switch to medical kidney food. As for the teeth; let us help you remove tartar from your dog professionally in a clinic. Sometimes owners try to remove tartar from their dog themselves with scrapers, but you should never dissolve or scrape tartar yourself on an awake dog! There is a high risk of damaging the enamel and tartar located under the gums (where the actual pain and bacteria are) cannot be accessed with this approach. In addition, it creates a lot of stress for the dog to try to remove tartar while awake.
Treatment of the elderly cat's diseases
Unfortunately, kidney problems cannot be reversed once they have occurred, but when we detect kidney failure in a cat, medication and a lifelong renal diet are absolutely crucial to slowing down the progression. If the cat suffers from hyperthyroidism, a tablet or liquid medication is used to normalize the metabolism (thyroid gland). Diabetes in cats is often treated very successfully with insulin injections that you give yourself at home, combined with a strict low-carbohydrate diet. For joint pain, we prescribe medication for osteoarthritis for cats (often in the form of a pain-relieving monthly injection) and recommend nutritional supplements to lubricate the joints from the inside. If the disease is caught at an early stage and measures are followed, cats can often live a good life for many more years.
Prognosis, life expectancy and the difficult decisions
An old age diagnosis certainly does not mean that life is over. With early detection, medication and an adapted diet, your animal can often enjoy a high and pain-free quality of life for many years.
- Customized diet: The right medical feed often significantly extends the lifespan of animals with organ failure or osteoarthritis.
- Successful medication: Diseases such as thyroid and diabetes problems in cats usually respond very well to the right treatment.
- Pain-free everyday life: If the pain from osteoarthritis or incurable kidney failure becomes too severe, we support you in an empathetic final farewell at home or at the Östermalm clinic.
Prognosis for kidney and hormonal diseases
Many people wonder about the lifespan of kidney failure in dogs and chronic kidney failure in cats. If the disease is detected in time, the animal can often live a good life for several years with the right diet. The same applies to diabetes and hyperthyroidism, which often respond very well to continuous treatment.
Quality of life and the difficult farewell
The absolute hardest thing about having a senior pet is knowing when it's time to let go. When euthanasia due to uterine inflammation becomes the only option for an old dog whose heart can't handle anesthesia, or when the medication no longer works on the kidneys (euthanasia due to kidney failure in dogs or cats), we support you. Making the decision to euthanize when the animal is suffering from osteoarthritis, advanced FORL or unmanageable diabetes is an incredibly difficult, but loving decision to prevent suffering. We always perform empathetic home visits for euthanasia when the day has come. If you are unsure whether it's time to say goodbye to your four-legged family member, we are here to help you assess the quality of life and, together with you, find the right path forward.
Self-monitoring and keeping an eye on the older body
Between our annual senior check-ups, you are your pet's most important health care provider. Below are points to help you perform self-checks on your older pet.
- Check your teeth: Lift your pet's lip. Do you see brown, hard plaque or red gums? Then it's high time to make an appointment with us to have your dog's tartar removed under anesthesia.
- Keep an eye on the water: Measure how many deciliters of water the animal drinks per day. Extreme thirst is the most important and clearest warning sign for kidney failure, diabetes and uterine inflammation.
- The weight: Weigh your older cat regularly at home. An old cat that is gradually losing weight and becomes "pointy" over its back despite a good appetite must always be investigated by a veterinarian, including blood tests.
Preventatively brush your teeth and maintain your weight
Although we cannot stop aging, we can influence how the animal ages.
- Toothbrushing: Daily brushing is the only proven effective way to stop tartar. No powder or algae products can replace a toothbrush.
- Keep the weight down: Obesity significantly increases the risk of diabetes in cats and worsens all forms of joint pain and osteoarthritis in both dogs and cats.
- Preventive castration: Spaying a young and healthy female dog is the absolute only way to completely prevent life-threatening uterine inflammation.
Cost, insurance and compensation
Elderly care can be both preventive and acute. We will of course help you with direct settlement with your insurance company if we discover and investigate an illness during the visit.
Preventive senior check-up (Blood test & Health check)
A planned visit to the home or clinic where we examine the older animal and take a senior blood test to detect hidden diseases such as kidney failure in time.
Not covered by insurance
No, a senior check-up on a healthy animal is considered prophylactic (preventive) wellness care and is generally not covered.
To think about
If the blood test shows an underlying disease that requires follow-up testing and treatment, the future expenses are often covered by insurance.
Price from:
2 150/kr
Senior check-up (Blood test & assessment)
Price according to quote / booked package
Tartar removal dog price / Cat (Anesthesia and ultrasound at the clinic)
Price according to quote
Veterinary consultation at home (weekdays, for sick animals)
2,150 SEK
Delivery fee (for prophylactic visits)
450 SEK (evening 550 SEK)
30+ years
experience
200k+
Visit
Can tartar be removed from a dog's teeth without anesthesia?
Many people ask about removing tartar from dogs without anesthesia at a grooming salon. We strongly advise against this! It is deeply unethical, stressful and only scrapes away the visible tartar on the crown. The disease (periodontitis) is located under the gums, which we can only access with an ultrasonic scaler when the animal is safely and painlessly anesthetized in the clinic.
What is FORL in cats (TR) and is it contagious?
FORL (Tooth Resorption / TR) is an incurable and terribly painful dental disease where the root of the tooth breaks down from the inside. It is not an infection and FORL is not contagious to other cats. The affected teeth must always be extracted under anesthesia in a clinic (a typical symptom is that the cat drops its food when eating or stops eating dry food).
How is Cushing's disease diagnosed in dogs?
Cushing's disease involves an overproduction of cortisol, which causes symptoms such as increased thirst, a "sagging belly", thin skin and hair loss. It is diagnosed through specific and time-bound blood and urine tests that we can often easily perform at home.
Can a dog or cat get dementia?
Yes, dogs and cats can absolutely suffer from cognitive dysfunction (dementia). Symptoms include altered circadian rhythms (restless nighttime wandering), staring at walls, forgetting to clean their rooms, or suddenly not greeting family members.
Is there any good medicine for osteoarthritis in cats?
Absolutely! For cats with osteoarthritis, there are now fantastic, modern medications (including monthly, pain-relieving injections with monoclonal antibodies) that have revolutionized the quality of life for senior cats who previously suffered in silence.
Where can I remove tartar from my dog's teeth in Stockholm?
You are most welcome to book an appointment for professional dental cleaning under safe, supervised anesthesia at our well-equipped veterinary clinic in Östermalm. Tartar removal is performed completely correctly and safely with an ultrasonic scaler under anesthesia, followed by careful polishing of the enamel.
What are the first symptoms of uterine inflammation in dogs?
The most classic symptom is that 1–2 months after the end of the heat, the bitch suddenly starts drinking an extreme amount of water, becomes very lethargic, and in many cases (but not always) has a foul-smelling, purulent discharge from the vulva. They may also have a fever and express pain when the abdomen is touched.
How do I recognize symptoms of diabetes in cats?
Diabetes in an older cat usually manifests itself when the cat suddenly starts to pee extremely large lumps in the litter box, drinks from water glasses and taps, and loses weight relatively quickly despite often having a constant, voracious appetite.
Does my insurance cover tartar removal on dogs and cats?
Unfortunately, standard veterinary insurance almost never covers routine tartar removal. It is considered your responsibility as a pet owner to take care of your pet's oral hygiene at home with a toothbrush. However, tooth fractures (accidents) or tooth extractions with FORL are often covered if you have the right conditions.
What are the symptoms of acute kidney failure in dogs compared to chronic?
Acute kidney failure usually occurs suddenly (for example, in the case of grape or glycol poisoning) with vomiting and the dog stopping urinating completely. Chronic kidney failure has a slow and prolonged course over months and years, with increased thirst as the most common and first sign.
Frequently asked questions and answers
Here you can read some of the most common questions and answers that we often receive from our customers.
Personal animal care in safe environments – Home visits, clinic & reception
We cooperate with all insurance companies
VetAtHome offers both clinic visits, home visits and visits to our veterinary practices – what is best depends on your animal's needs and what feels most convenient for you. We work with all insurance companies, making it easy to get help regardless of your insurance coverage.
