After the age of 10, the likelihood that a dog may get a neurodegenerative illness akin to dementia grows by 52% per year, according to a new study.

Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD) is linked to the aging of a dog’s brain, which displays diminished awareness, memory, and learning ability.

However, University of Washington researchers have discovered that active dogs had a significantly lower risk of developing the illness.

Active dogs are 6.5 times less likely to develop CCD than their inactive counterparts.

These results could assist veterinarians in determining when to begin screening pets for CCD.

Given the growing evidence of parallels between canine and human cognitive disorders, reliable CCD diagnosis in dogs may offer researchers more appropriate animal models to investigate the aging of human populations.

Previous research revealed that 28 percent of 11- to 12-year-old canines and 68 percent of 15- to 16-year-old dogs exhibited at least one symptom of cognitive impairment.

Although the precise origin is unknown, it is believed to be the result of chemical and physical changes in the animal’s brain as it ages.

Similar to Alzheimer’s disease in people, the disorder develops gradually and worsens with time.

Symptoms of CCD include memory loss, diminished spatial awareness, behavioral changes such as using the restroom indoors, sleep disturbances, and disorientation.

For the study, which was published today in Scientific Reports, 15,019 dog owners responded to two questionnaires between December 2019 and December 2020.

The first questionnaire inquired about their pet’s overall health and physical activity, while the second screened for CCD symptoms, such as whether the dog failed to recognize familiar humans.

19.5 percent of the dogs were in the last quartile of life, 24.4% were in the third quartile, and 27.9% and 29.1% were in the second and first quartiles, respectively.

According to the reported behaviors of their owners, just 1.4% of the dogs in the study were categorized as having CCD.

Using the survey results, a statistical analysis was done to identify connections between canine traits, lifespan quartile, and CCD diagnosis.

The data indicate that after the age of 10, the likelihood that a dog would be diagnosed with CCD grows by 68 percent per year.

Taking into account health concerns, sterilization, physical activity levels, and breed, this reduces to 52% for each extra year of life.

It was also discovered that dogs having a history of neurological, ocular, or ear diseases were more likely to develop neurodegenerative ailments.

Inactive dogs were 6.47 times more likely to acquire CCD than active dogs of the same breed, age, sterilization status, and general health.

Author-in-chief Sarah Yarborough wrote: ‘Previous studies with mouse models have indicated that exercise can protect against the development of molecular markers and subsequent behavioral abnormalities associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

These observations may be the result of several biological factors, such as a decrease in pro-inflammatory cytokines in the brain, which otherwise contribute to neural damage and death, and an increase in neural plasticity.

The reduced likelihood of CCD among the more active dogs in our group may be due to the same processes.

The researchers do not necessarily feel that a lack of exercise causes CCD, as the disease itself may lead to a decrease in physical activity.

The results showed indicated a high link between lifetime quartile and canine dementia, however.

The authors suggest that veterinarians could utilize this information to determine when to initiate CCD screening.