Senior Dog Longevity Monitoring Framework

Most decline in aging dogs is caught late because nobody was measuring. A twice-yearly structured review across a fixed set of domains catches trends while they are still reversible, and turns a vague 'she's slowing down' into a dated number a veterinarian can act on.

How to use it

Score every domain at each review, even the ones that seem fine. The value is in the trend, not the snapshot. A domain that moves two levels between reviews matters more than a domain that has been mildly abnormal for years.

Default cadence: Every 6 months from age 7 (or from age 5 for giant breeds), and every 3 months from age 11 or after any new diagnosis.

The point of a fixed domain list is that it does not depend on what you happened to notice this month. Scoring a domain that turns out fine costs a minute; not scoring the one that was drifting costs considerably more.

Generate a report for your vet

Most people want the browser tracker, which does all of this as a form with nothing to install. The command-line route below is for people who would rather keep the record as a file they control.

Record each review in a JSON profile and the repository will produce a dated report. Red flags first, then what changed since last time, then the domains you did not assess, listed explicitly so an unmeasured domain is never mistaken for a normal one.

node scripts/report.mjs my-dog.json --out report.md

Start from the example profile. The command-line tool runs entirely on your own computer and sends nothing anywhere.

A hosted version with saved profiles is planned, so you do not have to keep a JSON file to use this. When it arrives it will store your dog's health record on our servers, which is a different arrangement from the tool above. What gets stored, who can see it, and how to export or delete it will be spelled out before you are asked to enter anything. See how we handle data.

Core domains

Assess all of these at every review.

core higher is worse

Body weight, body condition, and muscle mass

Excess weight measurably worsens arthritis pain, and losing 6-9% of body weight reduces lameness on its own. Muscle loss is a separate problem that tracks with frailty and is routinely missed because a fat dog and a sarcopenic dog can weigh the same.

What to measure: Body weight in kg on the same scale; Body Condition Score (1-9); Muscle Condition Score (normal / mild / moderate / severe loss) assessed over the skull, scapulae, spine, and pelvis.
Instrument: WSAVA Body Condition Score and Muscle Condition Score charts
How often: Monthly weight at home; BCS and MCS at every review
Target: BCS 4-5 of 9, with normal muscle condition

Escalate on

Unexplained weight loss of more than 5% between reviews
Muscle loss progressing while body weight stays flat
Weight gain despite unchanged feeding

core higher is worse

Mobility and chronic pain

Osteoarthritis is the most common source of chronic pain in older dogs and the best-studied condition in canine geriatric medicine. Owners consistently under-report it because they read it as ordinary aging rather than pain.

What to measure: A validated owner questionnaire scored the same way each time, plus three concrete observations: time to rise from lying, willingness to use stairs, and longest comfortable walk.
Instrument: Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI), LOAD, or Canine Orthopaedic Index. Pick one and stay with it
How often: Every review; every 4 weeks when starting or changing a pain medication
Target: Stable or improving score; any pain treatment should produce a measurable change or be reconsidered

Escalate on

Reluctance to rise, or taking more than a few seconds to stand
New avoidance of stairs, jumping, or slippery floors
Night restlessness or panting at rest, both of which can be pain rather than anxiety
Sudden worsening in a dog on an anti-NGF antibody, which cannot be withdrawn quickly

core higher is worse

Cognition and behavior

Cognitive dysfunction is under-diagnosed because early signs read as ordinary aging. It is also the domain where a baseline score matters most, since gradual change is invisible without one.

What to measure: A validated cognitive questionnaire covering disorientation, social interaction, sleep-wake cycle, house-training, activity, and anxiety.
Instrument: CADES, CCDR, or DISHAA
How often: Every review; at 30 and 90 days after starting a dietary or drug intervention
Target: Stable score. The 2018 MCT diet trial measured change at 30 and 90 days, so judge interventions on that timescale rather than in weeks.

Escalate on

Staring at walls, getting stuck in corners, or standing on the hinge side of doors
Reversed day-night sleep pattern
House-soiling in a previously reliable dog
Failing to greet familiar people

core higher is worse

Thirst, urination, and appetite

Increased drinking and urination is the earliest owner-detectable sign of kidney disease, diabetes, and Cushing's, three conditions where early detection changes the outcome substantially.

What to measure: Measured water intake in ml over 24 hours (not estimated), overnight accidents, and appetite change.
Instrument: Household measuring jug; normal intake is roughly under 100 ml/kg/day and most healthy dogs drink well below that
How often: A measured 24-hour water intake before each review, and any time you suspect a change
Target: Stable intake appropriate to diet and weather

Escalate on

Water intake above 100 ml/kg/day
New overnight urination in a house-trained dog
Appetite increase with weight loss, or appetite loss of more than a couple of days

Related interventions: Therapeutic renal diet

core neutral

Bloodwork, urinalysis, and organ function

Every drug on this site that works long-term is limited by organ tolerance rather than by efficacy. NSAID use in particular requires a baseline and repeat monitoring, and kidney disease is usually well advanced before it is visible from the outside.

What to measure: Complete blood count, serum chemistry, urinalysis with urine specific gravity, and SDMA. Thyroid testing where signs suggest it.
Instrument: Veterinary laboratory panel. Keep copies of every result so trends are visible across years
How often: Annually as a baseline from age 7; every 6 months from age 11; within 2-4 weeks of starting an NSAID and every 3-6 months while on one
Target: Values stable within reference range; a value drifting within the normal range still matters

Escalate on

Rising creatinine or SDMA, even inside the reference interval
Urine specific gravity falling toward 1.012
New or rising liver enzymes in a dog on long-term medication

core higher is worse

Heart and breathing

Resting respiratory rate is the single most useful number an owner can collect at home, and a rise above 30 breaths per minute while sleeping is an early, actionable sign of congestive heart failure.

What to measure: Sleeping respiratory rate. Count chest rises for 30 seconds while the dog is asleep and double it. Note any cough, exercise intolerance, or fainting.
Instrument: A phone timer, recorded weekly in a log
How often: Weekly at home for any dog with a known murmur; monthly otherwise
Target: Under 30 breaths per minute while sleeping

Escalate on

Sleeping respiratory rate consistently above 30
Any collapse or fainting episode, which needs same-day veterinary attention
Cough that worsens at night, or reduced exercise tolerance

core neutral

Medication and supplement review

Geriatric dogs accumulate medications, and the interaction risks are real: selegiline with serotonergic drugs, NSAIDs with steroids or with a second NSAID. Reviews are also the moment to drop supplements that trials show do not work.

What to measure: A complete list of everything given, including supplements, chews, and over-the-counter products, with dose and reason.
Instrument: Written medication list brought to every visit
How often: Every review, and any time something is added

Escalate on

Two NSAIDs, or an NSAID plus a corticosteroid
An MAO inhibitor such as selegiline alongside tramadol or a serotonergic antidepressant
Any supplement continued for over a year with no measured benefit

core higher is better

Quality of life

The hardest decisions get made in crisis, at night, without a reference point. Scoring quality of life while the dog is doing well creates a baseline and forces the conversation to happen before it is urgent.

What to measure: Score hurt, hunger, hydration, hygiene, happiness, mobility, and whether good days outnumber bad, each scored 0 to 10.
Instrument: HHHHHMM quality of life scale (Villalobos)
How often: Every review; weekly in advanced disease or on hospice care
Target: A total consistently above 35 of 70 is generally considered acceptable quality of life, but the trend and the owner's own read matter more than the threshold

Escalate on

Bad days beginning to outnumber good days
Any single category persistently at or below 3
Loss of interest in the two or three things the dog has always loved most

Supporting domains

Assess at every review where practical; these carry lower urgency but catch things the core set misses.

supporting higher is worse

Dental and oral health

Periodontal disease is painful, extremely common in older dogs, and frequently rationalized as 'old dog breath'. It is also one of the few sources of chronic pain that can be genuinely resolved rather than managed.

What to measure: Visual check of gums and teeth for tartar, recession, mobility, and masses; note breath odor, dropped food, and one-sided chewing.
Instrument: Veterinary oral exam; conscious inspection at home between visits
How often: Every review, with professional assessment annually

Escalate on

Dropping food, chewing on one side, or reluctance to take hard treats
Any oral mass
Facial swelling below the eye, which suggests a tooth root abscess

supporting higher is worse

Lumps, masses, and skin

Cancer risk climbs steeply with age. A dated body map turns 'has this always been there?' into an answerable question, which is the difference between early and late detection.

What to measure: A full-body check with each mass logged by location and measured in mm, ideally photographed against a ruler.
Instrument: Body map diagram with dated measurements
How often: Monthly at home; every review with a veterinarian

Escalate on

Any new mass, or an existing one that changes size, shape, or texture
Masses that are fixed to underlying tissue, ulcerated, or growing quickly
Any mass in a dog that is also losing weight

supporting higher is worse

Vision and hearing

Sensory loss mimics cognitive dysfunction almost exactly. A dog that ignores you may be deaf rather than demented, and the management is completely different. This must be excluded before a dementia diagnosis is accepted.

What to measure: Response to hand signals versus voice, navigation in dim light, startle response when approached from behind, bumping into furniture in unfamiliar places.
Instrument: Structured observation; veterinary ophthalmic exam where change is suspected
How often: Every review

Escalate on

Bumping into things, especially in low light
Cloudiness of the lens, or a visibly enlarged or reddened eye, which is urgent
Not responding to a name that used to work reliably

supporting higher is better

Activity and sleep

Activity decline is often the first objective signal of pain or systemic illness, and it can be measured continuously rather than recalled. Sleep disruption cuts across pain, cognition, and cardiac disease.

What to measure: Daily activity from a collar accelerometer if available, otherwise total walk minutes per week; night waking episodes per week.
Instrument: Activity monitor or a simple weekly log
How often: Continuous where a device is used; otherwise a one-week log before each review

Escalate on

A sustained drop in activity not explained by weather or routine
Increased night waking or pacing
Sleeping through activities that used to prompt engagement

A note on what this framework is

It is a structured checklist assembled from established veterinary geriatric practice and the instruments used in the trials cited elsewhere on this site. Unlike the intervention pages, the framework as a whole has not itself been tested in a randomized trial. No monitoring protocol for dogs has. The individual instruments it uses are validated; the specific combination and cadence are a reasonable synthesis, not a proven one. It is graded honestly here rather than dressed up as something stronger.