Nourishing the Mind of an Older Dog

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone #BrightMind #CollectiveBias

I remember the day that my parents got their dog Miss Bean, called that because she had the coloring of a coffee bean. Her original owners were about to have twins and having dogs was just more than they could handle at the time. Now Beano, as my kids call her, is over 10 years old and the years are starting to show on her. She thinks she hears noises when there is nothing there. She has a harder time jumping on the couch. She doesn’t like to chase her toys like she used to do. As dogs age their bodies don’t produce some of the things they need to for memory, so to help we thought that we would change Beano’s food in hopes of nourishing the mind of an older dog with Purina ProPlan Bright Mind.

We headed to Petsmart and took Miss Bean along for a little ride. She hinted that she wanted a few new toys while there since our dog Cinder had chewed most of them up! We got some Purina ProPlan Bright Mind small breed formula which has the nutrients and ingredients an older dog needs to help with their cognitive skills. We wanted to see if it would help her want to be like her young self again.

Now when switching foods it is best to make a gradual switch so as not to upset the dog’s tummy. We started by just mixing a small amount of the Purina ProPlan Bright Mind with her old food then over a week would add in more of the Bright Mind in and less of her old food until we made a full switch over. Miss Bean is never one to leave her bowl sitting with food in it for too long. She took to the new food quite well. It was almost impossible to get a picture of her eating the food since she ate it down in less than 30 seconds!! I take that as a sign that she likes the new food.

Did you know that dogs are considered senior when they reach the age of 7. At this age the glucose metabolism in a dog’s brain begins to change. What this means for your older dog is that their memory, learning, and decision making abilities can change so they need a food that can support this decline with nutrition and botanical oils which help promote alertness and mental sharpness as if found in the Purina ProPlan Bright Mind formula.

I am excited to share with you more soon on her transition and how this old dog is back to some of her old tricks and maybe a little more play time than sleepy time!

Do you have an older dog in your home(7+) that could benefit from nutrients that increase their memory and cognitive skills? How well are you nourishing the mind of an older dog?