# Japan - In sickness and in health--old dogs need care



## testmg80 (Jul 28, 2008)

BY YASUYOSHI TAKASHIMA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2008/12/22

(We should take care of our Senior citizens as well as the Japanese take care of their pets...).

As Japanese society ages, good nursing homes are in demand--for both humans and dogs.

To fill one of these needs, safe places where dogs can live out their final days in comfort and safety are opening across the country.

Typically, the animals are too old for their owners to care for at home or the owners themselves have grown too old to care for them.

Nursing homes for dogs are not cheap, however. One facility charges up to 3.8 million yen to take care of a dog until the end of its life.

At a canine nursing home run by Asawa Pet Service Co. in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, I watched a bed-ridden Labrador retriever being spoon-fed dog food softened in hot water.

"Chew it well," said a female nursing staff member gently to the dog. Then she gave the dog water by putting a syringe into its mouth.

After the meal, the dog lay on the bed, looking content.

Thirty-five dogs, aged 9 to 17, live on the former 1,000-square-meter mikan orange farm. In human age, they would be approximately 60 to 100 years old.

Twenty percent of the Chihuahuas, Maltese and other dogs at Asawa Pet Service have health problems.

For dogs with intestinal disease, staff members mix medicine in dog food. For dogs confined to bed, they make sure they roll over from time to time, so they don't develop bedsores.

If a dog becomes ill, staff members contact its owner to determine a course of treatment.

When a dog dies, it is cremated at a nearby temple.

Yoshihiko Akisawa, a 41-year-old former company employee, started the business in 2001.

He had always liked dogs and wanted to take care of old dogs, he said.

In the past seven years, he has cared for about 100 dogs, brought to him from as far away as Miyagi and Miyazaki prefectures.

Most of the dog owners are middle-aged or senior citizens and well off. Some visit their pets twice a month. But about half the owners just send money and never ask how their dogs are doing.

Asawa Pet Service charges between 28,000 yen and 37,000 yen a month to keep a dog.

In October, a 69-year-old woman in Yokohama who had lived alone with her beagle for 15 years left the dog under Asawa Pet Service's care before she moved in to a condominium for the aged.

Though the beagle seldom barked, it kept wailing when it was taken to Asawa.

"I've never married or given birth, so for me, the dog was like my own baby. I wanted to take care of it until the end, but I can't fight old age," she said, with tears in her eyes.

In response to higher demand for nursing homes for old dogs, so-called "pet hotels," which keep pets on a temporary basis when the owners are away, are entering the business.

For instance, Petto no Omise Patona in Yao, Osaka Prefecture, opened for business in 2005.

Devoting its air-conditioned second floor to aged dogs, the store now keeps five pets there--charging 1.2 million yen per head for lifelong care.

The dogs undergo a medical checkup at a nearby animal hospital every two months.

If they wish, their owners can receive e-mail with a photo of their pets during a walk, for instance, as well as information on how they are getting along.

According to a 2007 survey of dog owners by an association of pet food makers, half of the dogs owned by the respondents were at least 7 years old--the age at which many dogs start showing symptoms of aging.

Thanks to vaccinations and better care in general, dogs live longer now. And, of course, they age much faster than human beings.

But the aging process is similar--their joints fail, they lose their hearing and sight. Some dogs bark more. Very old dogs often need help relieving themselves.

Some owners are unwilling or unable to give these pets the extra care they need.

Meanwhile, Pet Resort College Nikko in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, opened in 2007 on a plot of land twice as large as Tokyo Dome.

It has an "indoor training room" and "VIP rooms," in which a dog can live and relax alone.

The facility charges a lump-sum payment of 1.5 million yen to 3.8 million yen for lifelong care.

Orizuru Home was started in Hiroshima in 2007. Owner Takashi Mimachi, 61, said, "Although some pet owners feel guilty, thinking they are abandoning their dogs, there are some cases in which they have no choice. We want to offer an alternative to putting the dogs to sleep."

Masumi Ishii, a veterinarian who wrote a book titled "Roken tono Kurashikata" (How to live with an old dog), said, "Pet owners have various reasons for not being able to care for their dogs any longer. Nursing homes are an option.

"Still, it's a lot of work to care for old dogs. People who leave their dogs at these homes should visit them on a regular basis to make sure that they are happy where they are."

To own a dog is to be responsible for it for the rest of its life, she said, adding that people shouldn't get a dog at all if they can't keep that in mind.(IHT/Asahi: December 22,2008)

asahi.com¡ÊÄ«Æü¿·Ê¹¼Ò¡Ë¡§In sickness and in health--old dogs need care - English


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