China's pet population is aging fast, prompting calls for the veterinary industry to shift from a disease-centric model of care toward a more proactive, long-term approach to health management. At the ninth Royal Canin Vet Summit, co-hosted by the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association and Royal Canin, a global pet nutrition brand, experts discussed the challenge.

A new China Pet Healthy Aging Insight Report, based on a survey of 1,000 Chinese pet owners, found that more than half of respondents' dogs and cats are already over five years old, meaning many will enter their senior years within the next one to two years. Owners often notice visible signs of aging but miss hidden warning signs.

Speaking to CGTN during the summit, Brennen McKenzie, veterinary medical director at Loyal Animal Health (a San Francisco-based veterinary medicine company) and an expert in canine healthy aging, said aging should be understood as a biological process that can be monitored and managed. Dogs of the same breed, size and age can be affected very differently, so frailty assessment matters more than chronological age. He also encouraged owners to keep older dogs active. Even taking them out for a "sniffari," allowing them to explore and smell things, can be enriching. He cautioned owners against dismissing changes in their pets' health as "just old age."

Liu Lang, vice president of the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association, said dental pain in pets often goes unnoticed. "They can endure it, but enduring it doesn't mean they're not in pain." Reduced food intake can lead to muscle loss, weakened immunity and endocrine disorders, Liu explained. The mouth, he added, is the starting point of digestion.

The report also found that Chinese pet owners' willingness to act is high, with nutrition and regular veterinary checkups among the key measures they recognize.

(Cover designed by CGTN's Li Wenyi)