Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio Pay brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren bog Obam. Here. When you take your dog
Speaker 1: for a walk, you know you're going to stop at
Speaker 1: every bush, fire, hydrant, mailbox, and any other marked item
Speaker 1: along the route. That's because dogs have highly sensitive sniffers.
Speaker 1: Their noses are constantly processing information left by other neighborhood
Speaker 1: dogs or critters that have passed through their turf. Scientists
Speaker 1: say a dog's sense of smell is ten thousand to
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand times more accurate than humans. Dogs have
Speaker 1: been trained to sniff for bombs at airports, to participate
Speaker 1: in search and rescue, and to even detect certain diseases
Speaker 1: like diabetes and possibly the novel coronavirus. But just like
Speaker 1: any other of the senses, including site, hearing, or taste,
Speaker 1: that sense of smell can disappear for a whole host
Speaker 1: of reasons. If it does, it can be confusing for
Speaker 1: the dog and challenging to diagnose. The loss or the
Speaker 1: decreased ability to smell is called a nasmia, and it's
Speaker 1: a fairly common symptom that people experience with illness or trauma.
Speaker 1: We heard about it most recently during the COVID nineteen pandemic.
Speaker 1: When it happens to people, we usually self report it. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: dogs can't tell their people what's going on. Instead, they
Speaker 1: may pick up their food or otherwise behave strangely. We
Speaker 1: spoke with Dr Sarah Moore, a veterinarian and professor in
Speaker 1: the College of Veterinary Medicine at the Ohio State University.
Speaker 1: More also specializes in veterinary neurology and neurosurgery, and she
Speaker 1: says that it takes a very astute owner to pick
Speaker 1: up a nasmia in dogs. She said, when we diagnosed
Speaker 1: or documented nasmia in a dog, we're doing it based
Speaker 1: on changes in behavior patterns or things they used to
Speaker 1: do that they can't do anymore. It's quite hard, especially
Speaker 1: if it's just one side of the nose, if they
Speaker 1: can still smell out of the other can be really
Speaker 1: difficult for the owner to realize that there's something wrong.
Speaker 1: Owners typically bring dogs in when it's affected their work,
Speaker 1: for example, a police dog doing scentwork, or dogs the
Speaker 1: airport sniffing for explosives or drugs. More head a case
Speaker 1: of an osmia in a dog that was a bedbug sniffer.
Speaker 1: She said, the dog went to people's houses and smelled
Speaker 1: out bedbugs, and the owners noticed a change in the
Speaker 1: way he did his job. That often triggers the visit
Speaker 1: to the vet, and by then it's usually a complete
Speaker 1: loss of smell because those dogs are so good at
Speaker 1: compensating for any loss of smell. But what causes anosmia?
Speaker 1: More said, the list of concerns is going to include
Speaker 1: things like infections of the lining of the nose or
Speaker 1: chemical irritants. Things that can cause inflammation of the nose lining,
Speaker 1: whether that be infectious or otherwise. Also, problems of the
Speaker 1: brain can actually cause issues with smell. A dog's nose
Speaker 1: and the links between it and its brain are nothing
Speaker 1: short of astonishing for starters. When canines inhale, a fold
Speaker 1: of tissue inside the nostrils separates the air flow into
Speaker 1: two paths, one for old faction and one for respiration.
Speaker 1: About fifteen with the air is sent to the olfactory
Speaker 1: area as it's examined, recognized or not, and sorted before
Speaker 1: it's exhaled. That examination happens in the canine nasal cavity
Speaker 1: or olfactory lobe, positioned directly behind the nose itself. This
Speaker 1: lobe is lined with all kinds of tiny nerve cells
Speaker 1: that connect directly to the brain. Dogs have up to
Speaker 1: three hundred million olfactory receptors depending on the breed, compared
Speaker 1: with only about six million in humans. More said, in dogs,
Speaker 1: the olfactory lobe is massive. If you were to look
Speaker 1: at a dog's olfactory lobe compared to a humans, it's huge.
Speaker 1: In a dog, it's because their sense of smell is
Speaker 1: so highly developed. Problems in that area of the brain
Speaker 1: can cause altered smell, so tumors of the brain, strokes,
Speaker 1: head trauma, injury can all impact the sense of smell.
Speaker 1: That's a long list of potential issues. However, once the
Speaker 1: veterinarian knows what's causing the anosmia, it can usually be treated.
Speaker 1: Sinus infection is typically caused by bacteria and thus treated
Speaker 1: with antibiotics. If the problem is brain related, such as
Speaker 1: a tumor, surgery may be an option, or if they
Speaker 1: can try radiation therapy. The loss of smell is temporary
Speaker 1: when caused by an allergic reaction to medication or exposure
Speaker 1: to chemicals or other irritants, and will usually wear off
Speaker 1: with time, though some loss of smell may linger. However,
Speaker 1: viral infections that cause loss of smell could become permanent
Speaker 1: depending on what virus causes it. More says that questions
Speaker 1: about the link between aging and an osmia in dogs
Speaker 1: are fair because there is some evidence that the condition
Speaker 1: is linked with aging in people, though she has yet
Speaker 1: to see studies done linking the condition to aging in dogs.
Speaker 1: For dogs with viral infections or those that can't otherwise
Speaker 1: be treated, the good news is is that if it's
Speaker 1: just a loss of smell, the dogs usually do pretty
Speaker 1: well with their lot in life, though of course, if
Speaker 1: their job utilizes that sense of smell, they may have
Speaker 1: to retire. And for pups with brain tumors or other
Speaker 1: brain related issues, the result is more complicated and unfortunately
Speaker 1: less cheery. More said, the problem with brain tumors is
Speaker 1: that they do get worse and tend to grow and
Speaker 1: cause other problems. Eventually, there is some palliatee of care
Speaker 1: we can provide. Sometimes we can use steroids to help
Speaker 1: with inflammation around the tumor, and that can be helpful
Speaker 1: for a period of time, but it's not a permanent
Speaker 1: fix from a quality of life standpoint. If they're having
Speaker 1: a lot of other problems, owners might need to consider
Speaker 1: putting their dog to sleep, but More said that is
Speaker 1: definitely a worst case scenario and that in the vast
Speaker 1: majority of dogs, anosmia is a conditioned that will not
Speaker 1: limit a dog's quality of life. She said, while it
Speaker 1: might cause a change in the dogs behave hear, the
Speaker 1: good news is that the most common cause of loss
Speaker 1: of smell and dogs is related to sinus infection, so
Speaker 1: most of those are going to be treatable problems. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was written by Patty res Mussin and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clay. For more on listen lots of other curious topics,
Speaker 1: visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio or more podcasts. My heart Radio
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.