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My Tucker, a poodle/bichon mix is 13 or 14, and always a loving dog. He knows his name, does his business when he should outside, uses a doggie door, etc etc. He likes to cuddle with me all the time and I try to never leave him alone for very long. We play fetch inside and outside a lot. We go to the dog park.
Recently in the last month he has started acting weird. At night, he wants to go out in the cold back yard. He refuses to come inside and runs from me when I go after him. He is pacing in the house around 9 pm going from room to room. He sometimes stands and stares at chairs, walls, etc. or at me.
Is this the beginning of the end? Is there medication for dementia in dogs? I have been to the vet 3 times in the last 6 months and hope to not go again so soon. Any advice?
Yes there is doggie dementia. There is Anipryl for it, but it doesn't seem to be widely used. I asked about it last year and don't think anyone replied with any Anipryl experience. And of course its expensive.
My dog would sleep most of the day and wake up after dark and want to be active all night. He would pace and pace. It doesn't mean the end is necessarily near, but it does mean your life won't be the same unless you can find something to help. And there isn't a lot. But he could still live a long time.
Realize he may not see and hear well, and might act weird (running from you) because he doesn't know whats going on.
Good luck. Its very, very difficult.
I'm dealing with a dog with dementia right now. Fortunately, so far, she hasn't reached the point of Sundowner's Syndrome. I dealt with that with my mother. I truly feel for what you're going through and dread the day when my dog starts it. Right now her weirdness is confined to daylight hours and that's bad enough. I really don't know who I'm dealing with, hour by hour on some days. Sometimes she doesn't recognize me and won't let me in the house. She gets lost in my small and very navigable yard where she's lived for eight years. She paces for hours on end, if I don't interrupt her wanderings. So far, I can re-set her if I put her in her crate for ten minutes. She comes out and has forgotten her pacing and behaves normally until she starts again. Oh, and the oral fixation. The constant licking of the floors has morphed into licking the aggregate concrete patio and even trying to bite the little rock bits imbedded into it with her front teeth. She can't be allowed outside without constant supervision. Add just general confusion and spookiness into the mix and there's my day.
My vet has confirmed that it is dementia. Her vision and hearing check out OK. She has some other health issues but nothing that would cause the dementia. His take is that when she stops eating, or starts eating even more bizarrely in her case, and/or loses control of her bowels, then we're "there".
The vet didn't recommend the Anipryl as in his experience it just doesn't get the job done. So here we are as long-term care providers for our memory-challenged much-loved pets. I'll hang in there, of course, as it's what we do for our pets. But I hope that somewhere someone is working on a med that can ease some of anxiety and odd behaviors they exhibit. Hopefully, like dementia patients I've known in my family, they're not really cognizant of their condition and are foggy enough to just live in their own strange world without too much awareness of the world around them.
We had a sweet dog with what the vet always called cognitive dysfunction. He didn't like dementia or alzheimers. What she really liked was being held. It was like she lost her markers and found them when she was in my arms on my lap and held closely. It comforted her.
I have friend who does dog hospice and she has not found analipryl helpful (on multiple dogs).
While my ancient one have not had severe dementia, a few have ended up with some sort of anxiety (fireworks and storms were worse, and leaving one alone caused him anxiety).
I do wish I had considered anti- anxiety meds for the 16 year old storm phobic dog. My vet at the time wasn’t at all aware of anything like that ::sigh::
When she went deaf I thought we were good, but I also had to close curtains so she couldn’t see the lightening, and she could still sense it....
I have the feeling that might be the difficulty with treating dogs and probably cats, they sense things we would never consider.
They can sense an earthquake before it happens, so how can we know what causes their body to pace. I do think pacing is often a sign of pain that can’t always be understood.
At the time I didn’t know about Sam-e and gaba, but I have since had good luck with those. Sam-e is not cheap, but my vet recommended it for my dog when her liver values were off.
This is an interesting article, with lots of helpful info (and FB groups to join, etc). It wouldn’t hurt to consider some of the supplements/ minerals/oils.
I believe the poster was saying that a dog with cataracts cannot see much. But I don't think there is anything wrong with my dog's eyes.
The behavior comes and goes. I am limiting his doggie door to daylight only. And I am trying to ignore his obvious need to stand and stare at me. Playing fetch with him in the house seems to wear him out somewhat, although I don't always feel like it. He is also very sensitive to strange noises. The smoke detector started chirping and he went into the closet and hid. The oven timer went off, and same behavior. He does seem unable to calm himself and settle at times. I hope this gets better and not worse with time.
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