Canine Cognitive Dysfunction - any experience?

[mindalina]

I had a fred ages ago (see here) about our dog going a bit funny. the short version is that dp rescued the dog years ago before we got together, and towards the end of my pregnancy the dog got really weird with me, growling a lot and cringing away from me like I was the scariest thing ever. the weird behaviour has continued on and off till now. the other day dps mum said something about him having the dog a few years longer than he'd thought he did, which means dog is probably close to ten years old, and pretty much elderly as far as german shepherds go. i said, because i am well funny, oh he's got doggie dementia, but then we googled and discovered that is a real thing! so he's off to the vets again this afternoon who say it does sound like a real possibility and they will examine him with a view to prescribing something for it. sooo has anyone had a dog suffer this and used medication for it? hwo did that work out for you? is there anything else we can do for him? poor old mutt he just looks so fed up and miserable most of the time now, and only a year ago he was such a cheerful chap

[Floralnomad]

No experience of it with dogs but one of our horses got a type of dementia and presented in a similar fashion ( scared ,also unable to settle ) ,we tried a few different sedatives but in the end had to have her PTS as she was so unsettled both in the stable and the field . It was very sad but she was elderly and had had a good life and retirement despite many health problems . Has your dog had a head injury at all because our horse had a serious one the year before onset of the dementia and we were never sure if it was linked .

[mindalina]

oh interesting - i can't think of any injuries off the top of my head but will mention it to dp. they have been home from vets and now gone out for walk. apparently vets have said they can't give an official diagnosis of canine dysfunction syndrome without an mri to rule out a tumour but have examined him and tested him and decided they're confident enough that it is to prescribe selgian. he should take it for two months apparently and after that dp can decide if he thinks its working and should continue or not. dp pretty gutted i think, but hopefully the medication will work and it'll all be ok...?!

[JulietBravoJuliet]

My last dog was diagnosed with this at the age of 12. She had moments of "spacing out"; staring into space, air snapping etc. she was prescribed drugs which seemed to ease the symptoms for about 8 or 9 months, then she got progressively worse, growling at anyone and everything, pacing, weeing in the house etc. The final straw was when I walked into the kitchen one morning and she was standing banging her head against a cupboard. I went to her and touched her, and she bit me. I'd kept her well apart from ds for a long while before this, as her behaviour was unpredictable, but her attacking me made me realise she must be really unhappy, confused and scared :(

We went to the vets that morning and they agreed her time had come :( it was horrible but she was 14 at that point and had had a good life.

Sorry, this probably hasn't helped much!

[mindalina]

Thanks Juliet - sorry to hear about your dog. It's reassuring to hear that she responded well to the treatment initially at least. Like your dog, ours is pretty old to start with, so I'm not expecting a miracle cure, but if dp can have another year with him it'd be something.