I have a female Patterdale terrier. She's 12 and suffers with chronic spinal pain after an injury and surgery when she was 4. She's on a pain management program - gabapentin, amitriptyline, prednisone and Pardale-V.
In the last few months she's had repeated episodes where she's increasingly restless at night, seemingly unable to lie down and sleep comfortably (although she'll cheerfully sleep anywhere in the house all day). Sometimes she's distressed to the point of panting.
She's been fine all day today, she's been for her two short walks, eaten normally, even played with a toy for a while and was laying with me on the sofa until we came up to bed.
She typically has a final wee and a bedtime biscuit, stays downstairs in her own bed for most of the night, tending to come up and ask to come under the covers with us when the room temperature drops in the early hours.
But recently, once we're in bed she's up and down, up and down, walking into all the rooms in the house and scratching, laying down but then leaping up with a growl again and moving to another room. While I've been typing this post she's jumped up on the bed, tried to lay down but snarled/barked and jumped up again, four times. She's been scratching in another favourite spot and has just come back in here again, panting and staring at me.
I'm sure it's pain, but don't really understand why she's fine during the day but not at night. She's on as much pain relief as they can give her long term, on top of the steroids. She's shaking badly but that's normal for her, there's some nerve damage from her spinal injury.
Could it be dementia? She doesn't stare into corners or anything odd, she's just extremely restless and distressed at pretty much the same time every night. This will either continue through the night until we get up again, or she'll eventually exhaust herself and curl up somewhere to sleep. My poor girl, I don't know what to do for her - there's no lore pain relief options. 
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
My dog can't settle at night
Blutopia · 20/09/2019 21:54
Just had a read up on canine cognitive dysfunction. She does seem to fit the profile and some symptoms (age, hearing loss, disrupted sleep/wake cycle, increased hunger, anxiety at night.
Another Patterdale! 
Sorry to hear you're going through similar, it's awful not really knowing how to comfort them. Mine has never been much one for physical affection but a positive touch seems to ground her when she's caught up in her internal panic.
She has now been laying with me for 40 mins, and her breathing has slowed...her body still feels rigid to touch though. She is obsessively licking a foot, but that's something she does to self-soothe so I'm not trying to stop her, for once.
It does match quite closely with some of the symptoms of CCD. I'd better speak to the vet again.
She's not doing well this evening either.
We were going to be out most of the day so dropped her at my MILs to save her being home alone (not that she really minds) - collected her just about the time she'd normally be fed, which is about the time the restlessness starts. She'd been normal all day according to MIL and had 2 short walks whilst there.
Even in the car it started, growling and jumping up, unable to lie down comfortably, scratching at the seat mindlessly then panting and looking in pain (I know my dogs face when she's in pain, she had a ruptured disc for 10 weeks before it was identified). We've just got in and I fed her and gave her painkillers - she ate all her dinner plus some leftover breakfast, had a big drink and a wee outside. I encouraged her to play a little but she's not interested in her favourite toys, only wants to stand and bark at me (then did her usual sudden growl and dash away, looking at me like I'd hurt her).
She's currently sitting up with me on the sofa and I've tried to distract her with a chew, which she only chewed for a minute or so. She has curled up now, I'm hoping she's tired after a day away from home and will sleep.
Oh, she's woken up and sat staring for a bit, now she's gone back to chewing her foot.
I just feel sick with worry - I absolutely don't want her to suffer a day longer than necessary and we've been preparing for her demise for several years, expecting her to rupture another disc and being unwilling to put her through the hell of surgery again. But equally, a change of medication and/or timing might get her past this phase? I should try shouldn't I - after all, her daytimes seem to be ok, she's still enjoying her food and her walks?
I totally agree. But DH won't entertain letting her go until we've exhausted every effort to maintain her quality of life, and she hasn't had a change in meds for two years other than adding in a low dose of steroid (which IMO was a last resort anyway). There may be other options yet.
Plus, it's hard to assimilate euthanasia with the dog who happily goes for her walks (if short), eats well and moves around ok for at least 20 hours out of 24. It's those few hours each evening - sometimes less - that she seems to struggle, and then she re-sets.
I adore her and will be devastated when she goes, but if the vet said there's nothing more to do to relieve her pain and she will spend every evening, eventually stretching to longer and longer periods, in miserable discomfort, I would wave her off tomorrow very sad but knowing she had a good life.
DH thinks I'm writing her off too soon.
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