[quote Veterinari]@UnderTheSkyInsideTheSea
What has you behaviourist suggested? Are they working with your vet to ensure she gets appropriate treatment for her cognitive decline and associated anxiety?
Chronic pain is also associated with behavioural disorders and is almost inevitable in a 12 year old dog. How is that being managed?
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We don’t have a behaviourist - we can’t easily afford it and I haven’t prioritised it because honestly I don’t think it would help at this point. Her anxiety doesn’t seem greater now than it ever has been, in fact I’d say it’s less now because separation anxiety was the issue and we never leave her alone any more. She’s always been a neurotic dog and wants to be with us (preferably on us) - she’s been like it since she was a puppy. The breeder did warn me she’d be my ‘shadow’ - I met three generations and they all wanted to climb inside me. She’s perfectly happy if she’s got everyone she loves close by, and their full attention, and preferably lots of food. So that’s what we do.
She is not in any pain that we’re aware of, and I’m confident I would be aware if that’s what she was feeling. She only shows signs of stiffness the next day if she’s walked more than about 5 miles, and we don’t walk her that far any more because she doesn’t like going for walks. Nor does the vet think she’s in any pain. Her bloods were all fine. Apart from chronic pancreatitis since she was a youngster, she’s been in pretty rude health. We manage that by being very careful with her diet (when she’s not thieving wildly unsuitable things, which she does at any opportunity) and feeding four smaller meals a day since her last flare up about a year ago, which (touch wood) has kept it really well controlled. It’s very obvious that she’s in pain when she has a flare up, hence my being confident that she’s not in pain - nothing about her attitude, posture, body language or tone indicates that she’s in pain. We have Loxicom if needed for the pancreatitis but rarely need to uses it, apart from that, no meds. I give her various anti-inflammatory herbs/spices and a couple of supplements.
Her barking is not a distressed or scared bark, it’s a ‘you’re going to the kitchen/standing in the kitchen/doing things with food/might go downstairs to the kitchen/aren’t giving me a treat when I think I should have a treat/are focusing on something other than me’ bark. Or barking because DH has gone out. Or barking because she can smell that a fox or cat has been in the garden. Or because she wants to go out and check whether the fox or cat has been in the garden, and run around sniffing the air and telling everyone it’s her garden. The same reasons she’s always barked, just SO. MUCH. MORE! The vet called it cognitive dysfunction, said it was fairly inevitable, said there was a drug they could try but warned me it wasn’t cheap. I asked if it would make much difference, and she said she’d tried it with hers and it hadn’t been miraculous.
She doesn’t seem unhappy. She sleeps more, and she plays a bit less (which I assumed was age), but still plays happily if I initiate (just barks more!) and still initiates herself, too (sits by a toy and growls or woo-woo-woos, or parades a sock in front of us and growls). She obsessed with food, but then she always has been. We’ve let her training slide (which I’m now realising I need to pick up again) because it’s harder now that she can’t hear us, can’t hear a clicker, and has poorer impulse control. She’ll follow most commands momentarily, but seconds later she’s doing it/not doing it again. And barks throughout!