Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Doggie dementia

3 replies

WhatNow20 · 25/07/2024 21:37

15 year old shih tzu. Barking day and night if he can't see us. Seems off but hard to describe, today we were at the beach and he kept looking back to the car and needed little nudges on the lead to keep walking a few steps, it was like he was worried or something. After a few minutes he got happy again and was walking normally. Making dinner he needs to be in the room right next to me where normally he would just doze on the couch. It's all very odd but I'm thinking he has doggie dementia so I'll ring the vet tomorrow. He is currently on injections each month for his arthritis.

Does anyone know what the short term future holds for our little fella? Does your mean we are getting close to the end for him?

OP posts:
Nannyfannybanny · 26/07/2024 07:37

Morning,yes, I reckon you are correct
CCD. We had a toy a Phalene. He was almost 18 when PTS last January. He was doing the same things as your doggy. Worse at night,he would frantically bark while staring at nothing,then cry, shake,wee. We took him to our vet,(been using the same practice over 25 years, almost the same vet!) he prescribed a supplement first off, which didn't help,then meds, which were very expensive
Just a small amount because she said we would know very quickly if they helped, they didn't. We took turns to sit up with him at night for a year. He was eating....in fact a lot, because he forgot he had been fed,so night and day.still going for walks. We couldn't let him off the lead, because he followed other people, didn't recognise us!But, she said this was no indication of a good quality of life,he was very frightened. He had cataracts, and initially,we thought this was why he followed other people. He had done that for several years,he was still very fast! After this time,and chats to our vet, she said the fact he was being incontinent would upset him as well,we made the decision to have him PTS. It was heartbreaking, but we have him a fabulous life, spoilt rotten, slept on our bed for 17 years
Such a clever boy, when he had pooed because he had no oil or undercoat,he would jump in the bath and wait for a shower, would walk to me,then into the kitchen,stand by the water bowl if it needed filling. He had various different "chats" for what he wanted
.our previous dog (we've always had 2,he was actually a third) border collie was 17. She also had CCD,but it didn't upset her. She would stare into space,walk out the dog flap,in the door, over and over, but she got kidney failure, went downhill very quickly,so was PTS, she was 17.5. I know there was a post about this last year, and a few people found the meds worked for them. Good luck 🤞

RickyGervaislovesdogs · 26/07/2024 08:02

What injections? Is it Librela? It’s a side effect commonly quoted.

Our 16/17 year old JRT had dementia, would bump into things in the house, DM would sit outside for hours with him to toilet, but he would hold it until he came inside. He would hide when it came to going for walks.

We took him to the vet who said there is medication to try, however as he was also blind and deaf (we hadn’t known/or put this together) the vet said it might be best to pts. He had bitten us a lot over his life, but it increased more. As he was so old we decided to let him go.

FranklySonImTheGaffer · 26/07/2024 08:25

2 of our dogs had dementia. One (a patterdale) wasn't upset by it, she would get confused and would either follow me around or put herself to bed if she couldn't see me. She sometimes woke and barked in the night but would stop as soon as you spoke to her.
Meds didn't help but she saw the vet fairly regularly and we had 2 years between diagnosis and having her PTS (which was the result of a seizure). She was 16.

The second one was diagnosed as 14 and we had another year with him. He became a bit nervy at night time, he'd pace and pace until he could sit on my lap and would wake at night and nudge me to make sure I was still there.
Main issue for him was drinking - I think he'd forget so we had water bowls in several places and I would stand by them regularly and that seemed to remind him to drink.
He was also diagnosed with cancer 6 months before he went and that was the reason we put him to sleep.

Doggy dementia can be hard but maybe try some treatments, monitor closely and be aware you'll need to step in if it's making them suffer.
It's hard but ultimately it's all about protecting them as best we can

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread