Dog with Dementia?

[favouriteflowers]

We have a little gentleman Border Terrier who is the king of the house. He is so gentle and such a sweetheart. He is 12. Recently he has started Pooing in the Kitchen were he sleeps overnight. Our routine is solid nothing has changed not even feeds. He will poo up to 4 times in the night. I took him to the vet and she did a really good check over including checking a stool sample and boots and all is good for his age. She felt it’s him getting older. His anxiety is heightened this last year and she feels it all part and parcel of it. I’m going to make his night area smaller to see if it helps with his anxiety and re introducing puppy pads at night.

Does anyone else have any ideas or experience of this please. All advice welcome.

Sorry about your boy's issues and it's good that you've had a vet check.

Sadly, it probably is just old age setting in. The same thing started to happen with one of our girls (giant breed) at around 12. The poo problem was the beginning of arthritis in her back legs; she retained urinary continence but at night a bit of poo would slip out where she lay or as she got up. We knew she hated it, she was definitely stressed by it happening and it didn't appear to be related to dementia. She just slowly became more weak and unsteady on her back legs.
You also mention that your boy seems anxious. This was also the case with our girl who started being very jumpy, then became phobic about our cat. It turned out to be hearing related; she was slowly going deaf and could no longer hear the cat's movements so he kept startling her.

So while of course it could be dementia in the case of your boy, old age can slowly manifest in physical ways that are not always necessarily connected with cognitive decline.

Hopefully you will work out what his issues are being triggered by and find the best ways to help him through it. It's very hard when they begin to decline, but his is a robust little breed so hopefully he still has plenty of time ahead.

Bless him, we had to take our last dog in beside us at night for the last few months of his life, he was peeing and chewing skirtings over night, he slept well once he was with us, he got to choose where he went, usually it was dc2 who he adored,

Could you take your dog in with you to see how it goes?

I was going to say the same as @Lomonald .
When my dog had dementia, the first sign was becoming distressed at night. He'd always slept downstairs, but started barking and panting throughout the night. He joined me in the bedroom and slept peacefully.

I’m just worried if I bring him to bed he will poo on the carpet.

How is your old boy's eyesight @favouriteflowers ? I'm wondering if it's happening overnight because it's dark in the kitchen, he can't see as well as he used to and so he's panicking. Doing 4 poos overnight does sound like a fear or stress related thing to me. You could try leaving some lighting on, or putting a lamp on the worktop overnight to see if that helps. And possibly even leaving a radio on low too?

Try all of the suggestions first, but if it continues after that it might be worth going back to your vet and asking for some medication to help calm your dog down a little.

Have you tried any supplements for brain function? Our old dog has just started on Activait, too soon to know if it is helping yet but we've heard good things.
We've established that our old pup's night time accidents are muscle weakness rather than dementia, but started the supplement for other signs of cognitive decline.
Could you set up a pet camera to see what's happening through the night?

Have you tried any calming products? Our old boy was getting very anxious and stressed and having the odd accident over night. We were back and forwards to the vets who couldn't find any physical cause and suggested it may be dementia setting in. As a last resort I bought a pet calming diffuser and spray. Didn't really think it would work but his behaviour changed almost immediately. He's sleeping right through the night and no more anxious panting. Might be worth a try.