Does anybody have any information on this or has their geriatric dog been diagnosed?
I've read a little about caring for elderly dogs of late since losing Cleo and Summers sudden decline in mental health. Her physical health has been great. I can't complain for her being 13 years old. A little arthritis symptoms that she take suppliments for and she has had quite a bit of improvements as far as being able to roll over to have her belly rubbed, less problems up and down stairs, running, standing up, etc. She has no cataracts, hearing is questionable but she does hear some, CBC & senior panel all came back normal this past March for her physical. She takes Rimadyl on a very limited basis for the occasional stumble down a hill or play a little too hard with the youngsters or just noticed her limping a little that doesn't seem to improve when she starts moving around.
What I'm worried about is her seemingly deteriorating mental stability. She has had seperation anxiety to some degree since day one with me 13 years ago. Recently she has also had a lot of life changes with losing her sibling/best friend on the first of January a new puppy that she has grown veryy attached to. I tried my best to keep everything the same for her after Cleo's death but she completely changed immediately. She HATED her backyard that I used to have to drag her in from, didn't eat for days and even then eating was sporatic. All this has improved since adding the puppy.
She seems confused at times. She will often just get up and walk around, lay down somewhere and then do it all over again. She seems restless. She'll go to the back door and ask to go outside but when we open the door to go out she'll turn her heels and run away from the door back to the living room or just away from the door. She seems like she forgets that she has to go outside. Lately if we don't take her by the collar and lead her outside when we know she has to go, she'll use the bathroom inside. It is not a true inability to hold it but that she forgets that is why she has to go outside. It has decreased since we've realized this and have been leading her by her collar now.
The first couple months after Cleo's death she was very reclusive and never wanted to be with the family. This has also improved but my concern is that even though she constantly wants to be in my general area, she doesn't seem to want affection from us. She'll walk up for us to pet her but as soon as we touch her she turns and walks away. Like she just wants to know that we WILL pet her if she asks for it and that is enough for her. If we lay with her on the floor she gets up and walks away. She may walk back for us to rub on her while we're still on the floor but it is very short lived, less then a minute.
She'll also do this on the couch. She'll put her front paws on the couch and sometimes gets up on her own but she doesn't stay up there long, only less then a minute (unless there is a thunder storm when she'll stay longer.)
I looked into this a little more when we jut got home from a short, two night, vacation late yesterday afternoon. Our neighbors came to care for the dogs and took the puppy to their house for play times. They did not take Summer because she gets anxious around their female Dane. She typically will howl when left alone and gets anxious but likes the crate (door open) and the garage under my husbands work area. This time though she scratched gouges into the door frame. She has never done anything like this before in all her years.
I've come to the conclusion that we will not take any more family vacations while she is still with us but after finding information about this CDS I wonder if this is something that we should look into further or if this is typical with her age, or worsening of her seperation anxiety. I'm planning on taking some of the information I've found to my vet to see if putting her on Anipryl may benefit her.
I've read a little about caring for elderly dogs of late since losing Cleo and Summers sudden decline in mental health. Her physical health has been great. I can't complain for her being 13 years old. A little arthritis symptoms that she take suppliments for and she has had quite a bit of improvements as far as being able to roll over to have her belly rubbed, less problems up and down stairs, running, standing up, etc. She has no cataracts, hearing is questionable but she does hear some, CBC & senior panel all came back normal this past March for her physical. She takes Rimadyl on a very limited basis for the occasional stumble down a hill or play a little too hard with the youngsters or just noticed her limping a little that doesn't seem to improve when she starts moving around.
What I'm worried about is her seemingly deteriorating mental stability. She has had seperation anxiety to some degree since day one with me 13 years ago. Recently she has also had a lot of life changes with losing her sibling/best friend on the first of January a new puppy that she has grown veryy attached to. I tried my best to keep everything the same for her after Cleo's death but she completely changed immediately. She HATED her backyard that I used to have to drag her in from, didn't eat for days and even then eating was sporatic. All this has improved since adding the puppy.
She seems confused at times. She will often just get up and walk around, lay down somewhere and then do it all over again. She seems restless. She'll go to the back door and ask to go outside but when we open the door to go out she'll turn her heels and run away from the door back to the living room or just away from the door. She seems like she forgets that she has to go outside. Lately if we don't take her by the collar and lead her outside when we know she has to go, she'll use the bathroom inside. It is not a true inability to hold it but that she forgets that is why she has to go outside. It has decreased since we've realized this and have been leading her by her collar now.
The first couple months after Cleo's death she was very reclusive and never wanted to be with the family. This has also improved but my concern is that even though she constantly wants to be in my general area, she doesn't seem to want affection from us. She'll walk up for us to pet her but as soon as we touch her she turns and walks away. Like she just wants to know that we WILL pet her if she asks for it and that is enough for her. If we lay with her on the floor she gets up and walks away. She may walk back for us to rub on her while we're still on the floor but it is very short lived, less then a minute.
She'll also do this on the couch. She'll put her front paws on the couch and sometimes gets up on her own but she doesn't stay up there long, only less then a minute (unless there is a thunder storm when she'll stay longer.)
I looked into this a little more when we jut got home from a short, two night, vacation late yesterday afternoon. Our neighbors came to care for the dogs and took the puppy to their house for play times. They did not take Summer because she gets anxious around their female Dane. She typically will howl when left alone and gets anxious but likes the crate (door open) and the garage under my husbands work area. This time though she scratched gouges into the door frame. She has never done anything like this before in all her years.
I've come to the conclusion that we will not take any more family vacations while she is still with us but after finding information about this CDS I wonder if this is something that we should look into further or if this is typical with her age, or worsening of her seperation anxiety. I'm planning on taking some of the information I've found to my vet to see if putting her on Anipryl may benefit her.
