novta

Definately get thyroid checked. My 4y/o bitch had similar symptoms, non of the so called normal symptoms associated with low thyroid such as coat conditions etc. She all of a sudden became fearful and appeared very distant & almost confused. Turns out she has low thyroid function (lowest the vet has ever seen). I would recommended getting a set of bloods done & make sure they test thyroid function.

Hi, just wondered if anyone had experience with a male dog having prostatic cysts, my boy is nearly 6 years old entire, and the vet thinks he have this. Interested to know anybody who has had a dog with this & what treatment (if any) they found worked. Thanks.

My 5 year old siberian husky has just been diagnosed with hypothyroidsim. I'm interested to know if anyone else has had experience with this, and if so what symptons did your dog have, and how did they react to the medication? My dog has had severe mental dullness and anxiety problems, along with the more normal coat problems. The vet said her thyroid function was extremely low - lowest she has seen before. Thank you.

Hi Pinnacle, the dogs runs are basically dog motels ie, wire run with wooden floor and a box at the end. The runs are located right beside our house, we have a big verandah around the house and the runs are under them with one side against the house, so they are pretty sheltered no chance of branch or anything falling on them. She didn't get destructive last night, just pacing & howling/crying. It is calm here tonight so will be interesting to see how she goes - I bet she will probably try it on a bit tonight to get back inside!

I having been looking back at the dairy I have kept once her destructive behaviour became more regular, and the destruction does not only occur on windy days. But perhaps the wind was the trigger or a sound in the wind. I have checked the kennel & nothing rattling around on it or loose on it, no tin or anything flapping around. We have a lot of trees around our property and are on a high hill, so I the only wind noise is the wind in the trees. I let her inside last night & she slept on her bed in our bedroom, she was a bit nervy when she first came in but settled quickly & slept most of the night on her bed, she paced around once or twice. She has not been bothered by other windy nights recently, we had bigger winds last week & she was fine? But twice before now she has played up at night time when it's been windy. I have just let her & my other dog out (he stayed outside all night - slept like a log!) and she is fine out free in the wind, just lying down on the grass. Hope this is of some help!

Well I think I may have just figured out some of my dogs problem. It is windy here, I wouldn't say excessively windy, but there is a strong breeze and she is crying in her kennel and pacing and obviously stressed. Normally at night & when we are here she is quiet as in her kennel, but on two previous occassions when this destructive behaviour started she had two nights when it was windy and she cryed all night long. Any suggestions what to do, do you comfort them - some people say this enforces it is OK to be afraid. Leave her to cry? Or what?? I have just given her some natural 'Pet Calm' tablets. Any suggestions would be great.

Hi all, well we have now got our new runs up, all going good so far. I have not left the dogs in them for the whole day yet, just building up gradually, starting out by putting them in there for 10mins or so at a time and observing them from inside, both dogs seem very settled in the new runs. The bitch I was having troubles with is very relaxed in them, her first time in them she lay down after about 5mins and was very relaxed. After they have been in there we give them a treat for being good and let them out. Will start leaving them in there longer and feeding their tea in there, so they hopefully get the good association with the new runs. In the females run we have left a patch of grass so if it was the UTI and stress of not being able to go to the loo in the old kennel that caused the problem she can now go on the grass. All going well next Monday will be the first day home alone in the new runs, fingers crosesd it works!! Thanks for all your help.

Well we got another Vet Checkover, temp etc all normal. She did have full anal glands and some ulcers in her mouth from chewing at the wire in her cage. They have given me some anitbiotics to clear these up. But no sign of anything else. My male dog is mainly sniffing around her vulva and up and down the back of her back legs, but mainly the vulva area. He has the same silly look in his eye when he is sniffing her as when there are bitches in season around. She has not managed to escape from her run before. Can't wait to get the other runs up and see if this makes a difference! Will keep you informed. Thanks.

Well nothing further showed up in the urine tests from the labs, which I guess is good, but is really strange, as she is exhibiting the all the signs of having the UTI back, even my male dogs is sniffing her heaps. But if there was anything I'm sure it would of showed up. They are going to give her another check over tomorrow just to double check. She was fine again today at work in the ute, spends the day sleeping!! I went out to check on them & make sure they had water etc and both times they were dead to the world asleep. She actually seems to be a lot happier in herself when at home as well. Both dogs are still sleeping in their kennels at night, and she doesn't have a problem with this. I will take them to work for the rest of the week, get the other runs up in the weekend and see what happens when I put her in them for the day.

Thank you Tapferhund, I will definately mention to the Vet tomorrow, the more suggestions the better!! Hopefully I do get to the bottom of the cause soon, I hate it when you know something is not right with your dog - would be good if they could talk sometimes!

Thanks pinnacle, your replies are great! She is desexed has been for about 2 years now. I think the labs are going to basically test every thing ie, white cell count etc just incase there is something else the vet could not pick up in their basic testing. I will take the dogs to work for the rest of the week, it may help break the cycle and like you say will be interesting to see if she reacts in the ute as well. Will try the camera next week when she is back in her kennel. Good thought re the kennel & wooden flooring, however the flooring is raised high enough off the ground that I could see if there was anything nesting under there, and there doesn't appear to be. I did wonder that at one point as we had a couple of field mice make their way into the house, but have not had any sign of them in ages. The wooden floor is un-treated. Will give you an update tomorrow once I get lab results back. Thanks again, it's always so helpful to get a different insight, you always miss things yourself which could be contributing to the behaviour.

Well the Vets couldn't find anything in the Urine, but have sent it to the labs for further analysis. I really thought the UTI was back as she was exhibiting all the same signs as when she first contracted it, ie, drinking more, dying to get out for pee, and my male dog was sniffing her a lot - and she would growl at him. So unless the labs find something else, I'm back to square one! I did try something different today, took the dogs to work with me (we have cages set up in our ute) and the dogs stayed in their for the day, she was perfectly fine the whole day. I did go out once & check on them & top up water. When it stops raining here we will get the other runs up and I will try her in there to see what the behaviour is like. I'm away each day for about 5 hours. Used to work full time and be away about 8 hours and she was fine. I have been trying her on the natural 'Pet Calm' tablets but they don't seem to have much effect. Will try resuce rememdy as well. Tapferhund - any suggestions what type of neurological problem? I can only suggest it to the Vet tomorrow when the ring with the lab results.

Thanks heaps for the replies - much appreciated. I have already arranged another urine sample to be tested incase the UTI has come back, so should get results back tomorrow. We have some bigger runs which we are yet to set up, so will get them up asap, as these can be set up temporarily put up just on the grass to see if that helps in anyway. With regards to the video camera, just had the same thing suggested to me earlier tonight - and am definately going to try that one. I don't think it can be neighbours or schools, we don't have any schoosl or any really close neighbours, only 3 neighbours near us, they are all really nice people, and I don't think they would have done anything to scare the dog. The other dog has no anxiety issues, and is always extremely good when kennelled while we are away. The female used to be just as good as the male until recently! My vet has suggested Clomicalm, have you had experience with this? I'm would like to try solve the problem naturally before resorting to this.

Sorry for delay in replying we have been away for the weekend. We have taken a diary of her behaviour and can't see any common factor of days that she is fine, it is different days of the week, different weather, so nothing really springs out. I have worked part-time for about 6 months, behaviour only started about 2 months ago. There are two dogs in the family, borther & sister littermates, she is speyed, he is not. They get on great together. They are kennelled seperately and always have been, their kennels are basically side by side so they can see each other. She was not treated any differently while she had the UTI. Neither of the dogs toilet in their kennels, so maybe the UTI has brought this behaviour on, ie, she was in pain trying to hold on and now relates the kennel to pain? The only other thing, we moved house about 9 months ago from a residential area where we were living with another family member and my oldest dog (who has stayed with the family member), we moved to a more rural area. Dogs were fine from day one in their kennels (it was the same kennels they had at our previous house). Apart from that I'm not sure what else may help. Any more suggestions would be really really apprecited. Thanks.

To PAX my dog does not spend it's life in its kennel & run, quiet the opposite, my dogs are only kennelled when we go out which is not for huge amounts of time the longest would be while I work (part-time), it's no different to people crating their dogs !! It's a matter of keep your dog secure and not having them roaming the neighbourhood. My dogs are walked every day, have human interaction & attention, do obedience, agility & sled dog racing - so hence definately not a kennel bound dog! Erny, thank you for you reply, we have racked our brains trying to figure out what may have been a trigger, only two things we can come up with is they dogs spent a night in a boarding kennel, and she also got a urinary tract infection all around about the same time. The dogs sleep in their kennels, get feed in there, have toys etc, kongs. The strange thing about the behaviour is she may have two days when she is fine, and then two days when she obviously get stressed and destructive.

I have a 4.5 year old dog who for all her life has lived in a kennel & run outside, about 2 months ago she started getting destructive in her run, including chewing the wire (making gums bleed) and yesterday she broke a nail trying to destroy the wooden floor in her run. Symptons sound similar to seperation anxiety but can this be brough on all of a sudden? I'm at a loss what her problem maybe, I hate the fact that she hurts herself. The behaviour only happens when she is left alone, she is in her kennel when we are at home and is fine. ANy suggestions what maybe wrong & how to solve. I have had her vet checked & her health is fine.