Sudden Onset Of Anxiety Type Behaviour In Older Dog

[Zenith]

Last night my nearly 12 yr old GSP Teddy was outside with us whilst the dogs were toileting in the backyard and he started looking really worried, and concerned and he started a soft bark not aimed anywhere or at anyone. I called him over and he was shaking and was pressed up against my leg. He was then basically glued to my leg for the rest of the evening - he was very stiff, his eyes were darting around and it was difficult to even get him to sit down, let alone lay down. I sat down on the couch and he just basically leapt into my lap and was again very nervy, and he eventually lay down but would not relax and close his eyes. Every now and again he would sit up straight all stiff, and I would just talk to him and massage him and he would relax a bit more and lay down again.

I decided to take him to bed, and got him settled in his bed (next to mine) and left the room to get ready for bed, I kept checking in on him, and he would be facing the corner, shaking and barking softly. So I gave up on that idea and lay next to him and waited to he eventually went to sleep. A few times he did sit up again all startled, but eventually he went to sleep, and didn't wake up until this morning as usual. This morning he was a bit reluctant to leave our bedroom and walk through the house, but he did and he stuck like glue next to my leg, but he seemed to become more like his normal self outside whilst I was doing the horses. Not very energetic though like normal, he didn't go for a run, although he was a bit excited when he knew it was time for breaky. He's spent the rest of morning asleep next to me at the computer in his bed.

His normal behaviour:

Normally of an evening once he's been fed he basically just sleeps on his bed, and sleeps through the other animals running around etc. The only time he gets up is if he thinks we have more food, and he'll sometimes wake up when we take the other dogs outside to toilet or for a run if they are very energetic, and he'll often come and have a cuddle etc then back off to sleep snoring and having puppy dreams.

He's usually pretty close with me and likes to be in the same room, but if he's asleep or laying down relaxed I can walk around leave the room with no problem.

We have noticed lately that his hearing is not so good anymore, and have thought maybe his eye sight is not so good, he gets a lot of exercise and still acts like a puppy when he's awake. Sometimes (maybe once a month) he will be asleep, and suddenly get up and look concerned, and walk quickly to me and lay down again. He always just goes back to sleep, so I have always assumed something has happened whilst he's been dreaming.

Otherwise his health has been pretty good, his bowel motility is not as good as it used to be so he's fed softer food (meats and fish) and heaps of fibre (vegies), he's otherwise been fit and healthy.

We aren't aware of him eating anything bad or poisonous yesterday, and his behaviour was normal until around 8pm.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm wondering if he is going a little senile?

Thanks

Suz

[persephone]

Gosh- it could be anything, from senility, to pain, to sudden loss of eyesight, to some form of abnormal brain activity.........

Sorry - I have nothing with which I can help. poor Teddy

he sounds very loved and cared for...

[Zenith]

Thanks persephone :rolleyes: I hate seeing him so distressed, just so unlike him.

I'm waiting for the vet to give me a call back after she's finished todays op's, will have a chat to her and see what she thinks. I'd rather not have to take him over if I can avoid it because he hates going to the vets, and they sometimes make a housecall for him if they can. His temp was fine, gums fine, not dehydrated, joints seem normal (he doesn't react on rotation) and his urine and faeces are normal. He ate his dinner and breakfast just fine. He's still asleep next to me now, I have to go out for work soon, but hubby is working from home today so we can keep an eye on him. Its been around 10 years since I've had an older dog, so not sure if I've just forgotten about them showing the sames signs or not. I've just found some info on Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome, will have a bit more of a read

[rijbiz]

Poor Teddy, I hope he's okay.

Look its probably not related, but a year or so ago my young girl started acting strangely, jumping at her own shadow, scared of the noise her food bowl made to the point that she wouldn't eat and we were tearing our hair out trying to work out what was wrong.

Then one evening our older girl suddenly started staggering and convulsing, thinking she'd got a tick my husband threw her in the car and raced to the vets. He then phoned from the vets to ask if she'd eaten anything funny and of course I said no, but on second thoughts woke up our young kids to ask them if they'd seen anything strange. The youngest told me that both Nala (the older girl) and Cleo had been eating the flowers off the blue bush

The blue bush in question was Brunsfela (yesterday, today and tomorrow) that has the 3 different coloured flowers on it (white, blue and purple) and we had had this bush for over 10 years. After some research by the vet it turns out that this plant is highly toxic and addictive, giving the dogs the same effect as taking LCD. Apparantly in South America they crush this plant up to use on the end of poisoned darts

So then I had to wake up the kids and race the 30 minutes to the vets with Cleo where they were doing there best to save Nala. They both spent 3 days at the vets after having there stomachs pumped and Nala was very touch and go. Won't even tell you about the bill

But the point of the story is that Cleo had been just nibbling at the bush and was showing signs of problems with her nervous system, noises etc (as I said just like LCD) and Nala who had never even looked at the bush before copied Cleo and was instantly addicted eating a much larger dose.

The next day the chain saw came out, but it was amazing as just like addicts as soon as they came home they were both scratching around where the bush had been.

As I said, this probably is nothing like your Teddy, but the symptoms sounded so much like Cleo's and as everyone said, they didn't even know it was dangerous. Even our vet had to check on the internet for it as it was not on her list of poisonous plants.

So just check he's not having a nibble at something because one of your younger dogs is :rolleyes:

Hope all goes well for you.

[Trishm]

My whippet went through something similar to your boy, it was just if friends were here, they were people she had known all her life, but she wouldn't go to them for pats or treats.

When I went looking for her I found her in my bedroom as far away from the doorway that she could go, shaking etc.

Not long after these episodes we discovered that she had gone deaf.

I think that during the process of losing her hearing she may have been having distorted hearing which made her very nervous when other people were here and there was more noise than normal.

She was about 11 at the time, this behaviour stopped after a few weeks, when she was completely deaf. She then reverted to her old self with her usual "excessive greeting disorder' when they arrived at the door.

It was distressing to see such a friendly confident dog reduced to a shivering mess, thankfully it was all over quite quickly.

Trish

[rijbiz]

My whippet went through something similar to your boy, it was just if friends were here, they were people she had known all her life, but she wouldn't go to them for pats or treats.

When I went looking for her I found her in my bedroom as far away from the doorway that she could go, shaking etc.

Not long after these episodes we discovered that she had gone deaf.

I think that during the process of losing her hearing she may have been having distorted hearing which made her very nervous when other people were here and there was more noise than normal.

She was about 11 at the time, this behaviour stopped after a few weeks, when she was completely deaf. She then reverted to her old self with her usual "excessive greeting disorder' when they arrived at the door.

It was distressing to see such a friendly confident dog reduced to a shivering mess, thankfully it was all over quite quickly.

Trish

That would tie in, because that was one of the effects of Cleo eating the Brunsfella, her "LSD" distorted hearing which was why she was so terrified of the food bowls etc. Maybe the poor old boy is going deaf.

[Zenith]

Thanks for your comments and experience guys!

Sounds like a terrifying experience rijbiz! Glad they are ok :rolleyes: I don't think we have any of that plant here, we've never planted it either, but I will have a good look.

Trishm - Yes his hearing is definitely failing him thats for sure - he doesn't notice people coming in unless he's awake and he sees them, and he can't hear from a distance like he used to. We have noticed it for a while, I wonder if its affecting him and giving him anxiety.

I just got home, and he was very happy, making lots of woo woo noises and jumping around. He's now asleep next to me. Will see how he does tonight, fingers crossed he's more settled than last night.

[Dogsfevr]

sounds very much like old age just getting the better of him

We had 2 oldies last year who we had to PTS because it had all become to much for them to cope with plus deafness,blindness.

I also say with oldies its good to see an eye specialist for a check up.

We where lucky with our old girl during the yearly check to pick up the starters of old age ulcers which are very hard to see but very painful for the dog.Hers took ages to heal & really affected her balance etc etc at this time

[KitKat]

Could be Canine Dementia...my old Rottix (RIP) had it...eventually it started causing him more stress then was worth putting him through and i had to make a decision - however while it wasn't really upsetting him all was more or less ok.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I've now had 3 dogs with dementia, slightly different symptoms from dog to dog but one of them definitely acted in a similar way to yours.

She'd always been a very confident little dog and suddenly had fears of things.

My other old dementia girl would get stuck in a corner in the middle of the night, I didn't get much sleep for the last year of her life. It was very hard to cope with.

[rijbiz]

Among other old age symptons, I find my old boy just stood in the weirdest places as if he's not sure where he is, how he got there or how to get out.

Found him just "stood" in the bathroom this morning. It's sad to see them grow old and have difficulties, but while he "copes" day to day and still looks forward to his dinner we figure he's happy.

Guess we'll know when its time.

[Zenith]

Thanks for your responses

He has been pretty good and settled, I was out all day and hubby was home working outside and he was happy to run around and then curl up inside. He's not 100% but he hasn't shown nearly the amount of symptoms as the other night.

Fingers crossed he will stay comfortable, I'll do whatever I can for him, to keep him happy, its nice to see him his usual kissy cuddly self again