Depression?

[Bryna]

My Echo is nine months old, and I just love her to pieces. I am worried though, as she seems very mopey lately and has been eating even worse than usual the last week or so. She has always been a poor eater, and was very quiet as a young pup, so I have actually had her into the vet about this a couple times in the past, but they gave her a clean bill of health and just assured me that she wouldn't starve herself to death. However, her bones stick out terribly, making her a most uncomfey snuggling companion, and not the most attractive dog around, either. The mopeyness is almost worse though, and I wonder if she is depressed and not wanting to eat bc of it.

 

She sticks to me like glue anytime we are out and most of the time at home as well, but usually only seems really happy if we are outside racing around. Inside, she curls up in a ball on my bed if we are in my room, or on her dog bed in the kitchen, and either just lies there staring or knaws on a bone. When I am at work, she will race around with my mom's dog outside, or again just lies there moping on her dog bed. Nothing I do (aside from simply running with her) seems to excite her. She is generally uninterested in the multitudes of toys we have got her, wont fetch or plan any kind of game. I am just at a loss for some way to make her happy. I do plan to take some herding lessons with her this spring, and really, really hope that will engage her, cause it really bothers me to see her so sad.

 

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on somthing I might try, I would love to hear them. Most of the border collies I have met have been obsessed with a ball or frisbee, and would happily fetch for hours on end in total joy, including both of Echo's parents, so that was really what I was expecting. Echo on the other hand is only interested in a ball while I am holding it. I've tried to train her to play with treats in the theory that maybe she would grow to like it, but she isn't that interested in the treats either and I can usually only get maybe three tricks out of her before she looses interest.

[juliepoudrier]

You said you've had her checked by the vet, but did they do a complete blood workup? There's really no reason that you've stated for your dog to be depressed, and if I had a dog acting depressed my first thought would be that something organic is the cause and I'd be off to the vet. If bloodwork wasn't done, then I'd get a baseline blood profile and also have her tested for tick-borne diseases. If she's not feeling well (say, she has ulcers or irritable bowel) then eating might actually make her feel worse. Her behavior is not normal IMO, and I'd go further with the diagnostics at the vet.

 

J.

[Liz P]

I've had BC pups who loved to sleep, but I would never go so far as to say they were "mopey." That would concern me and prompt more than just a physical exam, which can easily miss some potentially serious problems.

[Bryna]

Well, they didn't do blood tests when I took her in, but both vets seemed to feel that she was fine and didn't recommend any further action. I think tick born illness would be unlikely -we don't have ticks around here, though we did visit Eastern WA and OR several times for horse shows last summer, so I guess she could have been bit by a tick then. But I checked her thoroughly when we got back each time and never found any ticks. I guess ulcers could be a possibility though. My horse vet typically recommends a short trial of gastroguard in lieu of scoping for ulcers -if the symtoms stop, it's probably ulcers. Would you do the same for a dog? Along the same line of thought as ulcers, is teething pain a possibility? LOL, I am embarrassed to admit I don't even know if 9 months is the right age for teething in dogs, Echo is my first puppy. She has always kind of been this way though, it just seems particularly bad the last couple of weeks. Although, I am usually not home during the day much, but just had vacation time. So I guess it is possible that I have just been noticing it more?

 

Here is a pic, this is basically her normal pose unless we are out running.

 

[juliepoudrier]

Dogs are usually done teething sometime around 6 months. The ticks that carry TBDs can easily be overlooked on a dog--they are very small--and common wisdom is that if the dog has been in an area where ticks are possible, then TBDs should be considered. I would take her to the vet and get bloodwork done. It could be something as simple as anemia or it could be worse. It might be nothing at all (i.e., normal for her), but you can't know that for sure if you haven't done any testing. If the vet suggests ulcers, you can put her on something like Pepcid AC, but frankly I wouldn't just randomly start treating based on my comments regarding ulcers or IBD. You know your dog way better than your vet does, and her behavior just doesn't sound all that normal. Take her back to the vet and ask for bloodwork at a minimum. The fact that you're concerned she's not quite right is reason enough to have her checked more thoroughly this time around.

 

J.

[Sue R]

I spent three years with a dog that we felt was only "picky" about food who was given regular vet care. The vet always felt he was healthy but thin. Finally, we insisted on bloodwork. Initial bloodwork indicated that yes, in spite of a shiny coat and good energy levels, there was something wrong. Further bloodwork showed at least part of the problem. However, before we could deal with what we had just found out, we lost our dog to a death that we might have prevented if we had been more pro-active in insisting something was not right, bloodwork needed to be done (we just didn't realize the benefits of doing bloodwork), and we'd acted sooner.

 

I'd insist on having basic bloodwork done, as Julie has pointed out, and further bloodwork if the basic shows anything amiss. I don't mean to be an alarmist but my dog is a case of doing the right thing but too late to make a difference. Also, I would have fecal work done as well, to check for coccidia and giardia, as well as more easily detected parasites.

 

Very best wishes!

[Alaska]

I agree on the bloodwork.

 

Regarding poor eating and starving oneself to death, it seems like I've heard about dogs who have to eat standing up because of some esophageal dysfunction. By standing up, I mean almost vertically, with the front legs perched on something and the food bowl even higher. They have to be trained to stand like this. Prior to being diagnosed, they were indeed starving themselves. Can't remember the details of the problem, but maybe this will trigger something for your vet. Good luck.

[Sue R]

And, as I did not mention, what killed our dog was apparently ulcers - he bled out. However, had we done the testing and pursued the maybe-it's-a-problem more aggressively, we may have found that problem sooner, been able to deal with it, and saved a good dog. Bloodwork, testing for TBD, and so on is a good place to start.

 

I wish you the very best.

[Guest echoica]

i think there have been some wonderful suggestions above regarding the medical side to this. if she has a full work up and they still cannot find anything here are a few of my thoughts with regards to the behaviour side of things (but i cannot stress enough - please make sure you do rule out medical issues!!):

 

DOGGY (non-human) COMPANIONSHIP: one of my dogs is just plain lazy - and sounds a lot like what you described - except i wouldn't call him depressed looking - just aloof and whatever-minded . what really perked him up was getting a 2nd dog - of course, that shouldn't be your only reason if you ever considered it - assuming you don't already have more than one dog. even though he got lots of interaction with other dogs (through doggy dates et al) it still wasn't enough. he clearly falls more on the extreme end of the social-needs continuum. i tell you, he is a totally different dog now...still lazy. but not aloof i guess.

 

NUTRITION: he also was not eating all of his food - treats, well, that's another story - no problem there i switched foods and voila! he gobbled it right up. and he actually looks for it and gets really excited around feeding time. i think he actually did not like the other food. and i feel bad looking back because i did not know that much about dog nutrition and i was actually feeding him pretty crappy food even though it was one of the more expensive on the shelf. like humans, what dogs eat can have a huge impact on their energy levels and personality. here is a site i highly recommend checking out http://www.dogfoodproject.com

 

as far as the lack of ball obsession, i would not consider that such a bad thing. in my experience so far - and i am NOT generalizing that this is the case with all dogs - (volunteering at a shelter and other friends with bc's) it is the ball obsessed dogs that seem to be the most unstable. a lot of them i know are not being challenged enough mentally and it shows. my dogs could care less about fetching. and i have tried. even with structured training on how to fetch. they just don't care about balls is all - they are more of the wrestlin' types

 

good luck! and i hope you figure it out soon. keep us posted!!

[The Good Shepherd]

As far as the retrieving goes, I have a dog that is not interested in it! It took me months just to get him to even look at a thrown toy. And here I am wanting to do obedience with Bandit. It took me 4 month of workig the dumbell with him. He will now at least bring it back. I did notice so that he is much more interested when thing move, so maybe your dog is like that?

Anyways, I do agree with the bloodwork!!

[ZoZo]

Aside from any medical issues, my BC, Zoey, was almost a year old before she began to notice a ball or frisbee, so that's probably not too strange in itself. Likewise our other guy, who we didn't get until he was 3 or so, had no interest in toys, balls or frisbee, but seemed to learn all that from the other one in a short time. Now they are both fetching fanatics.

[sweet_ceana]

Poke would not eat for the longest time. I had to make the boy eat. I couldn't put weight on him with kibble or raw. It turns out that he was allergic to chicken and he would get covered in itty bitty hives that we couldn't see until he got so miserable he started pulling his fur out. My vets did not catch it, and just thought it was him. He finally now has weight on him and is a much happier dog. I highly second, third and fourth the blood work as well. There is a big emotional difference between tired and mopey. You don't get mopey unless something is upsetting you.