Senior Dog Issues

[Rave]

My 13 y.o. girl has been having anxiety problems, that pretty much started when her psychomotor (behavioral) seizures did two years ago, but have gotten significantly worse over the past month or so. I talked to her neurologist about putting her on Prozac, but he suggested Alprazolam instead. She's been on that for a few weeks now, with no noticeable change. I'm going to talk to the neuro about upping the dose on Monday. I've also tried the DAP diffuser and just saw something called SeniLife that I might try next.

 

My question is, how do some of you deal with senior mental health issues? I've heard of senior separation anxiety, so I know it's a common occurrence. Hers is separation anxiety plus anxiety all the time really. This manifests in OCD-like nesting/digging behavior. It's worse at night and keeps me up at night; so bad that I've started putting her in a crate in the car just so I can get some sleep.

 

I'm open to any suggestions at this point!

 

Thanks!

[MaggieDog]

Have you considered asking the vet about Canine Cognitive Disorder? It's like doggie alzheimers and can manifest as anxiety, disorientation, and disturbances in the sleep/wake cycle. There is a drug for it - Anipryl I think.

[Rave]

thanks, Ill do just that!

[nancy in AZ]

Anipryl is very expensive. I was able to buy equivalent capsules from a veterinary compounding pharmacy for 1/6 the cost. You can also get the "human" generic known as Selegiline, but I think it only comes in 5 mg so most likely would have to double the necessary dosage, if you decided to go that route. Feel free to PM me in the event you want the name of the compounding pharmacy. Even though they have a brick and mortar building, they do take internet orders. Ive spoken several times to the pharmacists and they were very very helpful, even explaining a potential bad drug interaction that would have occured, that my former vet didn't catch.

[bc friend]

Sara goes through episodes where she gets her days and nights mixed up - just like a baby - and the other dogs react to her pacing, whining, etc. . When that happens, I put her in a spare bedroom by herself with a rawhide, an interactive toy with a few treats inside it, turn a radio on soft music, leave a nightlight on for her and go to bed. Invariably, when I check on her a few hours later, she'll be fast asleep. This may not work for your girl but it's always worth a try.

[bc4ever]

Sara goes through episodes where she gets her days and nights mixed up - just like a baby - and the other dogs react to her pacing, whining, etc. . When that happens, I put her in a spare bedroom by herself with a rawhide, an interactive toy with a few treats inside it, turn a radio on soft music, leave a nightlight on for her and go to bed. Invariably, when I check on her a few hours later, she'll be fast asleep. This may not work for your girl but it's always worth a try.

Aww..that's so sweet. It's obvious you really love your Sara with your gentle care and compassion for her little episodes. She's lucky to have you. A reminder to all of us that, doG willing, we will eventually have to deal with these sorts of things.

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

Sara goes through episodes where she gets her days and nights mixed up - just like a baby - and the other dogs react to her pacing, whining, etc. . When that happens, I put her in a spare bedroom by herself with a rawhide, an interactive toy with a few treats inside it, turn a radio on soft music, leave a nightlight on for her and go to bed. Invariably, when I check on her a few hours later, she'll be fast asleep. This may not work for your girl but it's always worth a try.

 

 

Mabel is doing this but, she does it during the day. She will constantly walk around and around moms house. We have considered pain and that doesnt seem to be the issue on bad days. If we can get her outside she loves to annoy one of moms dogs by chasing and barking at him so we try to distract her and tire her out.

[Rave]

BTW, my dog's neuro suggested I try Senilife. He's heard good things about it and is trying it on his dog.

[CindyfromRiley]

Is there any sign of deafness? I'm going through the very same right now with my old girl and even though she appears to be able to hear her Yorkie buddy yap in alarm, she won't respond to her name, sleeps so soundly that I can walk right over her and she doesn't know I'm there, and doesn't hear me come in and close the door.

The real problem is the apparent anxiety and pacing. When deafness sets in the vet told me she probably feels very vulnerable and will hide at night as well as pant and pace.

[juliepoudrier]

Laura,

I don't really have any advice for you--with my seniors who have gone through behavioral changes I've just tried to roll with the punches, which often means operating on not much sleep--not an ideal situation, so I feel for you. Right now I'm dealing with Jill, who will be 15 in Aug. She's become very restless, asks to go out constantly, pants heavily in the house. Because of hurting her back she now sleeps in an X-pen in the dining room (pretty much the only place the X-pen would fit), but this is a small house and I can still hear the panting and whining. Boy did a lot of nighttime pacing and whining the last year of his life as well. I didn't necessarily consider it anxiety and more a kind of dementia, but then I never took him to a neurologist, and I haven't taken Jill either, so I may be attributing their behaviors to the wrong things....

 

If you find things that do work, please post and let us know.

 

J.

[Little Bo Boop]

YOu might try melatonin. I've had great luck with that in older dogs. It's especially good for dogs who are restless at night, the panting etc....I would give half pill in the morning and half at night. It also seems to be good for OCD type problems, they've had good luck giving it to cats that are compulsive lickers...it's also an anti inflammatory, so you get the added benefit of that.

 

Ok, this is going to sound whacky, but I promise you it works ;-) I've had several dogs I've tried it on, and several of my friends with older dogs have been amazed at the results with their dogs. Start feeding your dog collard greens ;-) The last dog I used them on had started panting a lot, wandering around the house, she had a real problem in her back end, trouble getting up, laying down...I think the panting was because she was in pain. We tried her on tramidol,but no help...Started feeding her the collards, and the diff. was amazing, she quit panting, she went from hardly able to get around to galloping in the front yard. I took her off the collards, just to see if I was imagining things, and she went back to being painful again, put her back on and she got better....a friend of mine with a wiener dog (with a bad back) started her dog on them, and she said she was astonished at the diff. her dog did the same thing, went from hardly able to move, to galloping ;-) Like I said I know it sounds crazy, but it works, it's cheap, and it can't hurt. You can feed fresh (lightly steamed) or just out of the can, couple tablespoons with their kibble. I just started feeding Spree the collards again, she'll be 9 in June, and I noticed she was getting up a little stiff a few days on the collards, and she's free moving again.

Here is why they say the collards work, and followed by the whole article...The in bold part I found extremely interesting....ETA it's also interesting how collards contain a fair amount of tryptophan, which aids in sleep and helps with anxiety....good stuff!

 

Collard Greens' Anti-inflammatory Benefits

 

As an excellent source of vitamin K and a very good source of omega-3 fatty acids (in the form of alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA), collard greens provide us with two hallmark anti-inflammatory nutrients. Vitamin K acts as a direct regulator of our inflammatory response, and ALA is the building block for several of the body's most widely-used families of anti-inflammatory messaging molecules. In addition to these two anti-inflammatory components, one of the glucosinolates found in collard greens - glucobrassicin - can be readily converted into an isothiocyanate molecule called I3C, or indole-3-carbinol (I3C). I3C is an anti-inflammatory compound that can actually operate at the genetic level, and by doing so, prevent the initiation of inflammatory responses at a very early stage.

Like chronic oxidative stress and chronic weakened detox ability, chronic unwanted inflammation can significantly increase our risk of cancers and other chronic diseases (especially cardiovascular diseases).

 

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=138

[Sue R]

No advice or experience that might be of help to you, but I am truly sorry that your dog (and, of course, you) is experiencing problems with old age.

 

Very best wishes in dealing with this.

[Kate@JIm]

YOu might try melatonin. I've had great luck with that in older dogs. It's especially good for dogs who are restless at night, the panting etc....I would give half pill in the morning and half at night. It also seems to be good for OCD type problems, they've had good luck giving it to cats that are compulsive lickers...it's also an anti inflammatory, so you get the added benefit of that.

 

Ok, this is going to sound whacky, but I promise you it works ;-) I've had several dogs I've tried it on, and several of my friends with older dogs have been amazed at the results with their dogs. Start feeding your dog collard greens ;-) The last dog I used them on had started panting a lot, wandering around the house, she had a real problem in her back end, trouble getting up, laying down...I think the panting was because she was in pain. We tried her on tramidol,but no help...Started feeding her the collards, and the diff. was amazing, she quit panting, she went from hardly able to get around to galloping in the front yard. I took her off the collards, just to see if I was imagining things, and she went back to being painful again, put her back on and she got better....a friend of mine with a wiener dog (with a bad back) started her dog on them, and she said she was astonished at the diff. her dog did the same thing, went from hardly able to move, to galloping ;-) Like I said I know it sounds crazy, but it works, it's cheap, and it can't hurt. You can feed fresh (lightly steamed) or just out of the can, couple tablespoons with their kibble. I just started feeding Spree the collards again, she'll be 9 in June, and I noticed she was getting up a little stiff a few days on the collards, and she's free moving again.

Here is why they say the collards work, and followed by the whole article...The in bold part I found extremely interesting....ETA it's also interesting how collards contain a fair amount of tryptophan, which aids in sleep and helps with anxiety....good stuff!

 

Collard Greens' Anti-inflammatory Benefits

 

As an excellent source of vitamin K and a very good source of omega-3 fatty acids (in the form of alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA), collard greens provide us with two hallmark anti-inflammatory nutrients. Vitamin K acts as a direct regulator of our inflammatory response, and ALA is the building block for several of the body's most widely-used families of anti-inflammatory messaging molecules. In addition to these two anti-inflammatory components, one of the glucosinolates found in collard greens - glucobrassicin - can be readily converted into an isothiocyanate molecule called I3C, or indole-3-carbinol (I3C). I3C is an anti-inflammatory compound that can actually operate at the genetic level, and by doing so, prevent the initiation of inflammatory responses at a very early stage.

Like chronic oxidative stress and chronic weakened detox ability, chronic unwanted inflammation can significantly increase our risk of cancers and other chronic diseases (especially cardiovascular diseases).

 

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=138

Hey thanks for that, I've been giving my dog collards now for the last year, knew the nutritional benefits, but not the others. I'm planting my veggie garden next week, I'll add a few more collards, so easy to grow!