Dog with dementia

ihatewinter

Hi my 15 year dog is showing signs of canine dementia. She's walking into tight spaces and staying there, panting and shaking etc. This has just occurred over the last 2 weeks and its been a sharp decline in overall health. She did have another stroke 2 weeks ago. So going to ring the vets tomorrow and get an appointment. Probably won't get one till next week as of work and no one at home. I can't take the day off as I only started a new job last week.

Anyway my question is there anything that can be done for dementia and has anyone experience of dementia in older dogs. Or would euthanasia be the kindest thing

DBB

I'm so sorry op... But that doesn't really sound like canine dementia as such, rather a response to an underlying medical condition
Dementia tends to be a slow and subtle descent over months and years, and the behaviours you're describing don't seem all that typical of dementia at any stage... At least, not dementia all on its own.
Obviously your vet will be able to advise better than anyone here, I hope everything will be okay once she has seen him/her, but I'm sorry to say she needs to see the vet asap

Millem

OP I am so sorry to hear about your dog.

My girl had it and it is heart breaking. She went downhill pretty quickly and it came down to quality of life issue. Her whole personality changed and she became a different dog. She was on incontinent meds which had stopped working so would "leak" but when dementia kicked in she would come inside from the garden peeing mid flow and did number twos indoors. The worst thing was she would get herself "lost" in the house and then bark hysterically. I would find her stuck in a corner or barking at walls. She had lost her sight a year ir two before but was absolutely fine getting round the house. She started getting very fearful and was afraid of going down curbs or steps/stairs etc. The worst was the random barking that went on for hours in the middle of the night as she couldn't sleep and would do this mad heavy panting. If she heard any noise the crazy bark would start day or night and you couldn't get her stop. I am getting upset reading this as we were selfish. We kept cancelling her vet appointment as we were so upset and couldn't bear to lose her. I would say we cancelled it 3 or 4 times.

Her last night she was hysterical can literally barked from 2am til 7am. It was the day I got mid term from school. We booked vet and I just said I need to take her now as I didn't want to change my mind. She was such a fabulous dog. If I am honest with myself we prolonged her suffering by 2 weeks my other dog was beyond devasted after she went and really suffered from separation anxiety

She was on a lot of meds for inconidence, arthritis, glaucoma and then tablets for dementia. They apparently increase blood/oxygen to the brain??
I also gave her oily fish in the hope the omega 3 might help her

DBB was a great help to me here

aonb

As DBB says, this need to be checked by the vet ASAP
My 16 year old dog, was getting very confused and we thought dementia too.
It turned out that he had an infection initially, which was causing the symptoms.
He had kidney/liver problems, but once the infection was cleared up the 'dementia like symptoms' went away... your dog is very old, and needs to be checked quickly - I would ask about emergency appointments, or look for an out of hours surgery if you are having problems getting to the vet because of work etc. Good luck, hope you get her sorted

ihatewinter

Thanks everyone. I've taken your advice on board and I'm on my way to the vets now. Will let you know how I get on.

ihatewinter

Well I'm back from the vets. So turns out she's has congestion on the lungs and a high temperature. I saw a different vet from the last one and he doesn't think she suffered a stroke the last time as her symptoms don't match. He examined her heart, lungs etc and they sound good for her age. He said it is lack of oxygen as this would explain her panting and strange behaviour. The vet gave her 2 injections and a 10 day course of Covental D medication and obviously I have to go back for a follow up.