Dementia in dogs??

[dianeholmes]

Anyone have any experience?? The reason I ask is we look after an elderly dachshund bitch who cannot go back to her now elderly and very frail owner. We have had her since September and for several shorter periods prior to that. She is being treated for heart failure and takes Frusomide, Cardisure and a bronchodilator the name of which escapes me.

Recently her house training has deserted her and she is now regularly weeing and pooing in the house despite being offered regular access to the garden. Sometimes she will ask to be out by barking but more often not. She has always been a fastidious little dog, very reliable in her habits. Her poos are normal and she doesn't wee excessively, especially given she is on Frusomide.

I have looked dementia in dogs up but she doesn't have any other symptoms except perhaps not answering her name but that could be deafness and sleeping a lot, however she is an old dog with a bad heart!

 

[reddie]

She sounds very similar to our old lab x who had heart failure and went deaf. Towards the end he became quite confused and unsettled. I think he didn't always recognise us and snapped at us once or twice. He also started seeing a lot esp at night. His health seemed to plateau for a few weeks/months and then would deteriorate. Eventually he became too restless and uncomfortable and we had to have him pts. Sorry not to be more hopeful. He lived a fairly good quality of life with heart failure for about a year.

 

[Alexart]

We had an elderly JRT who although was the picture of health at 16 her cheese had slid off her cracker well and truly, we'd find her at 2 in the morning just walking in small circles and you'd stick her back in her bed and she'd go back to sleep, she started to ask to go out when she had just been out, it was as if she'd forgotten she'd just been out and peed! The circling got worse and she started to do it in the day as well and she started to lean on walls too, her eyesight was also bad as was her hearing so we decided to call it a day as I don't think she knew where she was most of the time, animals definitely do get the same types of dementia as people, why wouldn't they as their anatomy is the same essentially, although pets I think have the better deal as they can be put down when they suffer!