Going senile?

[Irishcobs]

My dog is about 7yr old, she was rescued. She occasionally does weird things such as she usually gets my other dog off of a bed by barking at her and standing over her but she has started to bark at empty beds, even when the other dog isn't in the same room.

And she will bark at the living room door, when it is wide open.

Do you think she is going senile?

 

[brighteyes]

Mine went through a barking at nothing phase and doing progressively wierd stuff - she is/was a Patterdale terrier and at 16 it deffo is dog Alzheimers - being pts today as I can't bear the endless circling which it has progressed to. Watch for lack of wanting to be petted and ravenous appetite. Hope at seven this is not the case for you. Very distressing.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Irishcob, if it's a big breed/mongrel ( about 60 cm or taller, 6.0 hh ? ), then old age diseases could very well start to turn up from around 7, 8 years of age. But as always, exceptions exist.
I really would recommend a vet visit though, because there's some other things that also could cause such behaviour. And it doesn't have to be a brain tumour, there's other diseases that isn't in the brain, but still affects it.

Hope you find out what's making your dog troubled, Irishcob.


Sorry to hear about your dog Brighteyes, it's never easy for me even when I know it's for their own best.

I've had one late dog that was + 14 ½ years when she died, and she definitely had her senile moments, but none of the not wanting to be petted or ravenous appetite. The "biggest" sign of her senility, was that sometimes some days she could loose track of time, and forget when she'd checked up on my mothers whereabouts last time, when it happened it was like : Oh, where is she? - Oh, there you are - 5, 10 minutes later - Oh, where is she? - Oh, there you are - 5, 10 minutes later...

Though I read about one really senile dog that forgot that there's something called windows, so one day when he/she saw the family's children out in the garden, it jumped straight through the window glass. Don't think it injured itself to badly, but the owners realized the dog was starting to become a risk to itself and decided to euthanize.


Hugs to the both of you from Sweden.

 

[Irishcobs]

Thanks guys. She is a lurcher, just under 60cms high. Being rescued we don't actually know her real age so she could be older.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Finally remembered today, that one of the diseases that can make a dog ( and old humans ) act as if they are senile is inflammation of the urinary tract! Don't ask me why something so really in the other end of the body from the brain, can have that effect, but it can.

If a vet can't find anything, I've heard some owners with dogs just a little senile, gives them Gingko biloba-pills, bought from a health-shop, and just like with some senile humans, some dogs is said to get helped by them.

from Sweden.