Strange behaviour in old dog

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Patterdale

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Need a bit of advice please....

We have a quite old (about 16) collie on the farm. She is VERY energetic (sometimes manically so for her age) and well in herself.

However she's been acting very strange lately....she's starting eating the other dogs mess, and her own, in HUGE amounts, like she's starving! It's disgusting but I don't know if it can be a sign of something wrong with her??

Also she keeps getting these mad bursts of energy, more than the younger dogs sometimes and tries to jump over fences and things like she's young but she can't make it anymore :(

Plus her coat has gone very bad, moulting in big tufts.

Are any of these behaviours normal or can the first one in particular be a sign of something more sinister?

The vet saw her when he was here about 2 weeks ago and just said as she's old there's no point worrying about her unless she's unhappy!?

Advice please, sorry for long post and thanks in advance :)
 
Really thick.....but do dogs get dementia then!? That's what I thought but didn't want to say as I'm a dog novice, might have been accused of trolling haha!! :D

She is a very good age, might even be older, no one seems to remember, but definitely 16 at least.
 
Ah - thank you!

If that's what it is, is there anything that you can do for them? Or just do nothing as long as she's happy?
I'm pretty sure there's a fair few lumps in her tummy too, when I can catch her long enough to brush her you can feel them, I told the vet but as they don't hurt her to touch and her digestion is normal he said not to bother doing anything.
She technically belongs to my father in law but I look after her etc so it's a bit tricky as he doesn't really want to throw any money after her at her age :(
 
Sorry, but it does not matter how old she is, If she needs treatment she should get it. Not wanting to throw money at her because shes old is no excuse.
If you have a animal you should take responsibility for looking after it. That includes in old age.
 
best thing you can do is to remove everything as soon as you can and try to stop her eating other dogs mess. If its odd behaviour then I would be heading back to the vet and insisting that he take you a little more seriously.

Usually eating dogs mess is a lack in their own diet, habit or as others have said old age issues.

Hope you get it sorted what a lovely age to get any dog to
 
Yes I've been trying to clear up but with 7 of them free ranging it can get difficult to keep up! :D

Is there a good multivitamin I can get?

Itsmylife - the vet doesn't want to treat her either, he says as long as she's happy just leave her.
I don't want to put her through surgery to remove lumps at her age, I think it would upset her.
But she is well cared for and when she looks to be in pain or is slowing down we wont be prolonging her suffering

:)
 
I do agree with you about not putting her through surgery if the lumps are not causing a problem. You could ask your vet about putting her on Vivitonin, it can give a boost to an older dog , it helps the circulation and in cases of dementia can help by increasing the blood supply to the brain.
 
I understand about not wanting to put her through surgery, they could well be just fatty lumps anyway. Your vet sould be more helpfull though, they are things to help old dogs. I would try a differant vet.
 
It could be demmentia but the first thing that came into my head is could it be an overactive thyroid? I don't think it's that common in dogs but you never know. Is she losing weight at all?

Our 16yo cat has it and that was diagnosed when she started whizzing round & trying to act like a kitten again & was constantly hungry - the poo eating your dog is doing could be if there's no other food she can easily get at.

With the cat it was diagnosed with a blood test & is controlled by tablets morning & night, would have thought the treatment for a dog would be similar.

Might be worth an ask, although I'd be tempted to agree with the others that it's worth talking to a different vet who might be a bit more open to making an elderly dog more comfortable - although I do agree with not not putting her through surgery at her age if something's not bothering her.
 
I had a terrier who went senile in her last year. Despite always being very clean she started weeing in the house occasionally but was confused when told off. And she was the type that the odd time she was sick did it on the back door mat & was apologetic when you came home. Then she started wondering off, had always been free range on the yard with known boundaries but she started toddling off strange places & had to be watched. And would go ratting still but halfway through run off like an overexcited pup, even though she loved to rat. Started eating the other dogs chappie despite showing no interest before. And having always been a maternal sort, who would mother any young (except vermin) or cuddly toys she decided a rat she'd killed was her pup & carried it round for hours. And just like yours, in very good health otherwise.
 
I've looked it up and def does seem like dementia. I'm going to aak the vet about the vivitonin, thanks for that :)

Took her to the beach tonight with my 2 and she just wandered off, couldn't find her for ages and she was lying under the pickup with a piece of seaweed. She was really pleased to see me when I found her, even though I'd been stood right next to the place calling :(

The more I think about it the more she seems to have gone more strange in the last month.

Definitely going to hassle the vet some more - our vets here are not always the most proactive!!

Interesting about the thyroid thing, she hasn't lost weight but I'll definitely ask about it.

Thanks everyone!! :D
 
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