[Lena]

It might be worth having some blood work done at your vet to make sure there is not an infection or some other metabolic problem that is emerging. If it is a problem with his biorhythms being off then melatonin might be helpful. If it is pure anxiety then using a t-shirt or a thundershirt at night would probably be the first thing I would try. I have had some success with night time anxiety with acupuncture so that may also be an option if there is someone is your area who does it. If nothing works then I would talk to your vet about a mild sedative or anti-anxiety drug to give before sleep. I agree he is very young for this to be a dementia issue.

Thanks so much for being the first to post in these forums since I started them up again recently.

best wishes,

Lena

[Lena]

Kelly,

I hope you get other people also offering suggestions.

Usually I find this is more of a hypersensitivity to touch secondary to dementia but sometimes it is also pain.

One thought may be to talk to your vet about using a pain medication like Tramadol before trying to groom or brush him. Sometimes these guys are so sensitive to touch and pain meds can sometimes take just a little of the edge off even if it is more sensitivity than pain. Another thought would be to try something like Animal Apawthecary’s tranquility tonic to see if a light sedative and calming herbal would also be enough to take the edge off. Worse case if he just continues to resist grooming I would just let him be a little grubby rather then push the grooming.

best wishes,

Lena

[Lena]

A question from Kelly – I have a shi tzu, 18 years old, struggling with dementia. It is nice to know that others relate. He doesn’t pace through the night, but he does start early (around 3:30 a.m.). I have gotten used to this, but one thing he does quite often is yelp whenever I try to brush him, bath him or clip him. I have stopped taking him to the groomer because he gets so stressed out, but I am having a difficult time accomplishing the task because yelps and jumps around which stresses me out and definitely doesn’t get us very far. I so do not want to hurt him and I don’t know if I am or if he is just scared. He looks awful! 🙁 Any suggestions?

Thank you!

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