[Marisa]

Hi Ettaariane – that is great news indeed for Dusky, unfortunately you can get a misdiagnosis with vets sometimes…Maggie definitely has dementia but she had an episode of heavy panting & lethargy and our normal vet thought it was pneumonia even after xrays and a dose of antibiotics – they then suggested we go and see a specialist as they thought her heart was also a little enlarged too (she has had heart problems in the past).

We rushed her to the specialist vet and they wanted to do more xrays as the other ones weren’t very clear….. lungs all good (?) Heart all good (?) but they had concerns about her lower spine and sciatica. She was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disease and is now on anti – inflammatory tablet once a day.

It sounds you might have gotten out of this cheaply….we ended up with a $1600 vet bill (lucky for pet insurance)

Good Luck

[Marisa]

Hi Pam – we are getting sleep with Maggie sleeping in the dining room, however she has been peeing & pooing inside alot more and her back legs are getting very weak whilst standing. I am sure she is getting confused about where she needs to go to the toliet – we keep the back door open at all times. Time is certainly running out for her unfortunately – but we are just not there yet…

Hi Nadine – welcome! Unfortunately the melatonin only worked for a little while with Maggie too. As you have probably read she now sleeps in the dining room where we can keep her contained and not wake us up numerous times during the night. I feel bad doing it but it has given us back our sleep – maybe you could set her up in the laundry/bathroom to keep her from wandering around(believe me that gets very frustrating very quickly) some nights I had to sleep on the couch so I could quickly get her and put her back on her bed. Her appetite is pretty good however I have to add something tasty to her kibble to entice her to eat it all. Good luck with Daisy – unfortunately there is no hard and fast answer to deal with it…but maybe read some of Lena’s suggestions.

[Marisa]

Thanks Lena – will give her more head massages…might make her feel a little better.

Christine – that sounds awful, I have to say if Maggie where to start circling etc I would seriously think about letting her go, as her quality of life would not be that good. Question – would you be content with your life that way? Lucky for our pets we can end their pain, unfortunately humans can’t…

[Marisa]

Oh Pam I am so sorry to hear about Hutch but as we know it is for the best. It really is an awful decision to make – thinking of you.

Christine my girl does tend to end up in a corner or facing a wall … The melatonin worked for a few nights then it stopped taking effect( It worked a treat on me ). As you prob read she now sleeps in our dining room now so she can ‘party’ on her own and not wake us all up! She is dead to the world in the mornings when we go to get her up.

Lena I have noticed that Maggie’s head does get very warm …interesting that that is a sign of a headache – would the anti- inflammatory that she has now help this?

[Marisa]

Hi Christine – I know I was relieved when I came across this forum also….it definitely made me feel better, that others are experiencing the same issues.

It kills you to see them turn into a different dog, than the one you used to know…Maggie is the same – the lights are on but no one is home. ( I watch a series called ‘The Walking Dead’ and there are zombies on it called ‘Walkers’ that is what we call her – as she walks around aimlessly)

She has days where she isn’t interested in food and other where she just inhales her food. You will know when it is time to make that decision and it won’t be easy at all (we have had to do it once)- we hope she just stays asleep one night. Goodluck

[Marisa]

Hi There – just an update on Maggie….. We are sleeping through the night as we have slightly hidden the issue with putting her in the dining room at bedtime. We don’t hear her at all and are sleeping right through. We have to mop up pee a few times a week and the poo about once a week – but that I can handle, towels are out ready to put down etc (lucky we have floorboards. So really she can wander all she likes and doesn’t affect us or the 5yr old dally we have.

Pam I hope things are Ok with Hutch and you are not too sleep deprived!

[Marisa]

The DM I can handle, we just walk her less when her feet start to drag but we have her out everyday, unless it is too hot. I don’t think I would go down the cart route,I think when it gets to that stage we will put her to sleep – Mags also has a slight lean to the left as well, after her two episodes of geriatric vestibular disease in the past 2 years.

I like the idea of acupuncture but she isn’t a great candidate as she doesn’t like to stay still for too long (the vet agrees)

The dementia seems to be the same however we have put her in the dining room for the last 2 nights and the one positive is we don’t hear her wandering or scratching sooo we are sleeping through – I am sure she still does all the things she did but it doesn’t affect us!(I feel like a bad parent) As long as she doesn’t start barking or howling we will be OK.

[Marisa]

Hi Pam – Yes was glad although the normal vet did give her an antibiotic shot before we took her to the specialist…it was a little frustrating as that bill was $500 for chest xrays etc then another $900 at the specialist who of course wanted another set of xrays as the other vet didn’t sedate her & they weren’t clear enough – an expensive 48hours!

She has Degenerative myelopathy (disease of the spinal cord) our everyday vet just put it down to old age. The specialist took one look at her and saw that her back legs were weak, partially limp tail,lost muscle condition and would drag her paws occaisonally when walking. She unfortunately will become paralysed in the back legs over time. They are tough they just keep wagging their tails. I have to admit I haven’t seen a huge impact since the diffuser (but the vet did say need to give it 3 months!!) It really is hit & miss, the specialist did say there really is no real solution to it – otherise humans would not suffer from it like they do (I mean basically humans are generally put into a home where they are looked after and prevented from hurting themselves with their wandering etc – when they get bad)

Sorry about the long reply, as you know it does become very frustrating and tiring….

[Marisa]

Great news Pam glad to hear you are getting a little bit of respite. Long story short she didn’t have pneumonia … It was her reaction to pain in her spine – Apparently she has degenerative spinal disease…talk about misdiagnosis!

So she is on anti – inflamatories to help her. We have been leaving the tv stereo on low & the diffuser on and we are only up about 2-3 times instead of 5-6 times. So here is hoping things are looking up for both of us! Make sure to keep me posted on your progress as I will too… 🙂

[Marisa]

Will do Pam – however we have had a set back we had to take the old girl to the vets this morning and she has pneumonia – I thought it was too good to be true that she slept through to 4am! She was perfectly fine last night when we went to bed and obviously went dramatically downhill from then. Hopefully she pulls through Ok…

[Marisa]

Had our visit to the vet and we are trying a diffuser called Adaptil http://www.adaptil.co.uk/ – it releases an ‘appeasing pheromone’ to help with the anxiety etc. As she said unfortunately there really is no real answer to the issue, we can only try to take the edge off the symptoms. She is researching the option of a human drug for Dementia we are in Australia and what you guys have mentioned might not be available here. She is also looking into a pescription diet from Hills that helps with brain function, only issue is my old girl is on a Royal Canin low fat pescription diet for her fatty blood and the HillS one is quite high in fat content. – I will keep you all updated on our progress…….

[Marisa]

Thanks Pam I am definately going to discuss Anipryl with my vet and might look into the Neurexan – I do agree wandering is better than barking (that would drive us mad!). I gave her 2 melatonin tablets last night and she slept until 3am and then started the wandering and sratching – so a little better but still up 2-3 times during the night. She definately has been worse after she had a bout of Geriatric Vestibular Disease which is an inflamation of the the nerves connecting the ear & the brain – basically 24/7 vertigo and no treatment for it other than confinement and rest – it clears up in about 5-10 days.

[Marisa]

Gee I thought we were going to go crazy until I found your article…We have a 14yr old Dalmatian who is up wandering every 2 hours during the night and has just started to scratch the floor in the same place each time. I tried the melatonin last night and gave her one 3mg tablet as she is only 23kgs – it didn’t seem to work so maybe I will try 2 tablets and see how that goes. She is a very active female dog & is taken out to the park most afternoons – I don’t think a crate will work as she has never been in one and I am sure that would distress her. I don’t like the sound of Valium so hoping the melatonin works

[Author]

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