Beth.....not her best year!
Discussion
Beth, my 11 year old Border collie cross, has had an up and down year, starting in the summer with the first of several scans to determine as to whether or not she has spleen cancer. We're " fairly " sure now that, although there is a small growth there, and it's very gradually getting larger, it isn't aggressive enough to be malignant. She appears in all respects to be fit and well, with no signs of the symptoms associated with such an illness.
In September we discovered a small growth on the knee of her left rear leg. After 2 weeks it was more noticeable, and seemed to be growing quickly. We had it removed, had a biopsy done, and it urned out to be nothing sinister. The wound healed really quickly and well, and she hasn't been bothered by it at all in the recovery period.
Now we have a new issue, and just can't figure it out. We've had her 10 years, in all that time she has slept in her bed by the side of our bed. If one of us goes upstairs during the day, she will often come up, and go to sleep for a while on that bed until we go back down.
However, in spite of this behaviour still happening normally in daylight, for the last week through the night, after 10 mins, she'll get out of her bed, curl up in a corner of the room, and growl under her breath with every exhale. We can't encourage her or convince her that nothing's wrong ( although clearly, to her, something is ), and she's started to want to stay in the living room at night instead of coming up. It appears that she sleeps without issue downstairs in these circumstances.
I'm aware that older dogs sometimes display odd behaviour at night, but for the life of us, we can't figure out what's prompted this sudden change in pattern, and for her sake would like to understand what's happening. In all other respects her behaviour seems absolutely routine. If another trip to the vet is required, so be it, but it's the one thing she really hates, so I'm initially trying to avoid yet another visit at the moment.
Anyone shed any light on this?
Canine dementia possibly?
Probably would need a vet visit to discuss, though. One of my oldies started pacing and whining in the evenings. Visited the vet, who suggested it might be dementia. There are prescription medicines available, but I decided to try a supplement - Aktivait, which you can buy online. It certainly helped my dog.
Probably would need a vet visit to discuss, though. One of my oldies started pacing and whining in the evenings. Visited the vet, who suggested it might be dementia. There are prescription medicines available, but I decided to try a supplement - Aktivait, which you can buy online. It certainly helped my dog.
Thevet said:
Old dog bit like me with creaky knees et al...maybe a bit sore, try some painkillers for a day or two and see if it helps.
It's just at night though. Is that the pattern? If we can get through the first hour, she'll sleep through the night generally. We had snoring last night! 
Thevet said:
some things do get worse when trying to rest after a day's activity, it's certainly something I would consider, easy to rule out.
Thank you. We've tried some different things with some success. We've started to leave our bedroom door open, along with a dim night light on the landing. For whatever reason, this seems to have calmed her down and we've had a couple of better nights. Our instinct was that something was frightening her, this seems to take that away. Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff