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[JudyN]

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That's really good news - thank you for the update. You must be over the moon!

 

[Stamford]

That's really good news - thank you for the update. You must be over the moon!

Much happier. I don’t really like giving her a sedative. But the vet said it’s very mild and no different than a human taking a sleeping pill at night. It won’t harm her. So yes we’re all happier. We wake up fresher and so does she.

 

[Flobo]

That is good news to have found something that gives her rest as well as yourselves. I think sometimes we forget that if a dog is very unsettled at night that they too will get as exhausted as the people in their life,(even when they seemingly sleep in the day when you're feeling like a zombie!!)

 

[Stamford]

I posted a while ago about our 13 yr old cocker bitch. The fact that as soon as the dark comes she just starts wandering. Wanting to go out on the garden 100 time an evening. We feed her. We make sure she's had a walk. We go to bed around midnight and go fast asleep to be woken three or four times through the night by her barking at the back door to go out. We are seriously at the end with this. It's affecting our health our sleep and our relationship as a family. We love her to bits. She's no trouble in the daylight. But at night I could gladly run away. The vet has been no help. Gave me acp which when we've used it just hypes her up even more. She's not hungry. She doesn't need a poo or wee as we see her go. I'm going back to vet tomorrow to see if there's anything more we can do. I can't go on much longer feeling so exhausted. I'm 60 years old. I don't want to go back to new baby status at my age. I just can't do it. Can anyone offer any advice please ? Also. She isn't poorly in any way either. So not pain related.

 

[Stamford]

I’m back again. I know I should be happy we are
Now getting some overnight sleep but I’m still struggling. We give her the meds at around 9.30pm. For three hours after she is manic. In and out of the kitchen, barking to go out the back. She goes in the garden and stands staring at nothing. She comes back in and will not lie down with us in lounge. Tonight I counted I got up 16 times to open back door and it’s freezing. We’ve tried to watch a movie, we
Can’t as we keep having to pause it every 10 mins. It’s just so draining. Then after around three hours of this and we go up to bed she will come up lie down and crash out. I guess I have to decide if we
Want peaceful evenings or sleep overnight. But it’s just not right we have to choose. It shouldn’t be like this. I’m sad to say this but I will never have another dog. Never. It’s aged me.

 

[JoanneF]

Have you told the vet? Maybe her dosage could be tweaked.

 

[JudyN]

Have you discussed with your vet the meds that increase blood flow to the brain such as Vitofyllin or Aktivait? If the sedative is helping a little, it might be possible to give them in combination. In your position, I think I would put a coat on or wrap myself in a blanket and leave the door open all evening.

Unfortunately, this is a normal part of ageing, just like dementia in humans - but we can't put dogs into nursing homes when we're struggling to cope.

 

[Stamford]

Have you discussed with your vet the meds that increase blood flow to the brain such as Vitofyllin or Aktivait? If the sedative is helping a little, it might be possible to give them in combination. In your position, I think I would put a coat on or wrap myself in a blanket and leave the door open all evening.

Unfortunately, this is a normal part of ageing, just like dementia in humans - but we can't put dogs into nursing homes when we're struggling to cope.

What’s weird is ( as I tested this out) is she’s not really so much bothered about going outside as it’s like she just wants to bug me. I’m sure she doesn’t do it on purpose. But we’ve left the door open at night so she can come and go as she wishes. But she just keeps coming to us and pawing us like she’s hungry. So we feed her a little and the cycle starts again. She just wanders and wanders. In between wandering she will jump up on sofa and constantly paw us. The door is open so she doesn’t need to go out. It’s really odd. It’s like she wants something. We give her all she needs but it doesn’t settle her down. I just don’t understand it at all.

 

[JudyN]

Feeding her might encourage her to do this more, so you might be better off just trying to reassure her. As to what she wants, though - she probably doesn't know herself. You know when you realise you're worried but you have to cast your mind around to remember what it is you're worrying about? With dementia in humans, even in the early stages, people can have that feeling of anxiety but not remember the cause, leaving them in a state of anxiety that they can't shift by fixing the cause or realising it's not worth worrying about. Maybe it's similar to my emotions when I have too much caffeine... I can rush round doing stuff that suddenly needs doing, then collapse in a jittery heap. The cause of the anxiety is inside the brain, not outside, so changing the outside environment can only help partially (if it does at all).

 

[Flobo]

It is always going to be difficult when a dog has dementia, when we finally said goodbye to our Jake I was exhausted(as was he). He'd be up and down through the night wanting to go outside and then I'd have to go out with him to encourage him back in, during the day he'd be fairly settled, then in the eve he would start his cycle of pacing from front room to bedroom and back again. He'd do this half a dozen times, then settle in his bed for a while then he'd be up again...we tried getting him to lay with us in front room or once tried putting something in the way so he couldn't pace, hoping he would settle, but that just distressed him! So we accepted it was just the way it was, every time he wandered back in the front room, one of us would just greet him with a 'hi Jake!' in a really happy to see him kind of voice and he loved that! It didn't stop the pacing but it did make it easier for all of us, even doing it god knows how many times an evening!
Getting old is not fun for any of us, but it is inevitable, sometimes we just have to accept the irrational and the crazy, relax and try and find a way through...making the best of a difficult situation is not always easy I know but worth a shot I think...
Do you think she's picking up on your frustration or that you're anticipating a less than settled evening and that maybe increasing her sense of anxiety or making her feel unsure? Please don't think I am pointing a finger, I do actually recognize how difficult this can be... Have you tried giving her the meds a bit earlier then maybe taking her out for an evening walk?

 

[Stamford]

It is always going to be difficult when a dog has dementia, when we finally said goodbye to our Jake I was exhausted(as was he). He'd be up and down through the night wanting to go outside and then I'd have to go out with him to encourage him back in, during the day he'd be fairly settled, then in the eve he would start his cycle of pacing from front room to bedroom and back again. He'd do this half a dozen times, then settle in his bed for a while then he'd be up again...we tried getting him to lay with us in front room or once tried putting something in the way so he couldn't pace, hoping he would settle, but that just distressed him! So we accepted it was just the way it was, every time he wandered back in the front room, one of us would just greet him with a 'hi Jake!' in a really happy to see him kind of voice and he loved that! It didn't stop the pacing but it did make it easier for all of us, even doing it god knows how many times an evening!
Getting old is not fun for any of us, but it is inevitable, sometimes we just have to accept the irrational and the crazy, relax and try and find a way through...making the best of a difficult situation is not always easy I know but worth a shot I think...
Do you think she's picking up on your frustration or that you're anticipating a less than settled evening and that maybe increasing her sense of anxiety or making her feel unsure? Please don't think I am pointing a finger, I do actually recognize how difficult this can be... Have you tried giving her the meds a bit earlier then maybe taking her out for an evening walk?

Thanks for feedback. She is flat out in the sofa as we speak. She just doesn’t do this at all in the light hours. It all kicks off after we’ve
Eaten supper and sat down to watch tv. I have been giving her the meds a couple of hours earlier. But we have this hideous time after the meds until we all go to bed where she’s all over the place. But maybe after the meds tonight we will take her around the block for a walk. See if that helps. I’ll try just about anything right now. We at Least are getting sleep throughout the night once she crashes now. So I should be grateful. But we now don’t have any down time as a family before bed as we’re up and down and pausing tv constantly.

 

[JoanneF]

Would you not consider a SAD lamp?

 

[Stamford]

Would you not consider a SAD lamp?

Would that work ? And how ?

 

[JoanneF]

It helps a lot of people with dementia, especially those that get sundowning syndrome, because it uses the same light waves as natural daylight. Of course nobody can guarantee that it will work, but it might be worth a shot.

 

[JudyN]

I've just ordered a SAD lamp for Jasper - naturally, I'll post to say whether it seems to help or not, though I think it can take a couple of weeks to have any effect, and he might get worse in that time anyway.

 

[JudyN]

I posted this in Jasper's Diary thread, but as it's very relevant in this thread too...

The vet prescribed gabapentin, as it can have a sedative effect but without the side effects of 'proper' sedatives. The first night I gave it at 8pm and didn't notice any difference. The second night I gave it at 8pm again and he had one brief bark down the garden then slept through. Last night, I gave it at 7pm and he slept through! He's still waking up at his usual time (i.e. about half an hour before I'd like him to get up), so he's not over-sedated. It goes without saying, I'm really pleased