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My 13 year old Staffie, Oscar, has started waking in the night and won't settle again unless we bring him downstairs. We have tried letting him out for a toilet, but he still won't settle, we even started letting him sleep on our bed at night; nothing seems to work.
It is like having a baby again that is keeping us up all night, it is so difficult, especially for my OH who is doing his final year of his degree, we are just exhausted all the time. Oscar seems to favour disturbing my OH than me, he noses him and nudges him until he wakes up, it's difficult to ignore him because he just gets right up in your face.
At the moment my OH tends to bring Oscar downstairs and then sleeps on the sofa, with Oscar sleeping in his dog bed. We have tried bringing his dog bed up to the bedroom, but he won't stay in it at night. We tried buying a new memory foam bed to help with his joints, but that didn't work either.
At one point we tried him with his old crate in our bedroom, but he just got himself into a panic and just kept rattling the crate (he previously liked using his crate in the living room), we tried shutting him in the kitchen, but he just worked himself up in to a state and scratched and chewed at the door.
I have been in touch with the vet and she suggested that it could be one of two things; either he has dementia and is getting night and day mixed up, or he is forming a habit of waking us up and then us bringing him downstairs. I'm reluctant to start the dementia medication as it is very expensive and we are a low income household, plus what if it isn't dementia. Oscar is already on a variety of pain medication for arthritis, I don't like the thought of just starting a new medication without pursuing all other options first. The vet suggested trying a distraction in the night, but I'm not sure what to try without creating a new habit. Does anyone have any suggestions please?
Has anyone else ever encountered an issue like this before? If so, what advice would you give please. We are so exhausted, we just need a good night sleep, we would be willing to try just about anything at this point!
It is like having a baby again that is keeping us up all night, it is so difficult, especially for my OH who is doing his final year of his degree, we are just exhausted all the time. Oscar seems to favour disturbing my OH than me, he noses him and nudges him until he wakes up, it's difficult to ignore him because he just gets right up in your face.
At the moment my OH tends to bring Oscar downstairs and then sleeps on the sofa, with Oscar sleeping in his dog bed. We have tried bringing his dog bed up to the bedroom, but he won't stay in it at night. We tried buying a new memory foam bed to help with his joints, but that didn't work either.
At one point we tried him with his old crate in our bedroom, but he just got himself into a panic and just kept rattling the crate (he previously liked using his crate in the living room), we tried shutting him in the kitchen, but he just worked himself up in to a state and scratched and chewed at the door.
I have been in touch with the vet and she suggested that it could be one of two things; either he has dementia and is getting night and day mixed up, or he is forming a habit of waking us up and then us bringing him downstairs. I'm reluctant to start the dementia medication as it is very expensive and we are a low income household, plus what if it isn't dementia. Oscar is already on a variety of pain medication for arthritis, I don't like the thought of just starting a new medication without pursuing all other options first. The vet suggested trying a distraction in the night, but I'm not sure what to try without creating a new habit. Does anyone have any suggestions please?
Has anyone else ever encountered an issue like this before? If so, what advice would you give please. We are so exhausted, we just need a good night sleep, we would be willing to try just about anything at this point!
My dog is 11 and has had a few unsettled nights recently. My guess would be that this is an early sign of dementia, assuming it's only started recently and he's been fine through the rest of his adulthood. But then of course I'm not a vet and don't know your dog.
