Doggie Senior Moments?

[KittyVel]

So my girl, Cookie, is almost 12 years old now. She's starting to have what I suppose I would consider "senior moments". She has mood swings where we'll be petting her and she'll be really happy, and then the next second she's snarling and snapping at us. She used to treat our two smaller dogs like her own puppies, and now they're terrified of her because she's pinned them down on the floor on their backs while snarling at them. And now more recently, she's been barking at nothing and has been taking things out of the garage and lining them up in the front yard.

We already know she has arthritis and is being treated for it. She's taking pain meds and an antidepressant, but nothing has changed, so we don't think it's pain related.

She's still extremely active and plays often, so I still don't see why she would be digging around in the garage taking random stuff out and lining it up out front. These aren't things that are just laying out, either. These are things that she would have to work to get. As in putting her front paws up on a table and reaching for things hanging on the wall or in boxes.

And now, the past couple of days, she's been digging out and ripping up the black plastic pipes leading from the gutters to the drains at the side of the house. It's extremely odd.



I don't really know what to do. Does anyone have any knowledge in this area? She's my first dog, so I've never dealt with "doggie senior moments" before. I'm worried about her, and I'm not sure if all of this is normal or if we should take her to the vet to get her checked out for some kind of medical condition.

[spoOk]

So my girl, Cookie, is almost 12 years old now. She's starting to have what I suppose I would consider "senior moments". She has mood swings where we'll be petting her and she'll be really happy, and then the next second she's snarling and snapping at us. She used to treat our two smaller dogs like her own puppies, and now they're terrified of her because she's pinned them down on the floor on their backs while snarling at them. And now more recently, she's been barking at nothing and has been taking things out of the garage and lining them up in the front yard.

We already know she has arthritis and is being treated for it. She's taking pain meds and an antidepressant, but nothing has changed, so we don't think it's pain related.

She's still extremely active and plays often, so I still don't see why she would be digging around in the garage taking random stuff out and lining it up out front. These aren't things that are just laying out, either. These are things that she would have to work to get. As in putting her front paws up on a table and reaching for things hanging on the wall or in boxes.

And now, the past couple of days, she's been digging out and ripping up the black plastic pipes leading from the gutters to the drains at the side of the house. It's extremely odd.

I don't really know what to do. Does anyone have any knowledge in this area? She's my first dog, so I've never dealt with "doggie senior moments" before. I'm worried about her, and I'm not sure if all of this is normal or if we should take her to the vet to get her checked out for some kind of medical condition.

take her to the vet and for starters ask the vet to check hearing and sight.
sudden anger can be caused by beng startled due to bad eyes or ears.
also good to do is a full "geriatric panel" and then also of course tell him of the recent behavioral changes.
don't wait,the sooner you check these things out the better.
no one knows your dog better than you,I worried about my dog peeing in the house at seven yrs old,turns out he had developed diabetes.

p.s. antidepressants?! ask about possible side effects from those toooo.....I would.

[RandallS]

So my girl, Cookie, is almost 12 years old now.

I've asked Lyric to take a look at this thread when she has a chance. Although, I agree that the first thing to do is mention these behavior changes to your vet. It might even be a reaction to her medicine.

[LyricFox]

So my girl, Cookie, is almost 12 years old now. She's starting to have what I suppose I would consider "senior moments".

I think you're going to want to have a heart to heart with your vet.

It's possible the anti-depressant is having a negative effect...they can in people. So he might want to change the medicine or dosage. We've got our senior foster, Padre, on Reconcile (Prozac for the doggie set), and it seems to be leveling out some temperament issues he has. But too much of that can cause issues.

The behavior does sound pretty bizarre which really makes me wonder if it isn't related to medicine. Dogs can have some pretty strong reactions that make absolutely no sense from our perspective. Those strange reactions don't even have to be limited to drugs aimed at psychological issues. Elvis, the foster boy we lost last July, had AWFUL reactions to his heart medications if the dosage was too strong (and by that I mean at the upper end of a recommended dosage range). I had to watch how much Lasix I gave him, and he couldn't take Vetmedin at all.

Your vet needs to be brought in to the loop on this one.

[KittyVel]

I think you're going to want to have a heart to heart with your vet.

It's possible the anti-depressant is having a negative effect...they can in people. So he might want to change the medicine or dosage. We've got our senior foster, Padre, on Reconcile (Prozac for the doggie set), and it seems to be leveling out some temperament issues he has. But too much of that can cause issues.

The behavior does sound pretty bizarre which really makes me wonder if it isn't related to medicine. Dogs can have some pretty strong reactions that make absolutely no sense from our perspective. Those strange reactions don't even have to be limited to drugs aimed at psychological issues. Elvis, the foster boy we lost last July, had AWFUL reactions to his heart medications if the dosage was too strong (and by that I mean at the upper end of a recommended dosage range). I had to watch how much Lasix I gave him, and he couldn't take Vetmedin at all.

Your vet needs to be brought in to the loop on this one.

The thing is, she's been on this antidepressant and pain medication for almost two years now. Her mood swings have leveled out a little since she started taking them, but she still has them. And the strange behavior (taking things out of the garage and lining them up in the yard and digging up the pipes) didn't start until earlier this month. That's why I'm so confused. :/

I'm gonna try to get her to the vet as soon as I can to see if they can figure out what's going on.

[LyricFox]

The thing is, she's been on this antidepressant and pain medication for almost two years now. Her mood swings have leveled out a little since she started taking them, but she still has them. And the strange behavior (taking things out of the garage and lining them up in the yard and digging up the pipes) didn't start until earlier this month. That's why I'm so confused. :/

I'm gonna try to get her to the vet as soon as I can to see if they can figure out what's going on.

The thing is, a lot of medicines will take time to build up. It doesn't happen immediately. With Elvis, the Vetmedin took a couple of months and the Lasix about a month. Then after the sensitivity, I had to really watch the amount of Lasix I gave him. He got .5 ml twice a day. I could bump it to 1 ml twice a day, but for no more than five or six days. He'd start getting the fidgets and I knew he have to get taken back.

Different dogs are going to react differently.

Now, there's also a drug available for doggy dementia. That is something you can check on. Also there's an OTC called cholodin that actually has some science behind it. We use it for Haley and we could tell a big difference when we ran out and decided to see if it was really helping. Oh yes. Within a few days we could tell.

So definitely consider the medication as a possible suspect.