WHAT IS DEMENTIA IN DOGS? You’ll most likely find this attitude in an elderly dog. Sometimes your dog will bark at virtually nothing at night, or they will be slow to react to going through a closing door. This is the reaction to what is called Canine Cognitive Disfunction, CCD, or simply put, dog dementia. If you have a human loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease, then you will recognize CCD in your dog because Alzheimer’s and dementia are closely related. Whereas with Alzheimer’s disease in humans you lose total control of familiarities, with dementia your dog will most likely forget to do things it has done for years. Maybe it forgets to get up to eat when you feed him or her during the evening. Maybe your dog will forget to go outside when you have trained him or her for years this is the essence of CCD
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5 TRIGGERS THAT YOUR DOG HAS DEMENTIA: 1. YOUR DOG GOES AGAINST BASIC TRAINING
For years your beloved dog has known how to go to the bathroom outside by first going to the door and barking at you when it was ready to go out. Your dog knew when to go to bed, and sometimes it knew to go to bed in its cage or in your bed before you were even ready to go to bed. But what do you do when all that has stopped? It’s not common to find these things in a dementia afflicted dog so the first thing you’ll want to do is take it to your vet for a diagnosis of dementia. If your vet tells you that your dog does have dementia, then you’ll want to follow their advice because there are things you can do to combat your dog’s dementia. The reason it’s going against basic training is because it is losing its memory, that’s what Canine Cognitive
Disfunction is. Since your dog is trained by you or trains itself to do certain things it’s imperative that you try to save your dog’s memory while you still can, or at least manage it.
2. YOUR DOG IS DISORIENTED
In humans you’ll find a similar effect of dementia as you’ll find in your dog and that is a sense of disorientation. Your dog will walk into a room and look around in confusion because it doesn’t know what it’s doing or how it got there. This comes with being anxious, as discussed in the following point, but your dog will find itself barking at night and not knowing why. Neither will you.
Some times your dog will get lost in a corner, running in circles, or it may not know how to get through the doggy door. Another thing you may notice in your pet’s disorientation is he or she may not greet you anymore. This is hurtful as a pet owner, especially when its name is being called by you and they act like they’ve never heard it before. If you notice any sense of disorientation in your possibly dementia afflicted dog you may want to take him or her to your local vet.
3. YOUR DOG IS ANXIOUS
Your dog may have dementia if it is anxious all the time. It may be a simple fact of that it is physically in pain. If your dog already has dementia and it is already taking
medication the best thing to do is to have your veterinarian increase its medication. Many dogs consider themselves caretakers for the household and if they find that they can’t do it anymore or as well as it should he or she may get anxious. Talk to your dog, and it may sound crazy but talking to your dog sympathetically helps them deal with the fact that they are getting close to the end of their life. Most elderly dogs with dementia are anxious at night and if you find the roles have reversed where you are more of the caretaker of the household than your dog is then it’s best to ease their mind. One thing you might consider is to sleep in separate rooms. Many people like having their dogs sleeping with them but if it’s detrimental to your dog’s dementia then you may want to consider in investing in a dog cage. If you feel like putting your dog in a cage is too cruel of a thing to do leave the door to it open and unlocked so that they have freedom to walk around if they need to after waking up. There are other ways you can deal with your dog’s anxiety such as acupuncture which is beneficial for the heart and kidneys. Another thing that will calm down your pet is to simply use reiki, and if are really desperate try and use herbs such as flower essences that you can find in any herbal remedy store.
4. YOUR DOG’S SLEEPING/EATING PATTERNS CHANGE
If you find that your dog has all of the sudden changed their sleeping or eating patterns he or she may have dog dementia. If your beloved dog doesn’t eat as much as when he or she was younger it could be old age or it could be dementia, sometimes both. If your dog has dementia you may want to change its food such as offering smaller bites to eat or moistening its food. It’s a simple fact that as your dog gets older the less exercise it’ll have, which is bad for its mind and its body. If your dog’s sleeping or eating habits have gone for the worse, such as sleeping way too much, their body’s system may be faultering to the point where it’ll shut down completely. They’ll most likely hide in a corner away from it all and it’ll lose total control of its bodily functions such as urinating or pooping at the drop of a hat. It is a good idea to take your canine friend to the vet if you feel the dementia has gone way too far. If medicine or change in food doesn’t work then you may consider the fact that your beloved is dying. Since they are eating too much or too little, or sleeping too much or not enough, they may be in the last stages of their life.
5. YOUR DOG GOES THROUGH WITHDRAWAL BEHAVIOR
It’s a simple fact that if your dog is experiencing whimpering or cowering, symptoms of a withdrawal of normal dog behavior, it may be caused by one single event that has caused these actions. For example, if there is a thunderstorm and they get so scared that they cower to the floor or go to their owner for safety, then they may be experiencing withdrawal behavior. Now, if that thunderstorm were to happen again he or she will in all probability repeat the same action because they are in fear of the thunderstorm that they remember. This is at the heart of the fight or flight attitude in your dog. They have an inborn intuition that teaches them to be hearty or scared. In fact, when your dog is scared he or she will most likely bark. This fear is an aggressive reaction to strangers, for example. If they see someone they don’t know they will bark at them. Say your dog is passing by a school and sees a bunch of kids crowded around each other, well, your dog will bark at them.
But where does dementia fall within this?
To figure this out you’re going to have to take your pet to the vet and although there is no psychological test for dogs you can have your vet give your dog a physical examination. The best solution to this is to keep a regular schedule for your dog. But you’ll want to make a gradual shift in his or her routine rather than suddenly, because your dog needs to remember how to react to things. One of the best things to do for a sudden behavior withdrawal in your dog is to simply play some soothing and calm music. Classical music seems to work out the best because it relaxes your pet, as it would help a human with dementia as well. Another thing that seems to help is if you went swimming with your dog. By keeping your dog’s mind active you are staving off the dementia, or CCD, in him or her. Better yet, when you are in the pool have him or her chase a tennis ball, and by doing that he or she will be able to activate its mind. Even if you aren’t in a pool giving your dog something to play with inside your house will teach your pet the same thing it learned in the pool. In short, an old dog can learn, or in a dog’s case, remember old tricks. And like with people, your older dog experiencing dementia will act differently compared to another dog breed that is also experiencing dementia. You might want to keep a journal to keep track of what to tell your vet when your canine friend shows obvious signs of dementia. Examples of this are staring off into space, barking with no reason for its actions whatsoever, and licking/scratching in an obsessive compulsive like behavior. Your dog is facing its last stages of life and it’s important that he or she knows that you love them and are there for them, especially in the final stages of its life. If you can catch it in time, then you are one step ahead. You’ll want to find the best treatment for them before they pass on so do your research and find the best possible care for them.
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