Hi friends!
I wanted to give an update on Hunny and her nighttime waking.
First and foremost, Hunny went fully blind last August 2025 and is probably at about 85% deaf.
When she went blind, our independent girl completely changed... and I don't blame her. The one sensory item she could count on was gone.
Before being fully blind, she had started to sundown and pace in the evenings, but nothing terribly disruptive. We started to give her a low dose of CBD that seemed to help her anxiety.
After going blind last year, she started to wake in the middle of the night multiple times. We would take her potty, hold her, sit by her bed to sooth her and she was almost wired.
We couldn't figure out what she needed. I tried trazodone and gabapentin. She would have terrible break through waking in the middle of the night. Couldn't stand, eyes wiggling back and forth, really scary stuff.
I tried Selgeline, and she lost a pound and became very unsteady after being on that for 3 months. She is a tiny girl, weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs, so losing a pound so fast, was quite startling. I took her off that after seeing it did not help her sun downing and causing other adverse reactions.
In the end, the vet shook her head and told me she was at a loss and had nothing else to offer but to put her down.
Now, I understand quality of life... and our sweet girl was still very happy. Finding joy in getting sniffs in the park, eating and drinking well, being close to her people, etc... This is not a dog that has more bad days than good. This was a pup that was waking up in the middle of the night and having a hard time settling.
Well, fast forward, I took Hunny to the vet for an emergency visit due to her eye abscessing again (she has a genetic terrier degenerative eye disease). The vet there was a man I had never seen before, but so kind and helpful.
At the end or our visit, he looked at Hunny's chart and said.. " Oh, I see Hunny is on Selgeline. How is that working her? I have a dog with dementia and did nothing for him. I am finding that Omega 3 supplementation is decreasing his symptoms way better."
So with that, the vet introduced me to Welactin. It's an Omega 3 supplement for dogs.
Hunny has been on it for 2 months straight now, she takes 1/4 of the dosage cup provided and her sleep has improved tremendously. She no longer sundowns either.
We do still give her a melatonin/l-theanine treat before bed and a little bit of CBD for her joints and anxiety, but other than that... she gets up once to go potty most nights and goes right back to sleep. Sometimes she will get up two times and be hungry (we figured this one out after experimenting when she would get all weird and wired), but goes right back to sleep.
I wanted to share this with you because the vet I was seeing recommended nothing supplement-wise for Hunny. I learned about CBD and Melatonin from this group here on Reddit, and then learned about Welactin Omega 3's from the sweet Friday afternoon covering vet.
Let me know if you have any questions - hugs and holding you all in my heart as we love our sweet senior dogs and care for them in their last days.