Hello everyone!
I copied and pasted my original message down below.
Kerrigan has her appetite back. From Thursday to Saturday she could only eat a can of food, but yesterday she ate a whole can of food with barely any issues. She would wander off sometimes, but I would get her attention back and she would start eating again. She still refuses to eat kibble. When she was younger I would just let her not eat during the day and usually by nighttime she would give up to the hunger and eat, but now that she's older she can't really do that anymore so I'm just feeding her wet food from now on.
I found an article that for some senior dogs eating too much fatty oil can make them sick (I was giving her a little less that what is recommended for her weight). She was on it for about 3 weeks and didn't start behaving odd until this last week. I stopped giving it to her and her appetite has come back and her energy level is a lot better. When I came home yesterday she was jumping all over the place and brought me her favorite toy. My other dog is still on the oil because she hasn't had any negative reactions and it's helping with her allergies.
Kerrigan's new food has omega-3 and she hasn't had any negative reactions yet. Right now she's on half the food she's been eating and half on the new food. I'll switch her to fully on the new food tomorrow if she's good today. She loooooves the new food so that's been a big relief.
She's still wobbly (although a little more stable), but not as lethargic. She still gets distracted easily, but doesn't seem as confused. Now that she's feeling better I'm thinking that the dementia symptoms were actually a combination of feeling sick from the fish oil and pain in her back legs. Her whole life she's been sensitive in that area (she's never liked when people or dogs touched her on her hips) and she was still jumping with no issues, so arthritis was not on the top of my brain when the symptoms first started showing.
I'm still going to try to get her into the vet on Wednesday and describe all this to her doctor. I've also taken video of the odd behavior and trembling so hopefully her doctor will be able to figure out what's going on for sure (or the best of her ability).
Thank you for those who shared theirs stories and for giving me advice. I'm now more aware of what dementia looks like at the beginning stages and if she doesn't have dementia now, I'll be able to spot it easier in the future if either of our dogs do end up getting it.
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Hello everyone!
I have a vet appointment scheduled to talk to my vet about the possibility of dementia. Kerrigan's been having some issues recently and what my vet thinks was a focal seizure a few months ago. They gave me medication to prevent those, but I read that sometimes dogs could experience just a weird one off seizure and the medication could actually cause them if the dog doesn't actually need it.
So I'm holding off until she has another. She's with me 95% of the time and if not with me with someone else and she hasn't had one so far. I took her to a neurologist and he doesn't believe she has a brain tumor because she's not showing any signs of having one. Her bloodwork also came back healthy.
Now I'm questioning if she even had a seizure to begin with. I didn't actually see it happen. She stood up from a nap and started to trip and pace aimlessly with weak legs. She didn't really seem to know what she wanted to do. I took her to the vet right away. The vet said those are most commonly known symptoms of post focal seizure. However, lately she's been acting like that as soon as we get home. Whenever I catch her staring off into the void I call her name and she's responsive and her eyes are steady, just a little dazed, so I don't think she's been having seizures. And I noticed that in the morning and at work her balance is fine.
I did a little more research and I'm beginning to think she's in the beginning stages of dementia.
She started peeing inside more, which she rarely did when she was younger. I thought maybe I just needed to let her out more as she did start drinking more water, but last night she did it right after she had been outside and I watched her go potty before she came in.
She also started to refuse her kibble and will only eat wet food. She's a picky eater, but I could always get her to eat with either her sister standing there watching her or waiting until evening when the hunger would win. I've changed her food whenever she starts to get board. Until a couple of nights ago she had no issues with the current food and we just switched maybe two months ago.
Last night in particular she would shake and try to eat some, but would just spit it out. She has been having hip and lower back issues so I elevated the dish and she still would not eat. I gave her some wet food and she was able to eat that with no issues. I also started feeding her fish oil for allergies and it says on the bottle that it will help with pain too. She's just started her 3rd week on it so hopefully it starts to help some. She's already scratching and licking less. I thought maybe the fish oil (Ultra Oil Skin and Coat) we're using was causing these symptoms, but there's only positive reviews for it and several vets actually recommend it.
Does anyone have experience with their Boston and dementia? Are these symptoms familiar? Or maybe these are symptoms of something else?