Nighttime distress?
Hello,
My Frenchie is almost 12. At 4, he became paralyzed due to IVDD and has had no use of his back legs since. Because he is in a diaper and can have accidents, he sleeps in an open-top pen at the foot of our bed. He has always loved it. It has always been his safe space and getting him up in the mornings has even been difficult because he gets so cozy!
Over the past two weeks, he has woken us up around 2:30/3:00am completely distressed. He will cry/howl and heavily pant. Once we get him out, he will take about an hour to calm down, but he will go back to sleep if he is in the bed or my husband takes him downstairs to sleep. He will drink a TON of water too.
For what it’s worth- he takes gabapentin 3x a day for pain.
Is this due to old age or could this be something more? I’m worried it may be doggy dementia- like he is waking up scared and unsure where he is? Or maybe he is in pain from something? Cushings?
During the day he mostly just sleeps or hangs around wherever we are when we are home.
It’s so upsetting to see him this way. Any insight would be very helpful! Thank you.