Canine cognitive dysfunction
My 14 year old Boston was just recently diagnosed with dementia. He sundowns really bad some days so we have started keeping him on trazodone, which is working well for the most part. He still has episodes though where he will whine and cry and almost scream but he doesn’t act like he’s in pain and the vet thinks it’s confusion. The vet has said we can increase his trazodone during those episodes so we have a plan, but how do you all deal with episodes like that? Is there anything that we can soothe him? The only thing that seems to interrupt them is to take him outside but he quickly wants to come back inside and goes right back into the episode. Any tips for comforting him (or me)?
u/javamonkey7 — 14 days ago
“Your dog isn’t a real Boston terrier”
My Boston Terrier is basically a mutant. He’s a purebred Boston with the recessive FGF5 gene mutation that causes long hair. No, he’s not mixed with Papillon or Pekingese or whatever random toy breed strangers decide to accuse him of being this week. He’s just genetically weird.
The long-haired gene is rare but fully documented and DNA testable. Two standard short-haired Bostons can absolutely produce a long-haired one if they both carry the recessive gene. Genetics are messy and occasionally nature decides to make a fuzzy little exception just to keep everyone confused.
People argue with me about this constantly like they’re canine forensic experts. Meanwhile he’s over here snoring dramatically, demanding snacks, and looking like someone put a Boston Terrier through a fabric softener cycle.
u/javamonkey7 — 3 months ago