New to the Forum and in need of help please ........

[Leah'sGranny]

My name is Susan and I'm new to the forum but wondering if anyone can help.

My Son has a fifteen year old Staffy girl called Leah. About two months ago, she began behaving strangely during the night. She appears to be having panic attacks and begins panting, becomes unable to settle, climbing on and off my Son's bed, shaking and trying to climb on him. She's keeping him awake most of the night.

She has regular check ups with the vet and we do know her heart and lungs are very good for her age. She doesn't appear to have any other problems, her bowels are fine and she's never sick or off her food.

At first, I wondered if she could be in pain, but she is absolutely fine during the day, this behaviour only begins at night. We can't identify anything in the room that could be scaring her .......... absolutely nothing has changed and she has always slept in the bedroom with my Son.

We do have an appointment with the vet for tomorrow, but I'm wondering, could this behaviour be Canine Dementia?

Has anyone else experienced this?

[Guest]

I wouldn't have thought it's Dementia, as that's likely to occur during the day as well as the night.

There's only so much that can be advised over the Internet, but my guess is that something has probably frightened her at night time and it's triggered nervous behaviour. Either that, or there could be a strange noise that she can hear.

Have you tried using calming treatments such as Adaptil or Thundershirts?

[Kathy]

Hi Susan and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

I would wait to see what the vet says tomorrow. Are you able to get the behaviour video'd for the vet to take a look at, this may help with explaining the symptoms. Sorry cannot be of further help.

[Leah'sGranny]

Hi Kathy and Eleanor and thank you for your replies.

We have tried giving her Bach Flower Rescue Remedy and also Skullcap and Valerian, but these have made no difference unfortunately. I did think about a Thundershirt at one point and I'll go back and look at these again.

Apart from the fact that my Son and his Wife are having virtually no sleep, more than anything, we feel sorry for Leah as it can't be pleasant for her to be feeling this way.

I've had dogs for forty years, (Jack Russells), but I've never known one behave this way before and I'm stumped.

She's just been outside, wandering happily around my garden and she's brought her stag antler in and is now chewing happily on it. Her behaviour through the day is so normal. My Son seems to think that Leah becomes distressed when he actually goes to sleep.

I will let you know what the Vet has to say and thank you again.

[Guest]

Hi & welcome from Darcy & me, sorry I can't offer any help, hope the vets goes well tomorrow, Kathy's idea of videoing the episodes is a great idea

[Guest]

If it is only happening at night i would suggest that her eye sight is failing. Dogs can see in the dark pretty well so if that suddenly changed im sure it would scare her.

[Guest]

Also, i dont mean to be rude, but is your sons and daughter in laws health okay? i mean could he have breathing problems at night or anything? Some dogs get very stressed if their owner stops breathing, as they would do if they had sleep apnea. So this could explain why she wants to get on him at night.

[Guest]

Both of Hayley's points are very good! I hadn't thought of that!

[Guest]

All great advice above, sorry I am of no help, but hope you have some answers from the vets.  

[Leah'sGranny]

Hello again everyone and thank you so much for your suggestions and advice.

Yes, my Son and his Wife are in excellent health. They are both in their early thirties and lead a very healthy lifestyle. They don't have any children, apart from Miss Leah!

We took her to the vet last week. She had a thorough examination and all is well with her physically. Having tried everything else, and there being no apparent reason for her panicky behaviour, our vet wanted to try her on Xanax for a week. Sedation isn't what we wanted for her, but the poor old girl is tired out and so are her long suffering parents!

The first two nights, she slept, but since then, it's having no effect on her.

We did think she may be afraid of the dark and they have tried sleeping with the light on, but to no avail. My Son has even tried sleeping in the lounge with her, leaving both the television and the lights on, to try and 'fool' her into thinking it wasn't nighttime, but I'm afraid that didn't work.

I have bought a Thundershirt and some Zylkene, which is a natural product, but which my Vets say they have had some good results. I am also going to have Leah one or two nights a week in future, if none of this works, just to give my Son and his Wife a break.

I take care of her during the day whilst they're at work and her behaviour is perfectly normal. This panicky behaviour only happens at night.

Thank you again for your help and I will let you know if we make any progress.

[Guest]

Has your son considered crate training? i know some people don't like it (me included) but if she is disrupting his sleep that much and wrecking herself in panic then it might be the only solution. also check for any feral cats roaming about or check old boilers etc incase there is something shes is smelling that your son cant

[Leah'sGranny]

Yes, I have talked to my Son about the possibility of a very large crate for Leah.

I don't have a problem with crates, having owned many Jack Russells and Belgian Shepherds, I have had to use crates for safety in the past.

Our concern is that Leah is nearly fifteen years old and has never been in a crate, to our knowledge, and we don't want to do anything to make her panic worse.

She is such a calm girl. She is not reactive to anything and it is so unlike her to panic about anything.

My Son and his Wife live in a relatively new house and I'm certain there is nothing amiss Leah is reacting to. I've checked anything, even kept a diary about the nights she's at her worst, wondering if she could be reacting to wind or rain, but there doesn't seem to be a common factor.

What seems to be the problem is when my Son actually goes to sleep. She obviously feels unsafe when he isn't awake, but it is a strange problem and not one I've ever come across, even though I have had a lot of old dogs and some of them with CCD.

Thank you for your suggestions and advice. It is nice that people want to help.

[Morab]

Hi Leah'sgranny and welcome from Jazzi and I. I've never heard of such a thing happening except where there's heart trouble. In South Africa we get a small electronic device into which you put some calming liquid - it shoots small gusts of calming "air" into the home throughout the day and night. I can't recall the name of the thing but I'm sure a pet store will know.
It sounds like she's afraid to let your son go to sleep, more than being afraid for herself. Some type of separation anxiety.. shame..
Keep us posted.

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