Dog owners
- Locked due to inactivity on Sep 1, '20 3:54am
Thread Topic: Dog owners
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So my one dog is 13 years old, and as of lately he’s been really active at night, walking around the house, drinking water late and having to do to the bathroom late. My mom sometimes goes to bed late and he doesn’t really go to bed without her, and he gets confused if she’s home really late at night. Tonight my mom went to bed early and he jumped off the bed to use the bathroom. I took him out, and brought him back inside to bed in my parents room. He wouldn’t lay down on the bed, and continuously walked around the house for a bit. I brought his little doggy bed in my room and try to get him to lay down and he wouldn’t. He kept panting really heavy and I couldn’t get him to calm down. After about 20 or 30 minutes, I was able to put back my parents room and so far he still in there. This is what it’s like at night sometimes. Now, during the day he just sleeps. All day long. He only really eats when he feels like it or when he’s hungry enough to. Should we be concerned at take him to the vet?
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Just checked on him now, he’s sleeping little bean
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I don't really remember what we did with my old dog, since I was eight or nine at the time, but that does sound familiar. I'd take him to the vet. He may just be getting old.
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i can relate to him
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Yeah, I’d take him to the vet. He could be developing arthritis which might be the cause of him getting restless at night or taking a while to get comfy. Panting and drinking water excessively is usually a sign of pain
With him only eating when he feels like it, I would only be a little concerned if this is a recent change in eating behavior because it could just be another sign that he’s in pain. My one dog never really ate a lot of food (she takes bits of it and spits in back on the carpet and take what she wants from there and sometimes she leaves it and won’t get back to it till later in the day or at midnight when she realizes that she’s actually hungry). This past year we found out that she had a 50% tear on both her back ACLs, but she still eats about the same amount of food. If she used to eat a lot and then slowed down, we would be more concerned, but because she’s always just not really ate, we’re not too concerned with her ACL tears. She still whines to be taken on walks and car rides, it just takes her putting in a little more effort to stand up.
Also, what breed is he? This could help you figure out what diseases and health conditions are more common in their breed. My one dog mentioned above is a Belgian Shepherd, and shepherds tend to develop bad back legs when they get older.
Another thing I would like to add is that if you take him the vet and they tell you that he might need surgery, your vet might not do it because of your dog’s age. Or really, they’ll just tell you that it’s a riskier surgery to do. My shepherd is 11 years old, and our vet told us that because of her age, it will take her longer to recover from surgery and older dogs tend to have a harder time waking up from the anesthesia too, so we decided not to do it because she was still acting like herself. Her back legs just turn in a little now, but she still runs around chasing my other dog like everything is fine.
But yeah, definitely take him to the vet to get checked on -
He’s a Yorkshire Terrier mix
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Hmmm that’s interesting because smaller dogs tend to live till they’re like 16 and Yorkie’s are usually pretty healthy. Do you know if he ate anything weird? Or has there been any thunderstorms or fireworks or any other loud sudden noises where you live?
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There haven’t been really any storms as of late and he usually does fine with other loud noises. Our other dog, she’s a lab retriever mix, she doesn’t like loud noises, and sometimes, but not often will our Yorkie get uncomfortable due to loud noises. But like you said, Yorkies are pretty healthy, and he is healthy.
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Is this the first night that he’s been like this?
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It’s the first night it’s been this bad. Like I said he kinda won’t go to bed without my mom, so if my dad takes him to bed when he goes, like 30 minutes later he’s comes out from their bed room. He also goes back and forth a lot, from their room to the family room, which is at the other end of my house, then back to my parents room and out again until my mom goes to bed, which sometimes isn’t until late.
Part of me thinks that if my mom gets on a better sleep schedule, he will too eventually. -
Hmm that’s interesting. I wonder if your dog just ended up getting really attached to your mom because he’s older now. And so maybe he’s experiencing a bit of separation anxiety from her?
I think older dogs like to stick to more of a schedule going on in the house. Because my shepherd will come and wake us up when she wants to eat in the morning and will whine and pace and stomp her feet when it’s time to take her on her car ride and again with her walk. So maybe your dog is like “hey, it’s time for bed, why is she not here?” -
Dogs like to be around the oldest female in the house. I don't know why, that's just how it is. When there's a woman older than my mom in the house, my dog will start hanging around with that older woman more than my mom. I've noticed it with other dogs too.
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It could be a separation anxiety thing honestly, I wouldn’t doubt it.
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That could be it then because I think separation anxiety gets worse with age. So yeah, try seeing if he will just stay out with your mom when everyone else goes to bed. Like don’t put him to bed without her and see if that changes anything
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I’m probably late but-
My dog does that too when he’s seen an animal in the yard, such as a fox, rabbit, raccoon. Usually not for rabbits though.
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