My older dog is getting anxious at night. Any tips?

[klpca]

Kaya, our most recent rescue, is approximately 10 years old. She could be older but I highly doubt that she is younger. She's getting some sway in her back, spends a lot of time sleeping, and is beyond calm. She's definitely on the older side. She has no incontinence (yay!) and does not appear to have cataracts. We have been to the vet - she is just getting old, no other health issues. Her last visit was just a few weeks ago. I just recently noticed that she has some vision issues because I have seen her have difficulty coming downstairs when the light is dim.

She has always been afraid of loud noises such as fireworks. But in the past year she has taken night time anxiety to a new level, especially when we turn out the lights to go to sleep. Any outside noise seems to put her on high alert - now it includes fireworks, pouring rain (with or without thunder), car noises like revving engines or tires squealing, wind, and of course coyotes. Sometimes closing the windows helps, but other times the windows are already closed and she still hears the noises. She pants, whimpers, and whines. I feel so bad for her! We have tried turning the lights back on but once she has gotten scared there is no return. We have brought her into our bed a few times after staying up with her for hours and this does seem to calm her down but she is 60lbs and I am really not a fan - at all. Actually she eventually hops off and goes back to her bed so I am not sure that she is super comfortable with it either, and I don't like the thought of her jumping off of the bed in the dark.

Have any of you had to deal with night time anxiety with an older dog? Any tips? Am I missing something obvious?

 

[Glynda]

A thunder shirt works when our Olive is anxious during thunderstorms or fireworks. Her crate left in the den helps when anxious of the vacumn cleaner or just when she chooses to be in there.

 

[Cornell]

I know some older dogs can suffer from Sundowning. Is that what is going on w/your dog? I hope not....

 

[1st Class]

If it is Sundowner's Syndrome, there are lots of things you can do help her cope. A nightlight will help even if she doesn't have cataracts. Vision difficulty is a classic symptom of SS. We used melatonin to help one of our previous pups. It takes the edge off and helps them relax enough to get to sleep. Ask your vet for info on Sundowner's and/or get a second opinion.

 

[DaveNV]

No easy answers, but I'd suggest trying two things:

1. Crate her at night, with a comfy pad or blanket to sleep on. Perhaps cover the front of the crate to make it more cave-like. If the crate is in a familiar place, and she knows she's safe there, she might sleep better. My dogs both sleep in crates at night, and have since they were puppies. They're rarely restless.

2. A nightlight might help. If you rush to her when she's upset (for no reason) she might expect the extra treatment whenever she's feeling restless.

As you know, dogs are creatures of habit. They like the familiar, and a routine. When their routine gets upset, so are they.

Good luck!

Dave

 

[Bailey#1]

Maybe put a sound machine next to where she sleeps.

 

[presley]

I'm really sorry to hear that. I know firsthand how difficult this type of thing is. Since it seems like anxiety at night is the only symptom at this time, I'd try a lot of the natural anxiety remedies. If they don't work, your vet might recommend Trazadone. That's my tl;dr version. I'll drone on below when for when you have time to read a long response.

I recently got Trazadone for my anxiety dog. She's 13 now and I've had her since she was a puppy. She was always a high anxiety dog. This was the third time in her life that I asked a vet for help with it. The other times I asked, I decided not to get medication for her based on what they were recommending at the time. With behavior training and natural stuff, I got it down to a level that we all could deal with. Stuff we've used: CBD oil, (Charlotte's web brand), Tomlyn's relax and calm (chewy and amazon have it), Thundershirt, Feliway collar (chewy and amazon), acupuncture/chiropractic care, Happy Traveler (amazon), and likely other stuff that I can't remember.

She's tiny, so she sleeps with me, but last summer she was constantly waking me up by jumping off the bed and then "sneezing" until I would pick her up and put her back on the bed, even with stairs available for her to use. Shortly after the beginning of the Covid stay at home order, her separation anxiety seemed to go through the roof with her absolutely losing it whenever I'd leave the house, even with the other dogs all here and often my husband being home at the time. I started playing music and using a calming device (Relaxo Pet) whenever I'd leave and I began to dread leaving the house because of her reaction. Very recently, I started noticing some other behaviors that were very different for her such as ignoring me, getting really mad at my other dogs, seeming like she couldn't remember the routine and (rarely) peeing in the house - but, all of those things are very sporadic and she is 13 now, so initially I thought she was just getting old.

Since I volunteer regularly at a senior dog rescue, I've seen many dogs with Canine Cognitive Disorder (CCD). They don't present like my dog. They walk in circles all day, get stuck in corners often, bark at walls, act aggressive, forget how to eat... While my dog doesn't act like that, I started wondering if she was headed that direction. We went to the vet recently to rule out medical stuff and I was given a checklist that you do at home and score at home for CCD. When I scored it, is said she has CCD. I found another version online and took that as well and she came out CCD again. The vet gave her Metacam for her arthritis and Trazadone for the anxiety. Both are to be used as needed and I have to say that when I used the Trazadone, it was a significant help. She was still her normal needy self, but toned down to a level that we could comfortably deal with again - much like how the natural stuff worked when she was younger. So, I believe she is on her way to becoming one of those dogs who will walk in circles and get stuck in corners, but we've had the same routine her for a long time and she won't lose her family and be dumped at the shelter like all the dogs I see at the rescue. So, I am hoping that she'll be easier to deal with than they are.

You may want to do one of those checklists now and another in several weeks or months to see if that's where this is going. https://www.flvetbehavior.com/uploads/7/7/3/4/77348517/dishha_petownerevaluation.pdf
It's so gradual that I didn't exactly notice all of her new behaviors until I was doing the checklist. Since she was always anxious, we just thought her increased anxiety was due to me being home so much because of Covid. Since your dog wasn't anxious like this before and seems to only have it in the evenings (sundowners), it may be easier for you to catch early if this is what it is. Even if it's a general anxiety, Trazadone or something else might make a big difference. I know you already know this, but you waking up and getting interrupted sleep is going to wreck havoc on your own health and immune system.

 

[TravelTime]

I have an anxious dog. Nothing works except meds. We have had him on Zoloft and Gabapentin.

 

[klpca]

Thank you all so much for the suggestions. We've had 5 dogs live into their golden years and each one has done it differently. The worst one was definitely the incontinent dog (although there was medication that took care of that, so it was a short lived problem once we got the meds). Last night was better - obviously I hadn't had enough time to put anything into practice yet. I discovered that the smart lightbulb in my nightstand lamp was dimmable - so I made it as dim as possible and left it on when we went to bed. I did turn it off in the middle of the night. I figured that at least the transition from us being awake to asleep was less jarring that way. It seems like most times it is switching off the light that really starts the ball rolling. Plus it was much cooler last night so the windows were closed which also helped.

This girl came to us almost 4 years ago and was very well behaved, but refused - and still refuses - to be crated. We decided to not push the issue as she is completely reliable in the house. We have always crated our dogs mostly to give them a personal space to hang out in. All of the other dogs have loved them, but for Kaya it's a strong no. Who knows what happened in the past - but since she is otherwise a good girl I am going to let it pass. I am going to look into the thundershirt because New Years/July 4th have become problems. And I am thinking about using the sound machine especially during the summer when we sleep with the windows open. But I don't blame her for getting nervous about the coyotes. The other night I told my husband that at one point it sounded like one was in our yard. It was definitely the closest I have ever heard.

I did some googling on sundowners and it seems like this may be the direction we are headed in. I am going to start with the melatonin to see if that is all that she needs at this point. @presley , thanks for the checklist link. I will check it out. And you are so right about the interrupted sleep - I have a hard enough time getting enough good quality sleep - we just can't add dog problems to the list. That's the only reason that we have given in to having her on the bed. It's like when my kids were little and brought them into bed just so we could go back to sleep. Luckily she hasn't become habituated to sleeping in our bed and I don't want to start that. If that happens, I'll be moving to the guest room!

 

[easyrider]

Our dog Rex the Akita live to over 14. He was very large at 160 pounds and not fat. He was really healthy and aware until about 13 1/2 years old. This Rex had to be put down about 8 months after showing severe decline in health like not even getting up to potty. We gave him doggie inflammatory otc stuff from PetSmart and put his bed on the back deck where it was easy to clean accidents. His last meal was Jimmy Dean sausage. He really liked that Jimmy Dean, lol.

I saw there is doggie CDB now. Go figure.

Bill

https://barklypets.com/blog/cbd-and...rowing,brain's receptor response to serotonin.

 

[Gypsy65]

No idea on pets but what about one of these new gummies or pills that have small amounts of marijuana?

 

[alexadeparis]

Maybe put a sound machine next to where she sleeps.

Or a fan for white noise and a little night light