Yet another sleepless night with the dog

susieanne

My 14 year old dog is driving me barmy .He wakes up at the early hours of the morning and walks around the house panting also scratching at the walls to get out .I let him out but he doesnt want to go out .He only ever does this in the early hours of the morning it started at 12pm and he was still walking and panting around the house at 5am this morning .He doesnt do this every night but it has happened quite a few times latley ,2nd time this week.
He is drinking alot ,peeing & doing his dirt in the house even when the door is open and he could go out .
I took him to the vets who charged me £100 for a blood test and water sample which everything came back fine that was 4 months ago .I took him back vets again but they want to charge me yet another £100 to re do blood tests .As anyone else had similar problems with an old dog ,wondering what the problem could be

david39

For your peace of mind and the sake of the dog, try another vet if you are not happy with the service from your existing one.

Ask around for a recommendation beforehand if you can.

ka7e

The panting and pacing are usually signs of distress. It's difficult to tell if it's because your dog is in pain or just becoming confused and a bit senile.

The blood tests were probably to test for liver/kidney function etc and another set may be done just for comparison or to find if there is a physical fixable reason for his behavior. There should also be a test for inflammation/infection that may be treated with steroids or painkillers.

If all the physical tests are negative, you may be looking at a neurological condition affecting the brain. We had this with a 14 year-old Lab who also started to suffer occasional fits (always in the evening when she was sleeping) - she wet herself while having them and then was very disoriented and pacing for an hour or so afterwards. Is it possible your dog is having seizures during the night?

Sadly, the prognosis for an elderly dog with such a neurological problem is not good and you may be facing some difficult decisions about what is best for your dog.

foreign_correspondent

It sounds like he could well be in discomfort/pain or stressed from the panting and walking about - it could be that he is having problems with his tummy if he is soiling indoors, or he could have become a little senile in old age, poor old lad, and forgets where he should go. Drinking a lot can be a symptom of many conditions - from diabetes to cushings disease, but dogs can also drink a lot when they have a painful tummy.

What blood tests did the vet do, do you know?

hethmar

Poor boy. Our Lucy used to wander around the house in distress just after she had one of her fits when she was 16.

susieanne

Thanks for your replys i am not sure if hes having fits or not ,he is usually fast asleep when we go to bed then wakes up in the early hours of the morning .The only other times that i have seen him so distressed and behaves like this is on bonfire night .
The blood tests was to look at his liver & kidneys i orginally went to see vet because he was having lots of accidents in the house mainly weeing all around the house .

Barneysmom

Barney did this for a little while a few months ago, and it turned out to be 2 foxes coming and going in our garden.
Could it be something like that or a hedgehog?

zaksmum

Poor old guy. My old dog did something similar, waking up in apparent distress in the middle of the night. The vet said nothing was wrong after a huge amount of tests costing well over 1K and it was just some senility.

Poor dog got worse and worse till anyone could see he was in trouble, so back to the vet to insist on a referral to a teaching vet facility.

Turned out he had advanced cancer of the spleen, kidney and in the retro peritoneal space (whatever that is). The one on his spleen had ruptured and his abdomen was full of blood. He was too far gone to save him (he was 13).

So don't listen to the vet. As David39 said, go to another vet or insist on a referral to a veterinary hospital. Do you have insurance?

viktory

Sounds like kidney problems. Poor lad.

susieanne

No we dont have insurance kinda wishing i had now He was off again last night about 3.30 am i could hear him pacing around panting acting erratic .Its strange because hes fine in day sleeps all day but i suppose its because hes been up all night .The problem is i have been up since 3.30 the night before i was up nearly all night but i have young children i cant go back to bed now .
His body his fit he still enjoys walks its his mind which seems to be ageing .
I just wanted to add he has lots & lots of fatty lumps all over him some are really big ,the vets said to just leave them as they are doing no harm .

laney85

susieanne wrote: »

No we dont have insurance kinda wishing i had now He was off again last night about 3.30 am i could hear him pacing around panting acting erratic .Its strange because hes fine in day sleeps all day but i suppose its because hes been up all night .The problem is i have been up since 3.30 the night before i was up nearly all night but i have young children i cant go back to bed now .
His body his fit he still enjoys walks its his mind which seems to be ageing .
I just wanted to add he has lots & lots of fatty lumps all over him some are really big ,the vets said to just leave them as they are doing no harm .

The problem is that your poor dog is obviously in some sort of distress and requires more tests to find out what the problem is. If it were any of my dogs my lack of sleep wouldnt have evn been mentioned.