My Dog has Started Acting Strange?!

MentalMinnie

I've got a 13 year old miniature poodle, in excellent health for her age, although she's takes Soloxin for a Thyroid problem, and Incurin for a slight nighttime incontinance issue. Other than that, she's a mental hyperactive puppy!! But over the last few days she's been acting really odd. She usually gets up once during the night for a wee and a drink, usually at around 3am, but she's been getting up 3-4 times a night recently. At first i was getting up to out her out etc. But on Monday night my OH shouted at her to get back to bed at 12.30am and she did. Didn't get up again til 4.40ish, so she didn't actually need a wee at 12.30am. She did it again last night, so i told her to go back to bed, which she did, and didn't get up til 3.45am, when i put her out. She's also taking ages to settle down on a night, pacing around the bedroom, scratching at the door, going back downstairs, wanting to go out, but then when you put her out she just stands in the garden staring at us...She's fine in every other way, so i don't really know what to do/what is up with her. Should I take her to the vets? Is it even something medical, or is she bonkers?!

krlyr

Dogs can suffer from dementia and this can often present initially with restlessness at night, often with a dog forgetting it's been to the toilet or wanting to go in and out of the house for no apparently reason.
There's no cure but there are medications that will help with the symptoms and slow down progression, e.g Aktivait, so worth a vet trip.
http://www.my-old-dog.com/dementia.html
Interesting incontinence is listed as a symptom, is this something she's suffered with for a while or just recently?

Alternatively it could be something like a UTI/bladder infection giving her the feeling of needing the loo, without having anything to express. Does she squat like she's trying to pee?

Edit: Had a thought, and interestingly if you search on a search engine for "dog dementia thyroid", several pet forum posts come up stating dogs with dementia-type behavioural symptoms have turned out to have thyroid issues, I would perhaps want her thyroid panels done again to see if the thyroid medication needs adjusting. If you haven't already, do ask the vet to do the full test of all 5 levels - occasionally a dog can have seemingly normal T4 (I think it's T4) levels, but the other levels being incorrect can affect how well the dog's body deals with the T4. If it's not using them properly then it could be hypothryroid without appearing to on a T4 test.

MentalMinnie

krlyr wrote: »

Dogs can suffer from dementia and this can often present initially with restlessness at night, often with a dog forgetting it's been to the toilet or wanting to go in and out of the house for no apparently reason.
There's no cure but there are medications that will help with the symptoms and slow down progression, e.g Aktivait, so worth a vet trip.
http://www.my-old-dog.com/dementia.html
Interesting incontinence is listed as a symptom, is this something she's suffered with for a while or just recently?

Alternatively it could be something like a UTI/bladder infection giving her the feeling of needing the loo, without having anything to express. Does she squat like she's trying to pee?

Edit: Had a thought, and interestingly if you search on a search engine for "dog dementia thyroid", several pet forum posts come up stating dogs with dementia-type behavioural symptoms have turned out to have thyroid issues, I would perhaps want her thyroid panels done again to see if the thyroid medication needs adjusting. If you haven't already, do ask the vet to do the full test of all 5 levels - occasionally a dog can have seemingly normal T4 (I think it's T4) levels, but the other levels being incorrect can affect how well the dog's body deals with the T4. If it's not using them properly then it could be hypothryroid without appearing to on a T4 test.

She doesn't squat when she goes out, she literally steps out the door then turns round to look at me as if to say 'Why the hell have you put me out?!' Her nighttime incontenance has been on and off for about 2 years. I'll see how she goes for the next few days and if there is no chance, i'll take her to the vets. The EDIT section of your post makes NO sense to me at all, by the way!!

krlyr

Sorry - basically, when a vet (or doctor) tests for thyroid problems, the most common (easiest, cheapest) test checks one of the levels. I think it's T4, may be T5, but they just check for the presence of that one thyroid hormone. I think most thyroid issues will show a higher or lower T4 level and that's that - the doctor/vet prescribes thyroid meds.
However, some cases are more complicated. There are 5 different hormones (or whatever they are) involved in thyroid function. So a dog or person can have T4 within the normal levels but still by hypothyroid. If the dog is lacking in the stuff that converts T4 (the bulk of what the thyroid produces) to T3 (the form that the body uses it) then it can have loads of T4 in the body but become hypothyroid because it cannot use any of that T4.
That's the general idea anyway! Not that my dogs have suffered from thyroid problems but I'm on a dog forum with several people who've done a fair bit of homework on it and they always stress the importance of getting a full panel done.