#canine cognitive dysfunction

[ask-a-vetblr]

hi, i hope its ok to ask because ive been a wreck over this- over a month ago my childhood chi/pom mix (12 y/o) didnt feel so good one night (she paced and stayed up all night), a few days later seemed ok but a week later paced once again, and has been not quite acting 'herself' since then... mainly at night. at night she paces, usually she always sleeps with me but she goes over to the bed and acts disoriented, she doesnt want to be picked up, trying to pet her she walks away. she can lay down but doesnt sit still for long. she wants to hide in the bathroom and just sit in one spot. sometimes she randomly jumps up and sprints. we did blood tests, she has no infections, only a tooth problem and worn hips, but they said it wouldn't cause her odd behavior. they are suspecting CCD, but we hadn't done xrays yet or an MRI to rule anything out. since we are tight on money, would it be beneficial to go for the MRI rather than xrays? this seemingly came out of nowhere, as she didn't seem to have any other signs of it leading up to this, so many hit all at once...

gettingvetted here.

I will admit I have never heard of using an MRI to diagnose canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD). We usually diagnose it by ruling out other issues using bloodwork, urinalysis, etc. and then starting treatment to see if it helps. They may be considering an MRI to rule out brain cancer however, which is of course a top concern for sudden behavior changes or seizures in older pets. If you are money conscious, an MRI would not be your best bet as it will likely cost several thousand dollars. Discuss what treatment would look like with your vet and see if that is a viable option rather than springing for referral and advanced diagnostics.

[drferox]

🐀Techling here, wondering whether there's a difference in treatment for cognitive dysfunction in Aus vs the US? In the US cats don't get much treatment, seemingly they show erratic behaviors and forget the litterbox quickly and people don't want to try treating if their cat is actively destructive. Dogs get treatment mostly with OTC meds used for humans with dementia, SAMe, and sometimes b/d food. Dogs seem to sundown more and forget people before they forget how to eat or drink or go outside.

🐀i was wondering if any treatments in Aus differ from the ones in the US and if so, what the differences might be? Also, if you've had different experiences with pets and how cognitive dysfunction impacts them.   Question tax: if you could design your own vet clinic with an unlimited budget, what unusual feature would you add to make your life easier?

Cats get the short end of the stick with cognitive dysfunction. You can use the dog medications off-label, but they are strictly off-label. I looked into it a few years back because I’m pretty sure my childhood cat Dippa has it,

She has her routine:

Sleep on fluffy pillow

Get up for Food

Go to bathroom for Water.

Return to pillow.

If you upset, interrupt or annoy her in any way, she will revert to step 1 (Pillow) or if she is already on the pillow will go straight to step 2 (food) and go through the whole cycle again, even if she’d just done so.

A cat like Dippa is manageable, and she’s had this routine for at least 8 years. She’s just quiet and doesn’t do much any more, and I’m sure there are lots of old cats out there that fit this description which probably also have cognitive dysfunction, diagnosed. But I’m not about to bother the old girl with any sort of brain scan or biopsy at her age (19).

I obviously don’t know how things are done in the USA, but here lots of cognitive dysfunction cases don’t actually get treated, they just get managed until they’re unhappy and are put to sleep.

If I could design my own vet clinic from scratch, I’d want a dedicated visiting/euthanasia room, ramps at all the doorways, extra wide doorways, and separate doorways for the entrance and exit so touchy dogs don’t have to meet each other.

[ask-a-vetblr]

for a ccd dog, which medicine / supplement has better results longterm, Choline or selegiline? would omega 3 alone not be enough to help my dog? she paces at night / restless, doesnt stay too long in one spot day or night, easily startled, very clingy, appears to look down & see things that arent there, quiet when she is normally much more vocal. thank you so much for your help. we hadnt got to take xrays yet, unsure if its chronic pain or ccd :( shes a 12 y/o pomchi

mod @the-kazoo-kid

[ask-a-vetblr]

My dog is starting to develop dementia. Are there any major symptoms I should expect?What are some things that I as an owner should be doing to help her? Is there anything else you’d like to add? Thank you in advance.

vet-and-wild here.

Symptoms can vary from mild confusion all the way to totally forgetting housetraining or other house rules. Sometimes they pace and pant or vocalize for seemingly no reason. They may have behavior changes. They may forget where their food or water is. That doesn’t mean every dog will get to that point, but some do. There’s been some research that antioxidants, omega 3 fatty acids, and enrichment can all delay the onset of canine cognitive dysfunction as well as alleviate some symptoms. There are numerous supplements out there, but many of them haven’t been studied. Anecdotally, ginkgo supplements seem to help as well.

[ask-a-vetblr]

hi! thanks for running this its great on helping me keep up-to-date with common animal problems and finding out new things! just wanted to ask if you have any tips on caring for an old dog with newly developed dementia?

vet-and-wild here.

Canine cognitive dysfunction (doggy dementia) can be difficult. Dogs may get confused, even to the point that they forget basic potty rules. You may have to treat them like they’re a puppy again and keep them contained when you can’t directly supervise them. Take them out frequently and reward them for appropriate elimination. In terms of other confusion, try not to rearrange familiar areas if you can help it. That may just make it harder.

Medicine wise, there has been a study showing that enrichment, omega 3s, and antioxidants can delay and even improve the symptoms of canine cognitive dysfunction. There are both over the counter and prescription diets that may cater to this, as well as supplements. There is anecdotal evidence that ginkgo may help with canine cognitive dysfunction, and of course I’m always a fan of fish oil. For enrichment, puzzle toys and training are very manageable for most senior dogs.

But most importantly, be patient with them. It’s not a bad idea to keep track of good days and bad days so you know which way the dog is trending.

[ask-a-vetblr]

Hi i was just wondering, is it possible for dogs to get something similar to alzheimer's? My dog is a 13 year old king charles spaniel and recently she has been very wobbly, forgetful, sleeping a lot, and today she just stopped eating and laid down next to her bowl.

gettingvetted here.

The dog form of dementia is called Canine Cognitive Dysfunction. It is characterized by disorientation and changes in social interactions, sleep-wake cycle, house training, and activity levels. A full senior workup should be done to exclude other conditions, but CCD is treatable with environmental management, nutrition changes, and some medications. You’ll need to take a trip to your vet for further help.

[ask-a-vetblr]

How do you guys feel about euthanasia in the context of an animal is not suffering, but their care is becoming so cumbersome and annoying that it is wearing on the owners? I'm currently facing this with my childhood dog and my mom. This isn't a situation rehoming would fix btw, she's 16. She wakes people up sometimes several times a night to go out and seems to be experiencing fecal incontinence, as well as experiencing worse separation anxiety in her old age. However, she still moves around fine, gets excited when we come home, wags her tail, eats, and plays.

It's a dilemma I don't know how to face because while her health has declined in some regards, she's still a very happy dog. I always thought we'd say goodbye to her when it was obviously her time, but it doesn't feel like it's at that point yet. On the other hand, my mom can only take having to take her out every 4 hours, night included, and cleaning up accidental poops weekly, for so long.

I don't mean to imply I want specific advice here. I just wanted to give an example of this kind of dilemma, and ask what your guys' philosophies on situations like this are. Thank you.

gettingvetted here.

You may like to read an answer here. It sounds like you are having a similar problem.

As far as convenience euthanasias - it depends on the situation. If a dog has a recorded human bite history, I would not hesitate to euthanize. If it was financial due to long standing or severe chronic/terminal disease, I would offer to help with rehoming or do the euthanasia depending on the prognosis of the disease and current state of the animal (diabetes is expensive to treat but there is good quality of life and long lifespan; kidney disease not as much so). But if the animal is otherwise healthy and the owner has not addressed possible reasons for an animal's behavior (urinating outside the litterbox, barking etc) or they just say they can't afford the dog anymore, I'm going to either refuse at least until we investigate, or recommend surrender to a shelter. In either of the latter situations I will not euthanize.

[drferox]

Hi Doc. Lil future vet nursing here (gotta take a core skills for adults test first) and I just wanted to ask what you know of canine cognitive dysfunction. Signs and symptoms and what can dog owners do to prevent too much stress on their pups. I’m going to speak to my vet about this anyway (even though my dogs only 6/7 years old) but I just wondered what you knew about in the mean for curiosity’s sake. Also, found you through Satan Bunny and stayed for reality of vet medicine and snark.

Symptoms develop very slowly, and to be honest I mostly see it in little terriers and their crosses, generally because they’ve managed to outlive everything else. They typically include forgetting training, losing their daily routine (forgetting dinner time, awake at night, etc) and seeming to forget what they are doing. getting ‘lost’ at home and seeming to be disorientated.

From a pathology point of view, the brains of affected dogs look very much like the brains of human Alzheimer’s patients, complete with plaque deposition and cortical degeneration. We have actually used some anti-alzheimer medication in dogs, but in my experience it seems to be vert hit-or-miss as to whether you get any reduction in symptoms. There are also various vitamin supplement regimes which can be helpful, and there are prescription diets like b/d, but I’m not overly fond of b/d. In my experiences affected dogs didn’t accept the diet change. Maybe we would have had better results if they were started sooner.

I will often recommend pet owners try to keep to a routine and keep the house the same. Novelty can become distressing or confusing as the disease progresses, and human Alzheimer patients are reported to have difficulty making new memories. So don’t rearrange the furniture or move house if you can help it.

I often recommend getting a night light for the dog, as night blindness commonly occurs in these older dogs as well, and tends to help their distress.

Sometimes I will prescribe tramadol for night time if they also have arthritis, just to help keep a normal sleep-wake cycle for longer.

There is more technical information here, if you’re interested.