Night time anxiety: Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome? (senility) Selgian tablets

My golden retriever has been suffering from night time anxiety, she has been put on some tablets Selgian, she has been on them for almost a week, do you think im expecting a miracle to happen over night, because at the minute, there doesn't seem to be any change, she has us up for most of the night crying and moaning, she wont go in her basket, and she loves her bed usually, Millie will be 10 in april next year, does anyone out there have similar problems, or no of anyone whos dog has the same. We are all really tired, not getting any sleep. Millie is fine in the day, she sleeps - eats - plays as normal, its just once we go bed she starts

This is a worry for you, I do wonder if she is becoming a bit senile and is scared on her own, would it be possible to move her bed into your bedroom. Do understand if that is something you don't wish to do. Can you think of anything that has changed around the time she started this, have you tried leaving a light and/or the radio on. Do you think she may be going deaf. If it does not improve in another week I would be asking the vet to look deeper for a reason for this change in her behaviour.

Just thought is she going for a pee more often than usual?
Try leaving a piece of your soiled clothing in her bed.

Could be right about the onset of senility.

From: http://www.dogweb.co.uk/talkdogs/the...dog_13176.html

Is she showing any of the other signs of this condition?

My dog is currently experiencing the same problem. He is, we think - we are unsure of his age when we adopted him five years ago, around seven years old and he is a sheltie. Out of no where a month ago he started pacing, panting, pushing at our bed between 12 and 2 am. It has gotten progressively worse and he is now trying to sleep in our bathtub every night and he gets anxious as soon as we lay down now. The vet checked him for neurological problems and everything seems fine. We are currently trying melatonin twice a day before we go to anxiety meds. I wanted to know why all of a sudden he is afraid at night, and the vet told us that dogs like our Shadow, who already have some behaviors (Shadow is pretty neurotic - he chases lights and shadows to no end, he has some separation anxiety, etc.) tend to get worse behaviorally as they get older.

Good luck. We went a month without a whole nights sleep, it was awful. We've been on the melatonin for a little more then a week and we are making it through every other night. We are going to give it the recommended four weeks before we start the anxiety meds....i'm hoping we don't have to take it there.

PS...we had tried to crate him, we tried the crate in bedroom and outside of the bedroom - covered on three sides and uncovered, we tried benadryl with and without the crate, we tried everything, we tried letting him sleep in our bed, and nothing has worked.....I don't know if any of those suggestions will help you.

Please note that the original post is over three years old.

My dog suffers from Dementia, but her behaviour has impoved with Selgian.

Hi, I see that this post is quite old now, but we're at our wits end. Jack, our 14 year old JRT started with this behavior on NY Eve night, where we were in the vet ER until 1in the morning. He was shaking, panting heavily and nonstop pacing. They said there was nothing wrong. It's been getting progressively worse to where it's every night now. We haven't slept in weeks. His vet put him on alprazelam which seemed to initially help but not anymore. Any thoughts on what to do next PLEASE!

My then 10 yr old Golden retriever started being unsettled at night at the end of last year. He would wake me up whining & barking in the middle of night, i'd get up let him in the garden thinking he wanted a wee, but then he'd continue when he came back in.He had also recently witnessed our puppy be killed by another dog which I wondered if this was troubling him. When I spoke to the vet & she mentioned senility I realised he had been standing in the middle of the room sometimes in the day staring at nothing... So far we haven't had to get meds, the night problem has been cured by letting him sleep upstairs, previously he was not allowed up.
Hope you get something sorted for your Jack soon

Thanks ljru,
We had a bad night again. I read something last night that dogs (and humans for that matter) who undergo general anesthesia and already have CDS, tend to get worse afterwards because of what is organically going on in the brain. Jack had his teeth cleaned about a month ago, under general.

I put him in his crate for the night and he cried and scratched at the crate for an hour. I put him in bed with me and all he did was walk incessantly in circles around the bed for the next hour. I let him out potty again and put him back in his crate with a radio near him. I'm getting so exhausted mentally over this and physically over not sleeping. We're going to try melatonin next. My husband even bought him some hot dogs to entice him to eat, as he has eaten much the last few days. I should have mentioned also that he's been almost totally deaf for the last few years and then a year ago last November, he lost one eye to luxation and subsequent glaucoma of the eye, needing enuculation. So the poor guy is almost deaf, half blind and now this. I can see how things can scare him.

I hope things continue to go well for you and your Golden,
Cindy

Thanks Cindy,

My vet recommended, (although I haven't tried yet) getting a plug in that releases pheromones, I think they are called DAP diffusers here? You could try that, probably his two senses being impaired doesn't help , but as the plug in releases wellbeing smells & a dogs nose is one of its most important senses hopefully it may help. Fingers crossed for you. x Lisa