Dementia in dogs and assessing quality of life

[airplane]

My shihtzu named Bijou, who is 17 1/2 years old, is presenting with symptoms of dementia. Things seemed fine with him until this summer/beginning of fall. Sure he had greatly slowed down and didn’t do long walks and stuff like that, but then he started to change in his personality. He started to prefer being alone and stopped being the affectionate loving dog. Around this time he started to drink way more water than usual, and of course with that he’d pee a lot more too. He’d always have to wear a belly band cause often he’d pee in the house or during sleeping. He went to the clinic for an exam and had a bunch of tests done. Apparently his organs are all quite healthy except for a heart murmur which has already been looked at by a specialist not too long ago and isn’t a concern. I thought maybe it was his kidneys or something, but apparently not.

These last few months or so he started to show other odd behaviours. Pacing around for long periods of time, sometimes barking usually at night for sometimes an hour or more where nothing comforts him and offering water or food or letting him outside doesn’t stop the barking. It’s as though he’s barking for no reason, or at least not an obvious one. He also started pooping in the house all the time, he’ll even poop while he’s sleeping.

I find it fairly disturbing to see him pace all over and poop and pee while he’s walking and just always wanting to drink water. It’s been really hard to see him withdraw not just from me but also my other dogs who he was great with and would play with them. They kinda kept him young in some ways, but now they just leave him alone. He also is deaf and only has one eye and that eye does have a cataract in it. I was told the cataract was due to old age and that the cataract removal surgery wasn’t ideal for him. But he had adjusted fine to being deaf and having just one eye. He doesn’t walk into walls or anything like that.

I, of course, a while ago spoke to my veterinarian about these behaviours and she was very quick to say dementia. This seemed to come very quickly and progress and get worse and worse in a short period of time. It’s actually really bad. I feel so sorry and bad for him. I actually was at the clinic with my other dogs when I spoke to the veterinarian about Bijou. Right after Christmas I’m going back to the clinic to have a thorough discussion with the vet about Bijou’s dementia. But she did tell me at that time that there isn’t an effective treatment for it and that you have to start looking at quality of life.

I’m just wondering if anybody who has been in a similar situation can comment on how you assess quality of life. Just on the outside looking at his life day to day, I don’t think anybody would call that a good quality of life. And his dementia behaviors, they’re not like an intermittent thing. They’re continuous. Whenever he’s not sleeping he’s pacing and just seems like he doesn’t even know where he is. But I kinda feel guilty because besides his dementia he is quite healthy and I suspect would live for maybe a couple more years or more. And he is eating fine. So I’m just a little bit confused about assessing quality of life. I’ll have a lengthy discussion with the vet about this at the appointment, but for now I’m just wondering if anybody can comment.

What factors did you give most weight to when looking at quality of life? And did you ever have feelings of doubt or guilt about the decision that you’ve made? I’d feel terrible if Bijou was euthanized if he still had quality of life. But on the flip side of it, I’d also feel terrible to keep him alive if there was no quality of life and to have him live a number of months that are just terrible for him where he doesn’t have much joy and has lots of anxiety and confusion etc. It’s such a difficult decision to make. And just trying to look at both sides of it and figure out how much is he suffering and how much joy does he have and is experiencing and trying to weigh all that stuff. I just want to make the right decision for him at the right time.

[canana]

I'm so sorry you're going through this with Bijou. I feel like I know what you're going through. Several years ago we had to go through this with our past Maltese, Bibi. She was our family pet. It was incredibly difficult for us because we were all very attached to Bibi. I had accepted that we had to give her up soon by the time she was around 17-18 yrs old and she had lost her hind legs, she had cataracts in both eyes, but could still hear us, eat, and pottied with our assistance.

My mom who was the most attached to her, couldn't let her go though. But I mean, even though I convinced myself I was ready, I wasn't really ready. I'm not sure you can ever be ready to be honest. When my mom finally felt she was ready a year later, I was beyond scared and heart broken - the time had finally arrived.

It's a horrible / traumatizing feeling to end another being's life. I cried the entire week, the entire night before, the entire day of, and several months after. I still cry today thinking about that day. Bibi was all of our best friends. She was with us for a really wonderful 19 years. Today she would have been 24 years.

But as we all are aware, when the quality of life isn't there, it's the humane thing to do. I can't get into details without falling apart, but I think you really just have to determine that for yourself. We all love our pets so much, sometimes more than we love our humans, it's really really difficult.

[matese]

My girl had dementia at age 16 yo, she would get stuck in a corner and not know how to get out. She would go under the table with chairs and not able to find her way out, so I took 3 chairs away. She was almost completely blind and deaf. She slept most of the day, when she was awake I would play with her, not the fetch type of play, it was her new way of playing, nipping my nose when I hugged and kissed her lol. I took her to the vet, all the tests came back good, she was not in ant pain. Her appetite was good, she drank her normal about of water, didn't have bladder control, but always pooped on the pad lol. When her vision got bad she couldn't see depth, so no more sleeping on the bed, I started to sleep on the futon, it was lower, she was able to get off, that lasted for 6 months, she couldn't see to jump down anymore, so I moved her bed in with the futon she slept in her bed, I on the futon with my hand in her bed so she could smell I was there. Then one day she stopped eating, had diarrhea, off to the vet we went, she never came home. I had to put her down at 17 yo, her organs were breaking down. I is very sad to see once a puppy full of life and mischief and now a senior that cannot see or hear. If your baby is not in pain I cannot see putting him down. He is eating and relieving himself, not necessarily where you would like him to go. When it is his time he will let you know. I wish I could have my senior girl back even as she was. Good luck with your decision.

[Wylie's Mom]

Have you tried Anipryl yet? It can make quite a difference...

[airplane]

Thanks guys for offering your thoughts on the situation. I never knew there was a drug treatment for it. I just kinda took my vets word that there wasn’t any effective treatment for it, but just reading about Anipryl sounds like it can work ok for some dogs. I booked an appointment for tomorrow. It’s just at a different clinic and whichever doctor I see I’ll ask about it and if Bijou would be fine to take it, then I’ll ask for it to be prescribed to him. Hopefully it helps. His dementia seems bad but I suppose it could be worse. He doesn’t get lost when walking into a corner or under a chair or stuff like that. And his body and health hasn’t put him in a spot where he’s in physical pain. But mentally there’s a fairly big issue. Fingers crossed that Anipryl will work good for him. And I’ve been trying to keep the environment as mentally stimulating for him as I can. I’d love for him to improve mentally or even just to not get any worse. I was fairly freaked out when my vet said you gotta start looking at quality of life. But I know there’s some amazing drugs out there. So I’m pretty excited to talk to a doctor tomorrow about that.

[airplane]

Just to give a little update on Bijou. He’s now been on Anipryl for a week. It’s pretty expensive medication. I couldn’t imagine the price if he was a large dog, especially in the cases where the dosage needs to be on the high end. Apparently it can take a month or month and a half before it starts to work, and it doesn’t necessarily work for all dogs either. But fingers are crossed and I’m hoping this will help him. Luckily he hasn’t shown any negative side effects, which my vet said would have most likely already showed up. So all is going good and just gotta wait and see if he improves and hopefully his dementia behaviors can subside a little bit. The vet wants to see him back in the clinic in February just to go over everything and I guess reassess the situation and go from there. I’m just really happy that there’s a medication he can try that might be able to help him.

[pstinard]

Originally Posted by airplane

Just to give a little update on Bijou. He’s now been on Anipryl for a week. It’s pretty expensive medication. I couldn’t imagine the price if he was a large dog, especially in the cases where the dosage needs to be on the high end. Apparently it can take a month or month and a half before it starts to work, and it doesn’t necessarily work for all dogs either. But fingers are crossed and I’m hoping this will help him. Luckily he hasn’t shown any negative side effects, which my vet said would have most likely already showed up. So all is going good and just gotta wait and see if he improves and hopefully his dementia behaviors can subside a little bit. The vet wants to see him back in the clinic in February just to go over everything and I guess reassess the situation and go from there. I’m just really happy that there’s a medication he can try that might be able to help him.

I'm not sure where you are purchasing your medication, or whether you are using the generic (selegiline), but (assuming that you live in Canada), you can buy it relatively inexpensively here: https://www.universalpetmeds.ca/medi...Selegiline/5mg

Hopefully the Anipryl will work!

[airplane]

Just to let you guys know how my boy has been doing on the anipryl drug, he’s been on it for about 10 weeks now and I can honestly say that his behaviour has noticeably improved. The vocal aspect of dementia has completely stopped for him. He doesn’t have the barking episodes anymore. He is showing a lot more socialness too instead of always being withdrawn and avoiding being touched or petted or held or just hanging out with me on the couch. Now he is doing those things and isn’t bothered by them like he was. I really cherish those moments when he can be with me and let me hold him and sleep in my arms, etc. So in some ways he’s kinda being like his old self again. He was always the type of dog that wanted to be near people and would give his affection to anybody. And I’ve been trying to keep him mentally stimulated by taking him to whether it’s the pet store or the dog social or wherever. I just want him to continually be able to smell new smells and stuff like that and just not be too restricted to the house, even though it’s nothing but snow outside.

Unfortunately he is still pacing a fair bit, especially at night time. But I can actually accommodate him in this kinda weird way by placing his bed in the front door area. Fairly recently he started to do most of his pacing in that area and I one day moved his bed over there and that seemed to really help and reduced a huge chunk of his pacing. It’s odd though that he likes to lay down in his bed in that area. If his bed is in the living area then he won’t go to it and instead will pace in the front door area for seemingly all night. I don’t know how to interpret that behaviour but if placing his bed there will help him stop pacing as much, then that’s how it’s gotta be. I think he’s made a lot of progress though and I’m just very happy. I think the anipryl drug has helped him, and for the time being I’m no longer questioning his quality of life. It doesn’t seem he’s in as much distress and there’s also all these little things that he does that tell me he is experiencing joy and happiness. So he is still having lots of good days! It took a long time for the medication to start working and I was told that by the vet, but quite frankly I’m blown away by how much better he is. J

[canana]

So glad to hear about the improvements! I don't know about pacing... but, my first instinct was wondering if he thinks he has to go potty in the middle of the night (but doesn't have to actually go)? Again, I don't really know, but that just popped in my mind.

[matese]

How absolutely wonderful Bijou is benefiting from anipryl. Makes me feel so guilty for not finding YT when I had my girl, I had to let her go in 2013. Perhaps anipryl could have helped my girl. I know you are enjoying every minute of every day with your boy.