13 yo Yorkie sleep issues...

[ohartnet]

Our Yorkie used to sleep in the bed with us each night and sleep through the night, no problem. Lately, she whines when in bed when it's time to sleep until we let her down, and she goes under the bed (her new favorite place). However this is a problem because she now wakes up 2-3 times a night, gets us up, demands tons of water, and usually has already had an accident (we use reusable diapers because our Yorkie is notorious for accidents.) took her to the vet thinking she might be diabetic since her cataracts made her blind last year, but saw nothing wrong in her bloodwork.

We are thinking of just leaving her in her kennel all night downstairs in the laundry room and giving her water...and laying a pee pad or using a diaper. however she does not like this and barks through the night, and her sleep schedule may get all twisted around. My question is, will she eventually get used to it and sleep through the night in her kennel, or are we making the situation worse?

[BLADE]

Kimbo is 8 years old and goes through strange bedtime changes. Each faze lasts 2 or 3 months. Eventually he decides to sleep through the night in my bed again. Then we're good for a few months until he decides to change it up again!

I hope someone offers you a good solution. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone.

[bjh]

I can relate to what you are going through. Our little boy, Dillon, will soon be 14 years old and he has always slept with us. These last few months he started waking up during the night and stirring around and it was really disrupting our sleep. This last week I have resorted to leaving him in the living room and it is working out pretty well. Dillon is blind but he gets around well in the living room.

If possible you should try keeping your girl up more during the day and especially right before bedtime try to hold her and give her some attention.
Dillon will wake up just once during the night to get a drink and stir around but he goes back to sleep. It would concern me a little that your girl is drinking a lot of water. There are several things that could cause excessive drinking like kidney failure, diabetes mellitus and Cushing's disease. I am not sure what tests would have to be done to find out if your girl has one of those diseases.

Hopefully your girl will get used to being down stairs with time. I know it is hard on you seeing her grow old. My first yorkie lived to be 16 and she slept with us the whole time. Near the end she was blind and she had dementia and she would wake us up several times a night. She finally got so bad that she would not eat and we had to let her go. It was really hard.

[yorkiemamanyc]

We are new to owning a Yorkie, but after reading these few posts, can I ask, it is common for Yorkies to lose their vision more so than other types of dogs, this was not something we had thought to research in depth earlier. Thanks

[Lovetodream88]

I don't think it's fair to punish her for being older by making her sleep by herself. What you described sounds like doggy dementia and there are lots of medicines that can help. Dementia (Geriatric) in Dogs | petMD

[Wylie's Mom]

At this tender age, I personally would not make her suddenly sleep alone .

She is likely experienceing some mental changes / dementia. You should really explore giving Anipryl for this - it can make HUGE changes in a dog's quality of life!

As for the excessive driniking -- trust me -- there is *always* a medical reason for this and if your vet can't find it - I'd look to another vet. Excessive drinking/peeing should always cause a vet to rule out diabetes AND Cushings.

[ohartnet]

Thank you all for the comments! While the vet mentioned the glucose levels looked normal, there was some concern about the liver, but mentioned it might be related to tooth decay. The next step is to schedule a cleaning, but I have a feeling the drinking issue may still persist. Can't really say it's mental changes... except for depression maybe. Since she cannot see, she sleeps a lot more during the day and doesn't want to play, and her sleep schedule is way off. I'll try to keep her awake more during the day and see if that helps her sleep through the night. Kennel downstairs will be a fall back option if sleep deprivation is getting to us. She got us up four times last night....either wanting water, wanting up on the bed, wanting off the bed, managing to remove her diaper to relieve herself on the floor... ��

[bjh]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Thank you all for the comments! While the vet mentioned the glucose levels looked normal, there was some concern about the liver, but mentioned it might be related to tooth decay. The next step is to schedule a cleaning, but I have a feeling the drinking issue may still persist. Can't really say it's mental changes... except for depression maybe. Since she cannot see, she sleeps a lot more during the day and doesn't want to play, and her sleep schedule is way off. I'll try to keep her awake more during the day and see if that helps her sleep through the night. Kennel downstairs will be a fall back option if sleep deprivation is getting to us. She got us up four times last night....either wanting water, wanting up on the bed, wanting off the bed, managing to remove her diaper to relieve herself on the floor... ��

I hope you can find some answers. Where does she sleep during the day? Does she cry and need attention during the day? My Dillon seems much happier sleeping in the living room since he can get around fine in there. Since he became blind he has had problems getting up and down off the bed and we were concerned about him falling off. Of course we would not let him sleep in the living room if it was stressing him out.

[ohartnet]

During the day, she likes to find someplace comfortable to sleep. Usually it's underneath something (a bed, furniture, etc). Sometimes in the closet on a coat, sometimes the laundry basket. She doesn't really crave attention during the day. Just gets up and barks if she needs water/food, or to go outside (of course, after she's already relieved herself!). I could keep her downstairs with a diaper on I suppose. The issue is that she likes to go upstairs because that's where the beds are that she can hide under, and if she has an accident downstairs, liquid on laminate hardwood is bad news if not cleaned within a few minutes. She'll probably be okay free to roam downstairs, but occasionally barks if she suspects she's lonely.... poor pups

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Thank you all for the comments! While the vet mentioned the glucose levels looked normal, there was some concern about the liver, but mentioned it might be related to tooth decay. The next step is to schedule a cleaning, but I have a feeling the drinking issue may still persist. Can't really say it's mental changes... except for depression maybe. Since she cannot see, she sleeps a lot more during the day and doesn't want to play, and her sleep schedule is way off. I'll try to keep her awake more during the day and see if that helps her sleep through the night. Kennel downstairs will be a fall back option if sleep deprivation is getting to us. She got us up four times last night....either wanting water, wanting up on the bed, wanting off the bed, managing to remove her diaper to relieve herself on the floor... ��

The sleep issues are part of dementia you really need to look into that. Diapers are really terrible for dogs because they can get urine scald and rashes.

[ohartnet]

I'll look into it. She's not wide awake for long periods at night... she will get up, get water, and go back to sleep, or get up, whine to be let down, goes under bed to sleep.. Being without diapers means constant accidents on the carpet/floors (up to five in a day, even when being let out regularly). This is NOT an option. She's been using them almost a year and hasn't had any issues.

[ohartnet]

Sorry if this is a duplicate. I'm trying to reply and the posts aren't appearing.


There is no choice on the diapers, except to let her roam free and having accidents everywhere, which is NOT going to happen. She's been using them for almost a year, and no issues with rash or anything like that, so I'm sure it's fine for her. Dementia might be a possibility, although it's hard to tell, since she has always had problems not waiting to go outside to go potty. However, her wake ups at night are not for very long, and almost always because she is thirsty. Once she drinks, she goes right back to sleep. During the day she likes to sleep under things, or sometimes on the sofa. She doesn't crave much attention, but will yip if left in the kennel or if we leave the house without her. She does have lower energy, but that's understandable due to her age and her loss of vision, so it is not necessarily a tie to dementia.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Sorry if this is a duplicate. I'm trying to reply and the posts aren't appearing.


There is no choice on the diapers, except to let her roam free and having accidents everywhere, which is NOT going to happen. She's been using them for almost a year, and no issues with rash or anything like that, so I'm sure it's fine for her. Dementia might be a possibility, although it's hard to tell, since she has always had problems not waiting to go outside to go potty. However, her wake ups at night are not for very long, and almost always because she is thirsty. Once she drinks, she goes right back to sleep. During the day she likes to sleep under things, or sometimes on the sofa. She doesn't crave much attention, but will yip if left in the kennel or if we leave the house without her. She does have lower energy, but that's understandable due to her age and her loss of vision, so it is not necessarily a tie to dementia.

Has she had a check up done by the vet?

[ohartnet]

Yea, about two weeks ago. They did a blood test and a urine test and didn't see anything alarming, except for a slightly higher count in the liver. I guess it's good news they didn't find anything really bad, but not so good news because the issue still hasn't been fixed. The vet recommended a teeth cleaning as she is due for one and then a follow up blood test.

[4OC]

Originally Posted by ohartnet

Our Yorkie used to sleep in the bed with us each night and sleep through the night, no problem. Lately, she whines when in bed when it's time to sleep until we let her down, and she goes under the bed (her new favorite place). However this is a problem because she now wakes up 2-3 times a night, gets us up, demands tons of water, and usually has already had an accident (we use reusable diapers because our Yorkie is notorious for accidents.) took her to the vet thinking she might be diabetic since her cataracts made her blind last year, but saw nothing wrong in her bloodwork.

We are thinking of just leaving her in her kennel all night downstairs in the laundry room and giving her water...and laying a pee pad or using a diaper. however she does not like this and barks through the night, and her sleep schedule may get all twisted around. My question is, will she eventually get used to it and sleep through the night in her kennel, or are we making the situation worse?

Is she spayed? If so the extra wetting could be a side effect from that. Just like human ladies, there can be a few problems. More so for cats and dogs because they remove the ovaries as well as the uterus. It is the ovaries that control excessive urination through the hormones. When removed the hormones are gone as well. Now as the female ages the problem begin.

I have a friend with a dog that must go three or four times a night but is not taken outside so the poor thing must use the floor in the house.

Usually only affects the female but can in some cases also affect the males.

As to the excessive drinking, get a second opinion doggie style. There is a reason. If you asked specifically about diabetes, that is most likely all s/he tested for and as others have pointed out it could be a number of other problems.

The fussing could be just trying to get you to take her outside. If you don't do this she will naturally want to protect her sleep area. Please don't punish her for this problem. Find a new vet, go in with just her symptoms and ask what is wrong with your baby. She needs your help and she's trying to tell you but unfortunately we don't communicate with the same language.

Also it could be just needing a different food. That is what it was for my black lab. Thought she just was not ever going to be house broken. Her food was changed to a prescription diet and in 3 days she had no more problems.