Need Help

[Guest feathersprings]

We have had our greyhound for 4 yrs and she is 7 yrs old. She has always been very attached to my husband and would exhibit some signs of mild separation anxiety. They were fairly easily dealt with. She was also very happy to be kenneled for periods of time (but sleeps in the bedroom ) being kenneled when we would be gone for short times and eats in the kennel. She also suffers from anxiety from thunder and sounds ( like the Ocean) . Lately she has been just freaking out at bedtime.. when she is in the bedroom with us she starts climbing the furniture trying to get out windows.. whining, panting and crying.... jumping on and off the bed. Totally unresponsive to us . During the day she has times when she seems ok and then she is off in her own little world somewhere. She has gone from being a very lovable dog to a zombie.. we arent sleeping at night... we have tried letting her sleep where she wants in the house , kenneling ( she tries to break out) paces the house, tried to get in closed rooms etc. She no longer will eat in her kennel.. . Any ideas of what we are dealing with here? She has had some of this sort of behavior before but in a more mild form.. usually happily going to the bedroom at night to sleep on her pillow and then on occasion she would not want to go and she would be put on her leash and walked there. The whole thing escalated when my husband took a week long trip. I was here with her and besides having some company stay a few days there was nothing out of the norm that happened. She was happy to see our visitors, pretty calm about him being gone after the first day. When he got home she pretty much ignored him and went into this odd behavior in a much more dramatic fashion. Any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Guest mbfilby]

Have her blood work done. Could be thyroid, maybe TBD?

[ozgirl2]

The zoning out & unresponsive to you... wonder if it could be mild seizures??

[Guest feathersprings]

The zoning out & unresponsive to you... wonder if it could be mild seizures??

 

 

That had come to mind also as i lost my other Greyhound to a seizure disorder . Some of the panic type behavior seems a lot like the pre and post seizure behaviors. We have never witnessed her having an actual seizure though,. I would also have to figure something about bedtime being a trigger which doesnt make sense to me. ;(

[Guest hattiepumpkin]

I went through something that was somewhat similar with Hattie last spring. She developed this weird night-phobia where she was freaking out, pacing, panting, whining, trembling, etc. It would last literally all night. I posted a bunch of stuff about it in this particular forum--it's under "Desparately need advice", "Phobic once a day", "Another Hattie update", etc. You can read through everything and see if what I described sounds similar to what you're going through. I would definitely get your girl checked out by the vet first--we did a full workup on Hattie to rule out anything physical, and when everything came back normal, we knew it was mental. The end result was that Hattie is now on anti-axiety meds (Chlomipramine?) every day, and she gets Xanax for thunderstorms. I think she went crazy because we live next to a construction zone, so hopefully, when we move, we can take her off the meds. She is back to her normal self, though, and I know it's because of the medicine. Although I'm not a big fan of having her on them, she is a MUCH happier dog now than she was 6-8 months ago.

Good luck! I hope you get to the bottom of this quickly.

[GeorgeofNE]

I would not personally spend my money on thyroid tests for a dog exhibiting that sort of behavior unless she has common symptoms of thyroid problems such as coat/skin problems, weight gain or loss.

 

That's a very strange situation--have you tried letting her just sleep where she wants to sleep? Does she go into the crate on her own when the door is left open?

 

Where in the house is your bedroom? Does she panic ONLY in the bedroom? Did her behavior chance, perchance, when you turned on your furnace? Did ANYTHING happen in that room? Anything at all? Sometimes a seemingly silly thing can set off odd behavior.

 

My last dog was thrown from a moving car as a pup. What was he afraid of? Ironing boards and Hassidic Jewish men (there were a bunch of them in my old neighborhood, and the dog was terrified of them for some reason). Not cars. Go figure!

 

Just tossing out some ideas for you to consider. I have no answers other than--if it's ONLY that room, I would stop trying to force her to sleep there.

[Guest feathersprings]

I went through something that was somewhat similar with Hattie last spring. She developed this weird night-phobia where she was freaking out, pacing, panting, whining, trembling, etc. It would last literally all night. I posted a bunch of stuff about it in this particular forum--it's under "Desparately need advice", "Phobic once a day", "Another Hattie update", etc. You can read through everything and see if what I described sounds similar to what you're going through. I would definitely get your girl checked out by the vet first--we did a full workup on Hattie to rule out anything physical, and when everything came back normal, we knew it was mental. The end result was that Hattie is now on anti-axiety meds (Chlomipramine?) every day, and she gets Xanax for thunderstorms. I think she went crazy because we live next to a construction zone, so hopefully, when we move, we can take her off the meds. She is back to her normal self, though, and I know it's because of the medicine. Although I'm not a big fan of having her on them, she is a MUCH happier dog now than she was 6-8 months ago.

Good luck! I hope you get to the bottom of this quickly.

 

i will be reading your posts.. sounds very much like what you were experiencing. I am pretty sure it is mental. She just saw the vet and had blood work done for another reason and there is nothing out of whack there. Unfortunately she seems to be reacting to the loud surf of the Ocean. Thee is no way to escape it and we have tried "white noise" but she seems like she is straining to hear it! Poor thing.. she really is miserable. ( an so are we , sigh) I had suggested to my husband we talk to the vet about Meds and he is reluctant but i am going to have him read your experience and see if it changes his mind. Thank you!

[Guest feathersprings]

I would not personally spend my money on thyroid tests for a dog exhibiting that sort of behavior unless she has common symptoms of thyroid problems such as coat/skin problems, weight gain or loss.

 

That's a very strange situation--have you tried letting her just sleep where she wants to sleep? Does she go into the crate on her own when the door is left open?

 

Where in the house is your bedroom? Does she panic ONLY in the bedroom? Did her behavior chance, perchance, when you turned on your furnace? Did ANYTHING happen in that room? Anything at all? Sometimes a seemingly silly thing can set off odd behavior.

 

My last dog was thrown from a moving car as a pup. What was he afraid of? Ironing boards and Hassidic Jewish men (there were a bunch of them in my old neighborhood, and the dog was terrified of them for some reason). Not cars. Go figure!

 

Just tossing out some ideas for you to consider. I have no answers other than--if it's ONLY that room, I would stop trying to force her to sleep there.

 

I agree, I am familiar with thyroid problem and she has no other symptoms. Unfortunately the problem is not just in the bedroom. We let her out and she roams the house jumping up on windows , scratching at doors , panting and trembling, Seems to be any "roaring" sort of noise. Started with thunder and now the ocean surf.. she gets worse at night. During the day she will be sort of quiet and unresponsive, panting and will try and get out of her crate if we have to leave her. it is in the evening that things rev up ( maybe because it it quieter?)