Canine Cognitive Disorder

[Guest DorasMom]

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the drugs used to treat canine discognitive disorder?

My heart is breaking today. My 12 year old girl Dora has been really off all week and after consulting with my vet she thinks it's this disorder. Dora is no longer responding to her name, gets "lost" when she goes out to pee, gets stuck in corners and under furniture. It just took me 10 minutes to get her out of the tub (she wasn't having a bath, just "wandered" in there). She appeared to not know me and was obviously scared.

I don't know what to do. She doesn't seem to be in any physical pain but I'm fighting with the thought that it wouldn't be fair to prolong things if she's afraid all the time.

Edited April 30, 2011 by DorasMom

[greyhead]

I don't have that experience. But I do have experience with a cognitively confused dog, due to intestinal malabsorption. He has to have B-12 shots for life, which are very easy to give and go just under the skin. The cognitive confusion disappeared within a day! While I'm not suggesting that it will be that simple for your dog, it wouldn't hurt to try this while you're considering whether to give stronger meds and just see if it improves at all. If so, a smaller dosage of medicine may be required! If you consider that B-12 is key to proper functioning of the entire nervous system, including the brain, supplementing it is not a totally lame idea.

 

It may also be that in your case supplementing all the B's in B-complex would be best. And you could perhaps do it orally, though that may be harder on the dog's digestive system and not as efficiently absorbed. (People rave about their fast and huge result when they take the shots as opposed to the pills.) Knowing what it's like to see your precious dog lost and confused like that, I wish you all the best in getting this sorted quickly! (In our case, there was also trouble getting up and managing movement, which is scary too!)

Hope someone comes along quickly, also, who can answer your medicine question.

Edited April 30, 2011 by greyhead

[seeh2o]

I'm sorry. This happened to my beloved Sheila (she lived to the ripe old age of 15) and is happening to my s/o's elderly Boston Terrier. You might want to ask your vet about Anipryl. I believe it is specifically for this condition.

[Guest DorasMom]

Anipryl was the name I was trying to remember. Has anyone used this drug?

[seeh2o]

I believe Dee, Energy11, was going to use it for her senior girl, Goldie. I don't know if she started it, though. You may want to PM her.

 

Has your girl had a full thyroid panel? You might want to have one of those before you put her on Anipryl. Part of Goldie's problem was that she had an undiagnosed low thyroid. Once Dee started thyroid supplementation (with brand name Soloxine), some of her cognitive issues went away.

Edited April 30, 2011 by seeh2o

[dex95lucy]

My heart goes out to you. My 16 year old dachshund has similar symptoms. Vet started him on a supplement which contains the B vitamins- ProNeurozone. He is doing so much better. Kept getting lost outside, confused inside, peeing in the house, went out to pee and forgot what he was out there for, barking for no reason, sudden attacking other dogs. Vet said that some of the other meds can cause some liver problems so she prefers to start with the supplement.

 

Dexter is not perfect but he is so much better. Took about three weeks before I saw improvement, but from then on it was like night to day. He now enjoys being outside, though I must watch him when it is dark as that is still hard for him to find his way around. In his case his eyesight and hearing are poor so they contribute to the problem. Otherwise he is doing terrific.

 

Keep us posted and I hope you can find some help for your baby.

 

sue

[Guest DorasMom]

I believe Dee, Energy11, was going to use it for her senior girl, Goldie. I don't know if she started it, though. You may want to PM her.

 

Has your girl had a full thyroid panel? You might want to have one of those before you put her on Anipryl. Part of Goldie's problem was that she had an undiagnosed low thyroid. Once Dee started thyroid supplementation (with brand name Soloxine), some of her cognitive issues went away.

 

 

She has thyroid issues but is on meds for that and her levels are fine, I have them checked every six months and once a year we do the full panel to make sure all numbers are okay.

[Batmom]

Poor puplet, and poor worried mom.

 

If it's been more than @ a month since her thyroid numbers were checked, it might be worth doing that again just to make sure she's maintaining the proper levels. Vet probably checked her vision and hearing as well?

 

I don't have personal experience with Anipryl but it might be worth a try.

 

Do you feel she's frightened all the time, or just in moments such as wandering into the bathtub? If just those sorts of moments, it might be worth getting a lightweight ex-pen and keeping her near you when you're home. Her bed, maybe a stuffed Kong or another "easy" treat toy that she can lick .....

 

Sending hugs.

[DesiRayMom]

I work at a vet clinic, and we have several patients taking Anipryl for cognitive disfunction; also Senelife, which is a

supplement (I can't remember what's in it right now).

 

Anipryl is expensive enough, that the clients wouldn't buy it if it wasn't helping.

 

Best Wishes to Dora, hope you find something to help.

[KF_in_Georgia]

My 7-year-old, Jacey, had almost the exact same symptoms--right down to standing in the tub for no reason, failing to figure out what to do with a dish full of kibble, and an inability to respond to--or even recognize--her name. (And she'd stand in the tub with her tail tucked and look miserable.) The vet wondered if it could be absence seizures (although she's old for epilepsy); we both felt she was probably too young for canine cognitive disorder. We wondered if it might be a symptom of a tick-borne ailment, so we put her on a course of doxycycline. (We didn't test for a TBD: the vet said if the test came back positive, we'd treat with doxycycline; if it came back borderline or negative, we'd treat anyway, just to be sure.)

 

This was nothing more than a shot in the dark--and I don't know whether it actually solved the problem or if the problem cleared up on its own, but she's no longer experiencing the symptoms that had me calling her Spacey Jacey.

[dante2zoe]

My 14 year old whippet has it, but not to an excessive degree - yet. Anipryl is really expensive. I have him on Cholodin, a dietary supplement that was recommended to be taken in conjunction with the Anipryl. It hasn't made him 100%, but he does seem better on it. He also seemed to have the most problems at dusk (sundowning) and I was able to help that, too, but having lights on timers to go on before dusk so the house never gets completely dark. I also try to keep his environment structured. I don't do things at the same time, but try to do them in the same order. I think that has also helped him to have security in his day-to-day activities.

[dex95lucy]

Cindy, I work with Alzheimers patients and I also told the vet that Dexter had sundowners. Definitely worse in the evening. Fussy, barking, restless, wandering, confused, nothing settled him. Forgot how to pee when outside. It got to the point that I would tell his son, my other dachsie, to take daddy out to pee. Honest to goodness, Howie would walk slowly (unusual for him) and wait for Dexter to follow him. Howie would pee, Dexter would sniff and pee. All was well, Howie would come in with Dexter following. Funny, but very sad to see my little heart dog like this. But as I said above, the ProNeurozone is doing wonders for him. The bottle contains 60 tablets for small dogs and he gets one a day, $30 or $35 a bottle, well worth it to help my little guy. I know at 16 he may not have much time left and anything can happen suddenly, but at least at this point his quality of life is much better.

 

sue

[krissn333]

I have started to wonder about this with Carrie, who will be 12 on the 8th. She snoozes in the living room in the evenings, but gets restless when we go to bed. She will lay down and then get up and wander to the living room and just stand there staring off into space. It's just been over the past few days that she's done this. She's just fine otherwise but these little things have started to make me wonder if something else is going on. The first time it happened, she seemed a little bit scared until I turned the hall light on and hugged her for a few minutes. Then I coaxed her back to the bedroom and she went to bed

 

I just brought her home on April 6th, but I have known her for years while she was in her previous home. I know I am still a slightly unfamiliar person though, and she's in a house that is different from the one she lived in for 9 years, so that might be part of her confusion between waking up from sleeping in the living room and then going to bed.