Night Time Anxiety & Terrors

[Guest LoveSeniorGreys]

I'm looking for any information from anyone who has experienced night time anxiety & or terrors in their greyhounds. Lately, our sweet boy, Rascal, has been scared most nights. He will stare, pace, tail tucked under, want to go outside and stay there. The only way to comfort him is sitting with him on the couch...but this works for only a short time. Our other two girls don't act scared and nothing has changed that we can think of. Rascal doesn't seem to have any loss of eye sight, he gets around just fine in the dark. We will be addressing this issue with our Vet soon.

 

Any comments, suggestions, simiar experiences welcomed.

[Guest zombrie]

I'd be curious what people say about this. A former foster of ours was fear aggressive at night. His littermate had anxiety at night also. 3 years later and it's still a mystery to us.

ETA during the day time neither show anxiety or fear at all. We didn't have his littermate in our house, but his adoptive family told us this.

Edited March 26, 2012 by zombrie

[Moneypenny]

Do you have nightlights? I had a senior boy that was anxious at night, he too would pace, etc. The vet suggested leaving a light on for him, as soon as we left the kitchen light on, he slept in the living room where the light would shine on him and he was fine for the rest of his life...he never slept in the bedroom with me, but was happy to sleep in the living room, the wierd thing was he would cover his head at night on his own...but only in the light shining in from the kitchen Never did figure that out.............

[Jenbo]

Myka's recently become afraid of going out at night. Fireworks (and the occasional gunshot) used to be quite frequent in my hood, thankfully much less so these days. 3 weeks ago, someone set off some fireworks and she ran back to the house. 1 week later, same thing. I'm just now getting her further and further from the door and on her usual walk through the complex. Is it possible he heard something and is now associating it with the darkness?

 

ETS: ran, as in dragged me back to the house with her, she was leashed

Edited March 26, 2012 by Jenbo

[Guest LoveSeniorGreys]

Do you have nightlights? I had a senior boy that was anxious at night, he too would pace, etc. The vet suggested leaving a light on for him, as soon as we left the kitchen light on, he slept in the living room where the light would shine on him and he was fine for the rest of his life...he never slept in the bedroom with me, but was happy to sleep in the living room, the wierd thing was he would cover his head at night on his own...but only in the light shining in from the kitchen Never did figure that out.............

Yes, we actually keep the hallway light on every night (even before this started). Rascal sometimes will sleep in the hallway, but still acts scared.

 

Myka's recently become afraid of going out at night. Fireworks (and the occasional gunshot) used to be quite frequent in my hood, thankfully much less so these days. 3 weeks ago, someone set off some fireworks and she ran back to the house. 1 week later, same thing. I'm just now getting her further and further from the door and on her usual walk through the complex. Is it possible he heard something and is now associating it with the darkness?

We haven't had any fireworks or other loud noises lately...

[greysmom]

Make sure you check his hearing, and his night vision. I wonder if he would feel better in a crate or x-pen?

 

Good luck!

 

(You might ask to have this moved to Health and Medical for some further exposure.)

[KF_in_Georgia]

If he's willing to go into a crate, you might try draping a blanket over it and down the sides so it'll feel "cave-like" for him. See if hiding makes him feel safer.

[Guest IrskasMom]

I to was suggesting a Crate , Door open and Night Lights .

[greyhead]

All physical ailments are worse at night. Our Shane behaved somewhat similarly before he was diagnosed with Babesia at age 7. TBD's can be latent for years and then suddenly manifest to a point that even we can see that something is wrong. Just thought I'd throw that out there for consideration.