Bizarre Behaivor With Larry! Any Help Is Appreciated

[RaineysMom]

this is long, so I apologize. We have so much going on with Nube right now, I can't tell you how much we do not need this we cannot for the life of us figure what is the matter. I didn't know whether to put this here or under Training/Behaivor, but putting it here

 

For some reason, Tuesday he was in HIGH fly killing mode – going after them all afternoon at our sliding glass door (the nut!). At about 7:25pm, we took the boys to the park next door (Bruce drove Nube, Lare and I walked) – it was sprinkling. Nube did a small walk and went back home but it started pouring on me and Larry. By the time we got home, we were both wet (and stinky!) . We toweled off (Larry still acting fine) and went into the living/dining room area. Nube was on his regular Snuggleball, Bruce and I on our chairs, and Larry was still in fly mode and kept going over to the window in the dining room and trying to get the fly through the blinds. I didn’t want him to get hung up on the blinds so I said “OT” (another word for “no”) and he eventually stopped. He was still acting perfectly normal…in fact, he was bouncing around, picking up the Snuggleball (like it was a stuffie), in a great mood. He eventually laid down on the Slumberball (SB). There were several flies still flying around by us, driving him (and us!) nuts so when one landed on the table lamp next to me, I took a folder newspaper and smacked it (and not very hard, either, since I was hitting a glass lamp shade!). It fell on the table and I smacked it again. I don’t know if Larry jumped or reacted when I did that, I was paying attention to the fly (Larry was lying maybe 10 feet away?) but I don't think he did. I tossed it on the floor and called Larry over to dispose of it (gross, I know but he loves them). He went and lay back down. Not long after (maybe 5-10 minutes) another fly did the same thing and I smacked this one and had Larry come and get it -- he was still acting normal, just snoozing on the SB. It was shortly after that one that he started “weirding” out – started panting, was pacing, would NOT lay down on the SB (or even go near it), wanted to get out of the dining room, just kept standing at the gate into the kitchen. Bruce let him outside, he peed then came back in but didn’t want to go into the the living room with us…we got him in but he was still panting heavily and pacing. Bruce kicked him out again, and had a hard time getting him in. When he came in, he ran upstairs and into our bedroom and wouldn’t come out. We eventually got him out (I was worried he might be bloating or something, otherwise I would have just left him be – I wanted him to be with us). I took him around the block again hoping it would "reset" his brain or something too. Came back in and he ran up the stairs again. Bruce finally leashed him up and brought him in the living room. Eventually, he lay down on the SB and finally stopped panting and fell asleep. The bizarre behavior lasted for at least an hour, maybe longer.

 

He was fine yesterday morning, bouncing around for breakfast, and came in fine when Bruce left for work and slept on the SB until around 10:30am when he got up to pee. We all stayed in the kitchen for a while then (I was puttering around) and then he (and Nube) came back in here around noon for the 1/2 hour until lunch (he came in fine, perfectly willingly like normal). Right after lunch he ran up the stairs and lay down on the landing, and would NOT budge until around 3:30pm when I got him up to pee (and he never lays up there). After that, we were mostly in the kitchen but he came in the living room around 5:30pm until B got home around 6:15pm (was fine). After dinner again, same thing. We had to bring him in here by the collar and all he did was start panting really bad again, pacing, wouldn't lay down (we brought him in because we'd hoped he relax and go back to normal if he realized there's nothing scary in there!). I let him out and he lay panting on the bed in the kitchen (we'd gated off the stairs by this point). Went on his walkie fine at 7:30pm, but when we got back, same crap -- panting, pacing in the living room -- he wouldn’t even eat his CHICKEN FOOT. Even after I let him in the kitchen, he still would not eat it! Larry is a TOTAL food hound, he has NEVER EVER passed up a treat. He wouldn't take any other kind of treat either. It is just totally bizarre -- he was acting so stressed -- not sure if he was scared or what (wasn't shaking). This morning, back to normal, he's in the LR now (came in fine after we went pee just a bit ago), sleeping soundly on the SB. I do NOT know what is going on! At first I thought it was from me smacking the flies, but why is he like this only after dinner??? And it's not even dark yet (was darker this morning from a storm!), so I don't think the combo of it being dark and being in here is it.

 

if anyone has any ideas or advice, we'd sure appreciate it. We cannot figure out what his little brain is doing! Maybe he got a "bad" fly? is that even possible?? I thought maybe he got bit by a spider even, but why would he only be like this at night then? I really, really need him to get back to "normal".

 

thanks in advance...

Edited August 24, 2012 by RaineysMom

[KF_in_Georgia]

I have no idea why this is going on, but I have one suggestion: try giving him something sweet--a bit of ice cream, or a little honey drizzled on a dog biscuit. I wonder if his blood sugar is dropping and he just feels "off".

[carronstar]

No clue at all aside from wondering if there has been spraying near you and you are right about his getting a "bad fly". Can your vet do a phone consult with you?

[RaineysMom]

I have no idea why this is going on, but I have one suggestion: try giving him something sweet--a bit of ice cream, or a little honey drizzled on a dog biscuit. I wonder if his blood sugar is dropping and he just feels "off".

 

it's happening right after eating (lunch and dinner) so I would think his sugar is ok at that point? I could try some honey tonite.

 

No clue at all aside from wondering if there has been spraying near you and you are right about his getting a "bad fly". Can your vet do a phone consult with you?

 

I don't think they've sprayed, with the drought nothing is growing and I haven't heard the mosquito truck all summer long.

 

the ONLY thing different (and I'm not even sure if I started giving it on Tuesday, he may have gotten some prior) is I made a crock pot of chicken legs (cooked for 3 days, bones turn to mush) and he got some with lunch and dinner, which is when the behaivor happens after -- so far after breakfast he's 100% normal, and he just gets kibble, nothing else, for breakfast. all it consists of is chicken legs (skin and bone) and some filtered water. That is it. I pulled it out of his lunch (that he just ate at 12:30pm) and he's (knock on wood) acting fine, he's on the SB now, sleeping.

 

this is going to sound crazy but my friend Susan (that has Nube's sister Noelle) has a friend that is "intuitive" and this is what she said:

 

I consulted with my intuitive pal Dave. You probably are going to shake your head at the answer or won't like it. The veils have been progressively getting thinner between dimensions.

Noelle was/is perceiving flies in another dimension who occasionally drive her crazy. She gets hyper excited then and actually has to run in the bedroom where it is darker and calmer to relax. She was sitting next to me 2 weeks ago and I could "sense" one of those damn inter-dimensional flies. It was nasty so I believe Dave now. Larry may be sensitive like Noelle as far as intuitive stuff goes.

 

she says Noelle acts just like Larry when she gets like that so who knows? Maybe I need to figure out how to thicken the veils... It's kinda crazy but there are plenty of weird things we don't understand....

[TheFullHouse]

Was it after dinner you were smacking flies? You do know they can tell time don't you? Maybe he thinks you have a new time for fly killing and it scares him. I know my dogs freak out when I pick up the fly swatter. They all run for different places in the house until I put it away.

[RaineysMom]

Was it after dinner you were smacking flies? You do know they can tell time don't you? Maybe he thinks you have a new time for fly killing and it scares him. I know my dogs freak out when I pick up the fly swatter. They all run for different places in the house until I put it away.

 

of course they can tell time! they know exactly when Bruce is supposed to be home and start getting excited.

 

that's possible, but he acted weird after lunch too, yesterday (hid up on the landing for 3 hours) but not as bad as he did after dinner again....argh.

[RaineysMom]

well, now he's back to acting weird. Not the panting, but he doesn't want to be in the living room now, he wants to go up on the landing or in the bedroom He's laying by himself on a bed in the kitchen.

 

I know this doesn't sound weird to you guys, but believe me, he (both actually) have always been in here 100% of the time with me, at least he was until Tuesday. The other weird thing I forgot to mention is I pulled out the stuffies yesterday morning (which he LOVES LOVES LOVES to play with) and he wasn't interested, and that's another first

[JohnF]

How worrying for you. But i can tell you our Peggy gets something I call 'Hedgehog Fever' as soon as it starts to get dark. If she has found one and gets to play with it the results can last anything up to a couple of weeks. Her teeth will chatter... she just HAS to go out there and check there isn't one. It must be like an addiction. Holes get dug in the back yard too by way of displacement activity. So powerful doggy prey drive is most likely behind it.

 

Peggy, rapt, watches me catch spiders on the floor or on the wall, but doesn't go for them herself (UK native spiders don't have dangerous bites for larger animals). Flies do annoy her and she snaps at them but isn't worried if I swat them as long as they are not too near her.

 

It can't be calcium 'posioning' from all those bones as it maken them drowsy rather than hyper. Can't really be from a fly that got sprayed either - too little chemical on it.

[TheFullHouse]

Sometimes I think they do stuff like this to keep us on our toes when they think things get boring. Darn smart dogs!

[Wonder]

Maybe he knows something is up with Nube?

[Guest patterpaws]

Aw I hope Larry gets back to his usual self soon! That does sound like odd behavior. Who knows, maybe its the weather, or interdimensional flies? I kind of laugh, but who knows! I certainly don't understand how this world works!

 

I never believed in psychics until a few years ago, when I had a dog that would "talk" to me on occassion. I was having a hell of a time getting her to eat, and we were feeding her in the bedroom away from the other animals. She looked up at me, straight into my eyes, and "told" me that her previous family locked her in a back room by herself, and she felt too stressed out to eat in our bedroom because it reminded her of that time. I brought her food into the front room and she ate the whole bowl right away. Thats the only animal thats ever "communicated" to me but it opened my mind to the possibility that maybe some of these "psychics" are right even tho they can sound quite nuts, hehehe..

 

Anyway, hoping he pulls out of his strange funk and is back to normal. I second the guess that maybe he feels like something is up with Nube, too.

[RaineysMom]

 

It can't be calcium 'posioning' from all those bones as it maken them drowsy rather than hyper.

 

how much calcium would be needed for that to happen?? I ask because he's currently getting 2/3 kibble (1 cup each meal) at lunch and dinner (only kibble at breakfast) and 1/3 of my homemade food -- and that has egg shells in it (only 10 eggshells for a batch of 15 quart size containers, so not many) and I was worried he might not get enough, he gets a 1/2 tsp (well, not even quite that much) with breakfast and then with dinner. The supplement says to give 1 tsp per pound of meat fed, and he's probably getting maybe 1/2 pound each meal? And then got the chicken with bones the last 2 days too! He was only getting like a 1/4 cup of the chicken with lunch and dinner, so not a lot of that either? Oh man I hope I'm not hurting him!

 

Maybe he knows something is up with Nube?

 

maybe, but Nube's been had the osteo (showing, any way) since 6/24 so I don't know why after nearly 2 months he would start?

[Wonder]

How recent did you start the chemo?

[RaineysMom]

How recent did you start the chemo?

 

he started on Saturday, then next one on Monday then another yesterday.

[Wonder]

How recent did you start the chemo?

 

he started on Saturday, then next one on Monday then another yesterday.

Maybe that's it???

[RaineysMom]

How recent did you start the chemo?

 

he started on Saturday, then next one on Monday then another yesterday.

Maybe that's it???

 

I don't know I would have thought it would have started on Saturday or at least Sunday then? and I hope it's not, because there's nothing I can do to change it other than stop Nube's treatment, and I don't want to do that

[RaineysMom]

he's getting worse this afternoon now he's definitely "off" and when I went in the kitchen just a bit ago, he was laying on the rug in the foyer just looking at the front door. I got him up and he went out and peed, then when he came in, he was standing at the basement stairs looking down, so I thought maybe he wanted to play stuffies. We went down, I got them out of the drawer, and he wouldn't even so much as look at them he just went to the door that leads to the garage and stared at it. I had to get the leash to get him away from it and back upstairs! He's panting now, too -- not quite as bad as he has in the evening, but this is unsual for him. He was licking his lips too, which I know can be from nausea, so I gave him 20mg of Nube's Pepcid in the hopes that will help. I don't know what else to do I got him into the dining room/living room with the leash but he's just sitting at the far end of the dining room, panting. I know this doesn't sound bad to you guys, but this is SO out of character for him!

 

if I took him to the vet, I don't even know what to tell them!

 

why is he getting like this ONLY after he eats lunch and dinner??? If it was something gastro related, it should be happening after breakfast, too! I'm going to only give him kibble from now on, to see if that helps he's been eating the homemade since I started doing it over a month ago, nothing is new. I hope this isn't pancreatitis but he isn't acting like Rainey did

 

what is wrong with my boy??

Edited August 16, 2012 by RaineysMom

[Guest MnMDogs]

Was it after dinner you were smacking flies? You do know they can tell time don't you? Maybe he thinks you have a new time for fly killing and it scares him. I know my dogs freak out when I pick up the fly swatter. They all run for different places in the house until I put it away.

 

So do ours! Why do they do that??? I also wonder if this is part of the reason for his odd behavior

 

Awww, I just read your latest post - I wish I actually had advice. I just hope he starts to feel better soon.

[RaineysMom]

Was it after dinner you were smacking flies? You do know they can tell time don't you? Maybe he thinks you have a new time for fly killing and it scares him. I know my dogs freak out when I pick up the fly swatter. They all run for different places in the house until I put it away.

 

So do ours! Why do they do that??? I also wonder if this is part of the reason for his odd behavior

 

but now he's bad even right after lunch, too. He's only 100% himself during the night and until lunch at 12:30pm It's like after he eats something is wrong.

 

ETA: took him and Nube for a very short walk, when we got back he wouldn't even take a treat. Again, this is 100% NOT like Larry.

 

I called and we have a 7pm appt tomorrow night at the vet, I'm going to have him check for pancreatitis and maybe a gastro x-ray. I'm starting to wonder if it's from eating, but why is he ok after breakfast then? the only difference is he only gets like .75 cup of kibble (only) and lunch/dinner he gets 1 cup plus the homemade and either cottage cheese or yogurt, so those 2 are bigger meals.

 

I took the gate down and let him up on the landing I want to be able to monitor him but he's panting so badly I'm hoping hiding might make him feel better.

 

I am beside myself now something is really wrong.

Edited August 16, 2012 by RaineysMom

[Remolacha]

I wish I had an answer for you Something is clearly bothering him, even if he is the only one who can see it. I talked to an animal communicator about Fletcher's panting. She said she's had a lot of animals lately upset by solar flares. Apparently the sun is very active right now. I don't really know if I believe or not, and anyway, there isn't anything I can do about solar flares!

 

Maybe try giving him some melatonin when he starts getting upset?

[RaineysMom]

he's so bad now he's visibly shaking. Called the vet back and he's going in tonite instead, waiting for Bruce to get home.

 

it's like he's trying to hide or escape-- he's gotten his front legs 2 steps down (the baby gate is on the next step) the downstairs steps trying to go down there. I'm afraid he'll fall into the gate. I don't know what in the hell is going on with him. He has never done any of these things before. Something is clearly wrong, I just don't know if it's physical or mental. And he keeps licking his lips, which I know can mean nausea but also stress.

 

I wish I could turn back time and not swat those flies...I don't know if that's what this is about and it's some weird overwhelming fear but if I hadn't, at least I'd know it wasn't from a possible scary thing.

 

thanks for listening to me ramble on, I know you guys think I'm nuts but something is most definitely NOT right.

[maryz]

I hope you get some answers at the vet and that it's an easily fixed problem.

[Guest K9_Lady]

I would also mention the new diet he has been on. Thinking all good thoughts for Larry.

[DesiRayMom]

You KNOW Larry, and you KNOW something is wrong. I hope your vet helps you get to the bottom of it. It must be horribly worrisome.

 

Just a thought, did the doctors say anything to you about keeping Larry away from Nube's pee spot? When we give chemo drugs at the clinic where I work, they insist

that the dog be walked far away from normal pathways because the chemo is excreted through the urine. Grasping at straws here.

[RaineysMom]

I would also mention the new diet he has been on. Thinking all good thoughts for Larry.

 

he's been eating 1/3 homemade for several weeks, so I would wonder why something would pop up now? I gave Bruce a list (timeline) and all that info on it -- I had to stay with Nube

 

You KNOW Larry, and you KNOW something is wrong. I hope your vet helps you get to the bottom of it. It must be horribly worrisome.

 

Just a thought, did the doctors say anything to you about keeping Larry away from Nube's pee spot? When we give chemo drugs at the clinic where I work, they insist

that the dog be walked far away from normal pathways because the chemo is excreted through the urine. Grasping at straws here.

 

well, they both are going in the yard but Nube 99% of the time goes on one side (in a small area) and Larry on the opposite side -- so I don't think he's coming in contact with it (and we pick up the poops right after). Plus the vet said unless he ingested the urine, and even then -- it's such a low dose (25mg Cytoxan every other day) -- that she was not worried. He also always has his muzzle, with a poop cup, on every single time he goes out. Plus, if it was going to incur such behavior, wouldn't Nube be acting the same (or worse) since he's actually ingesting the meds? I don't understand why if it's that bad for others, why would you give it to the cancer dog? This is a separate rant/question but just saying.

 

thanks for everyone's concern, he is so far beyond normal acting....I know I am an alarmist (yes, I know that) but I also know when something is very wrong and this is. My fear is they will not be able to figure it out or not believe us (if he acts ok there).

 

I canNOT believe this is just from me swatting a freaking fly???? that cannot be possible. Not THIS much stress/issues.