Personality Change

[Guest saltwaterron]

we adopted riley 7 years ago..this year she turned 10 years old..4 years ago she was diagnosed heart problems but she is still here..at the beginning of summer i began noticing little changes..no longer did she want to be in the heat..preferred shorter walk and sleeps more than she ever did...90% of the time she wants to be indoors..was a time she wanted to be outside all the time from dawn to dark even in summer....no more..should i be concerned something is going on and this is just because of her age? any thoughts would be appreciated...have noticed her breathing seems to be more pronounced than ever

Edited September 11, 2015 by saltwaterron

[Guest Scouts_mom]

I would guess that something is wrong, but it's something subtle. If she were my dog, I would take her to my vet for a senior dog workup. This is a more detailed blood, urine etc. test then their regular wellness exams and can catch a lot of problems that may appear in old age.

[juliemac]

Please get the senior wellness check (my vet requests that it be done every 6 months on big dogs over the age of 8, and it can be timed to coordinate with other activities like heartworm checks, etc).

 

Please also know that this could be just normal aging ... my 12yo girlie started sleeping LOTS more sometime after her 9th birthday, although she never was interested in staying outside all day long (she does enjoy her sunbathing though). So it could be normal aging, but you really should get a senior baseline (and compare to earlier testing for tests that are comparable, obviously).

 

If she's not on various supplements, you may find glucosamine, MSM, and Omega 3s quite helpful ...

 

good luck, and please keep us informed of her results (there are wonderful people on this forum who can help interpret data points if you need that)