The onset of Dementia
I’m not a happy camper at the moment.
I have noticed quite a few changes over the last couple of months. These changes are very minor in themselves and some we even found a little amusing.
It never occurred to me that a dog can suffer from dementia, or as they prefer to call it – Canine Cognitive Dysfunction.
The first mention of the possibility was a couple of months back when I mentioned to the vet that Penny was dropping the odd poo around the place without showing any awareness. The vet glibly said something about the onset of dementia. It was a casual remark and I assume I blanked it out.
Since then we have noticed a subtle change in behaviour. For example a few times when waiting to be let through a door she’ll wait at the hinge side. That’s trivial and it amused me at the time but it is apparently one of the symptoms. She can stand or lie and stare into the garden for ages. That’s been a habit for quite a while now. Sometimes [and this is a new one] she’ll just stand in the middle of the room for no apparent reason, looking lost.
What I thought was deafness may not be the problem. I joked with people saying she was either deaf or was choosing not to hear, but it seems that she may just not understand what’s being said. I have noticed for example that saying her name has zero effect [deaf?] but she’ll react to the faint click of a cigarette lighter [not deaf].
There is a list of symptoms almost as long as the side effects of the mRNA vaccine and she ticks about half of them. She’s not suddenly aggressive nor has she lost her appetite which is good. In fact she spends the vast majority of the day just sleeping with occasional snacks from her food dishes.
It’s not a nice thought but she seems to be quite happy if a little confused at times.
Old age is a bugger!
“I mentioned to the vet that Penny was dropping the odd poo around the place without showing any awareness”
Are you SURE it’s Penny doing that? I mean, you’re not in the first flush of youth yourself!
Of course I’m sure. I can always spot the difference as mine are MUCH bigger.
Like increased intoxication, dementia, under its many names, leaves the sufferer unaware of the affliction. Occasionally the realisation that something should not have been said, or done, is realised, but the feeling wears off.
Maybe that is a blessing.
I have always reassured the Missus that if you think you have dementia then you don’t. A sort of reverse Catch-22. As for Penny, she’s very happy with life and that’s all that concerns me.
One of my cats had dementia, it started when she stopped using the litter tray and just went wherever she was, she mostly slept and ate a little. I didn’t mind the cleaning up but the day came when she didn’t know where she was and just stared at her food as if she didn’t know what to do with it. I knew then it was time, I think she might have had a stroke. It was heartbreaking but she was 21.
Thankfully I never experienced it in any of my previous pets. I will worry though if she forgets what her food is. She loves her food and is a grazer. I fill her dish and she’ll snack off it. She also brings a full mouth of dry food to her couch before spitting it out and eating it all bit by bit.
Bless, think on, GD, they’ve had a good home, where their loved and cherished.
Apart from one, here,
they were rescue babies
And the one, that wasn’t a rescue, brilliant lad, cancer.
Cried for everyone of my little friends…
So know how your feeling GD
I don’t ever remember shedding a tear at a human funeral, but when a pet goes [especially a dog] well, that’s a different matter.
Penny is a rescue and obviously had a hard start in life. She is the ultimate happy camper now and that’s all that matters. I was devastated at our last dog’s passing so I treat every day as if it’s Penny’s last.