About five weeks ago their 11-year-old Jack Russell Lily stopped sleeping in the night.
The couple are exhausted.
They had tests done, two blood tests and a scan (they found lesions on her liver and enlarged adrenal glands). However, the vet believes it’s not a medical issue but a cognitive one.
Lily dozes in the day but doesn’t sleep during the night.
The vet prescribed medications (I won’t list here) but they have made little difference.
Nothing in her life seems to have changed five weeks ago, however she herself has changed. To quote, “She’s not the Lilly she was”
Possible cognitive decline contributing to her not sleeping
I suspect from personal experience that there is some old age decline going on. I pass on tips I have learnt from personal experience.
We however need to cover the whole behaviour angle of possibilities. Also the veterinary angle of probably pain and doggy dementia.
My own Cocker Spaniel, Pickle, began behaviour in a similar manner in the night at fourteen years old. We lost him a few months ago. I found various ways of making it bearable for him and for me. Just as with Lily, his nights were punctuated with charging about, panting, frantically drinking and digging.
I developed a few tricks some of which we can apply to Lily. I won’t list them here. They they could be the wrong things to apply to another dog without the benefit of my experience.
Is pain stopping her sleeping?
On top of that we will explore the pain angle. Lily has already had certain meds which, apparently, have made little positive difference. We will go down the pain elimination testing route. I feel convinced that all the panting and agitation has a large pain element to it.
The behaviour angle.
Lily has built up certain habits now. She generates a lot of action and attention. This may well be reinforcing.
The consequences she has been receiving have to change and we worked on just how.
Her life has little happening. Even though she is now getting on a bit in years, it doesn’t mean she has no need for enrichment and fulfilment. We will give it a go – with calming activities only.
She has just a couple of short walks a week. They will walk her gently every day, allow her to sniff and mooch. They will find ways to get her to put some effort into working for her food – like a Kong, snuffle mat or sprinkling it.
Considering her peace of mind, we looked through the day at things that stir her up unnecessarily. They will try to replace these with calming, enriching activities. We looked also at diet.
It may not mean any major change – just some change in emphasis along with a break in the pattern of behaviour.
Here is a message the following day and I hope an indication of times to come: “Thank you, Theo, for your help. Your advice has helped us to share the bed for the first time in five weeks! It’s a process, but we no longer feel hopeless. Thank you.
About three weeks later: The best £79 we ever spent. Our Lily hadn’t slept for almost 5 weeks!! The last resort suggested by our vet to be a behavioural vet, and at £330 for a consultation, this was unachievable!
I searched Facebook to see if there was anything out there to help us before we decided to have her pts! After an amazing consultation with Theo, she’s now sleeping, guys!
She now takes up one third of our king-size bed but that’s ok with us! Thanks to theo, we have our baby back.
