a friend has a 15-year-old yorkie who has gone blind and deaf. the poor little dog is now running in circles. he does this outdoors - not sure if he does it in the house. their position is he is eating (which I agree is an important thing) and doesn't seem to be in pain. but he is obviously confused and his quality of life is deteriorating. I guess it's nice they want him to live out his life naturally but with him in this conditon, letting him outside isn't safe. anyone had experience with this?
dog running in circles
- Thread starter sdkitty
- Start date
Doesn’t seem to be in pain? At 15 he probably has pain and dogs show it in strange ways. He probably also has cognitive decline, combined with being blind and deaf he could be experiencing fear and confusion. They should absolutely call their vet regarding this new, unusual and concerning behavior.
I think she had him at the vet not long ago but maybe it was before the circling.....I talked to her yesterday about his quality of life; she and her husband both say he's not in pain so....
You can't tell other people what to do but when I see my animal's quality of life declining and if the vet thinks it's time, I will do what is necessary
It's hard and I always feel terrible
Agreed, it’s really hard …however; it’s unlikely that a 15 year old dog doesn’t have some level of arthritic pain. I have a 6-7 year old rescue with a multitude of ortho problems that is so stoic you would never know. It is hard but of course a good Vet or specialist is the best resource.
I have seen a number of small senior dogs do this especially outdoors. It seems to be a symptom of anxiety and the poor things who run around in circles are almost always 13+ years old, blind and deaf. I would certainly consider it time to let my dog go if that happened. I know it’s very hard for you to watch. Some people keep their pets around longer than they should for themselves, not for the dogs. I do understand that it’s incredibly difficult to let your dog go though.
My 15 year-old dog paces in circles when it's almost time for his pain pill and I think it's because his pill is wearing off and the returning pain makes him anxious. I was only giving him the pain pills when I could see him acting stiff but his quality of life definitely improved once I started giving them to him regularly, so maybe your friend should ask her vet for a low dose pain pill or a recommendation for treatment/course of action.
For me, his decline was over many months and I just kept rationalizing that it was normal aging but I saw a marked improvement in his activity level and demeanor once his pain/discomfort was addressed on a regular basis. My little guy also has poor eyesight and is hard of hearing and, as @bisousx says, I think it's frightening and disorienting for them and the pain pill has a bit of a calming effect as well as pain relief. I'd much rather give him the pill twice daily, even if he doesn't really need it, than have him suffer without it because I misinterpret how he's feeling.
He was barking happily this morning when I made pancakes, he eats with great gusto and he still runs around and plays with us and his furry brother. I give a lot of the credit to his medical treatment. I know he doesn't have a lot of time left but lessening his pain means his last few weeks or months will be at a high quality of life and that's everything I can hope for.
sounds like your dog is doing a lot better than my friend's. Good for you; I know you love your doggies.
The cat we had before the two we have now got to age 15. He had tumours in his ears which were basically inoperable at his age. wouldn't put him through that and our vet said not to - that he would likely die anyway. He lived that way for a couple of years - more annoying than painful and we got lots of blood splatter on our walls and cabinets.
after that he eventually became bloated- could no longer jump from the floor onto my lap. I took him in and vet said he had organ failure and it was time. I took him home and brought him back a day or so later. I probably would have waited but the vet was going to be off for a holiday weekend and I was afraid something could happen over the weekend. He was such a sweet soul.
I'm sorry about your poor sweet kitty; it's terrible to lose them and their time with us seems so brief. I hope your new duo is giving you lots of love and joy. My last kitty lived until he was 18 and he was absolutely perfect in every way. I still miss him so much.
We had a very, very close call and almost lost our dog about 7-8 weeks ago. He completely refused to eat and he couldn't keep the antibiotic down on an empty stomach. He lost about 20% of his body weight within a week or so. I made all of his favorite foods until I found something that he would eat and could keep down so we were really lucky. We had begun to talk about letting him go when he finally turned the corner and started eating again.
Dealing with the blood spatter sounds awful but I'm pretty squeamish. Our little guy keeps getting tooth infections and the vet says he won't survive dental surgery because of his failing kidneys. We have to endure copious amounts of mucous that he sneezes out due to a previous dental surgery that went awry. He shakes his head and flings snot all over furniture, walls, floors, us, etc. so I've had to get over my squeamishness somewhat. I can handle it if it means giving him a few more happy weeks with our family but I know our time together is growing short. I dread even thinking about it.
I hope your friend finds a solution for her dog. Let us know how it's going.
aww...you're doing everything you can for your little doggie.
Yes, shaking the head and getting blood or mucous on the walls, cabinets is gross I guess but in our case we (esp DH) were bothered by the damage it was doing. our house had been remodeled with new paint not long before. then the worst thing was when the cat suddenly urinated outside the litter box. one day we were packing for a trip. there was a suitcase on the bed. he just stood on the bed and peed. then he repeated the behavior right after. I was literally in tears. we tried feliway and eventually the vet prescribed some sort of kitty valium and he stopped doing it. but we were never totally comfortable that he wouldn't do it again. I don't think he was acting out on purpose. and he didn't have a bladder infection. anyway the last couple of years of his life weren't great. but he was one of the sweetest, most docile cats I've had (showed up at our door as a one-year-old). the ones we have now we love but they are not docile and not really affectionate. we accept them for who they are.
we saw these people yesterday...every time we see them we hear how poorly the poor little dog is doing. If it were mine I think I'd euthanize him. but he's not mine and I don't tell them what I think they should do.
My friend's pug did this as well. It really did signal that he was near the end of life. She didn't want to euthanize him either. Eventually he developed other issues and she finally did put him down. I know you don't want to criticize your friends. The only thing I can tell you is that he will probably cross that rainbow bridge soon.
it's their decision but sometimes it's a kindness to let them go....funny - she had a two year old cat she put down. seems they value dogs more than cats