Sundowner's Syndrome in senior pets

It's called Sundowner's Syndrome and Tom Dock, from Noah's Animal Hospitals, chimes in with how to help when our senior pets are confused, and what can be done to ease their anxiety.

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[amyfromindy]

Big thanks for covering this topic. Two of the last three nights I was up all night long feeling helpless about my 12 year old dog who was pacing, panting, knocking things over, getting stuck in places he's never ventured before and in complete distress. Tonight he is completely normal in his bed passed out. Learning all I can to help my buddy in these situations is vital not only for his quality of life but for mine as well!

[superlead]

Our senior dog has had some really bad what we thought was sundowners, but in happening to come across some comments in an article in the early morning at our wits end while our poor dog was going crazy pacing and would not sleep being seemingly extremely anxious, I came across a comment that mentioned they swear there's a link between sundowners and bloat. I thought about it and it was a night we'd cooked a roast pork and I'd been giving some to the dog too in addition to her dinner earlier on. Since that night I've been restraining snacks and she's been amazing and sleeping the whole night soundly! I came here only to get the word out. Please, before making a diagnosis make sure it's not this

[erosionhead]

My dog has this extremely bad. He paces and gets stuck in corners and under chairs especially. He’s had the worst case of separation anxiety for over 3, years. I’ve had to have him with me at all times so he wouldn’t seriously hurt himself.

[xmrgx]

i've been searching about this subject for a while now and had never found anything to ease our pain. i've heard of sundown syndrome in humans but everytime i talked about similar syndrome in dogs people told me i was crazy, even though i have seen this behaviour in my 16yo dog for a couple of years now -- it became worse after a stroke a couple months ago.

so glad someone had given time and effort to explain this to us, clueless "parents". my dog takes cbd which helps most of the days but sometimes there is simply nothing i can do to ease his anxiety and i feel so alone. not anymore, apparently.

thank you for posting!

[tallchick]

Thank you. Our 14 year old male Cockapoo has started pacing a lot during the night. I have got to get some sleep! Time to see the vet.

[juliegogola]

My 17 year old lab mix had been pacing and would get stuck in corners, but, she had been physically healthy, sadly we lost her one day when somebody hadn't closed the door right and all the dogs got out, the 2 young dogs came back, but she never had. We'd been gone for hours before we came back and my brother had been working from home in the basement that day, so hadn't been able to go catching her. We are surrounded by woods, so, finding her would be impossible if she had gone into the woods walking steadily for the 4 hours we had been gone. It had been 15F that night and 23F during that day.
I miss her and hope that she hadn't suffered. My vet said that once the body temperature goes down low enough a person or animal will just lose consciousness and peacefully die.
It is just so sad. BTW, my vet put her on a hormone called DES, and she had stopped peeing herself. She had been on it for at least 2 years, and it worked for her, so maybe somebody who's dog has been peeing it's bed will try it. She could have gone on to live maybe a couple more years had that not happened with her getting out, she had been in pretty good physical shape other than blindness and a few lumps and bumps which were just cosmetic. Every new lump and wart I'd have our vet check out.
She had even started eating better before she got out. I miss her so much.

[dogmom]

Good video, people need to know how to manage age related behavior changes on our dogs and cats. Just like humans. Redirect, distraction, offer food, stay calm don't get angry. Try better sleeping surface, foam mattress, old blanket. Some food to distract and feel full, have a light on. Even keep the tv on if they can hear it. All kinds of things to help, take to the vet to get check up.

[LydiaSings]

Oh, my gosh! This makes me angry! Prolonging a pet’s life past its life-expectancy is cruel to the pet and to the pet parent!! I knew when my cat started missing his litter box, he had reached his life expectancy and needed to be put to sleep. At 17 1/2 years old, they told me they could run a bunch of tests and do some imagining to make sure his kidneys were okay and there were no blockages. So for $2500, I let them run tests and take images. He was “fine” they said. So I took my blind and deaf cat home. One year later, when he was 18 1/2 years old, after pooping all over the house in the course of a week, I took him back to the vet to put him to sleep. But they told me they could run tests and do some imaging to see if his kidneys were okay and to make sure there were no blockages for $2500. This time, I told them, “No, ” and kindly asked the vet to put him to sleep. She started pleading with me to let her run tests. I told her, “Please don’t do this to me. It’s hard enough to be here, but it’s even harder to watch him suffer at home because he can’t see or hear me, anymore.” She was so angry at me, that she skipped sedating him before giving him the lethal injection. He was so scared! He stiffened instead of relaxing. I was just sick! If a vet ever does that to me and my pet, again, I will sue for emotional distress!

[Kelly-locz]

My 14 year old is constantly barking at the top of his lungs and whining. My first thought was pain. I've had him on tons of different medications for pain. Nothing helped. He knows where he is... he doesn't pace or get stuck in places. He just aggressively barks or whines CONSTANTLY. Is this dementia?? I'm loosing my mind. He also wants to eat everything in sight... after he eats a big bowl of dog food he barks loudly demanding more... he pees TONS of urine (almost every 1.5 hours we have to let him out to pee (except at night)... he poops 2 to 3 times per day... I don't get it. He still wants to play also... but when he plays, he barks excessively demanding that I throw the ball.. I'm lost...

[Contact_Info]

Why don't you think patients aren't going to vet 18 months before euthanasia doc? Well, you guys rup off thr owners and only care about 💰 money. Doing unnecessary tests thatbhave no cure before you give out necessary antibiotics, etc. This practice is unconscionable. And don't say you need every test to give a needed diagnosis. Human doctors do this with physical exams.$1200 pet MRI, $400 blood tests, $300 x-rays, hospitalization at $2k per day? Consider most people don't have the rich funds.

[IAMGiftbearer]

My dog is having strange episodes at around 3 or 4 AM howling as if she's in pain and then standing on her feet staring at the ground, often wagging her tail, doesn't respond to her name for awhile. Don't they give animals medications like Aricept like they give humans with this problem? It seems giving supplements alone is hit or miss.

[TheMiccoliGroup]

Why is no one talking about vision issues?

[laurievelardo]

My dogs sundowners syndrome symptoms start from 3PM and on throughout the night like clockwork .

[eternallygratefulholistic]

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