“Does my dog have dementia?”
Hello. Today I'd like to talk about senior-dog owners' worries about dementia and the misconceptions around it.
I'll base this on the case of an actual 15-year-old patient who visited with their owner.
One owner came to me and said, sorrowfully:
“Doctor, I think my dog has dementia… Lately it's become so stubborn, and when I leave the house it makes a complete mess and breaks things. It never did that when it was young.”
The patient was 15 years old — an age at which dementia (canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome) would not be surprising.
But dementia does not refer to personality changes that come with age. As a degenerative disease of the nervous system, I asked questions about cognitive dysfunction:
- Are day and night reversed, so the dog sleeps poorly at night?
- Does the dog stare blankly at a wall with no stimulus, or stand without direction?
- Does the dog fail to recognize its owner or familiar people?
The owner answered “no” to all three. In that case, we cannot conclude it is dementia.
A Senior Dog's Behavioral Change May Be an ‘Expression of Emotion,’ Not Dementia
Continuing the conversation, I asked a few more questions.
- Have there been any other recent changes in the environment?
- Does the stubbornness or mischief appear only when you, the owner, are not around?
The owner answered that work had recently gotten busy, reducing time spent with the dog, and that the mischief appeared only when the owner was away.
Dogs, too, as they age, sense that they no longer look as cute as before and that their bodies aren't as healthy, and may demand more of the owner's attention and love.
Judging that this patient's case might be an expression of emotion, I suggested the following to the owner:
“Even if it's a little hard with work being busy, how about spending a bit more time with your dog?”
With Attention and Love, Not Medicine
Two weeks later, the owner returned to the clinic with a brighter expression.
“Doctor, after hearing your advice, we took a three-day trip with the whole family and the dog. Since coming home, it doesn't bark even when alone, and it doesn't make a mess. Thank you so much.”
To dogs, their owner is the whole world. That doesn't change even as they age.
If anything, the more they sense their remaining time is short, the more they can become clingy and prone to separation anxiety.
For the mischief of pets who express themselves through behavior because they cannot speak, what they may need is not special medicine but more time spent together.