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Canine Cognitive Disfunction

Dublin

Dublin

Well-known member
Anyone have any experience of this?

Cass had blood tests on friday & the results came back pretty clear today except her liver function which was a little higher than normal - but the vet said nothing to worry about at this stage.

So, she thinks the changes in Cassies behaviour etc is due to CCD - she said its quite hard to diagnose fully but has put her on an help a course of Aktivait suppliment which can help these kind of things in older dogs. Shes got a 30 day course & I have to let her know towards the end if it's making any difference - personaly though I would have thought it could take longer than that to have a real differance.
 
Did have this with Shane, Husky/Mal mix and she was put on Anipryl which helped wonderfully but she couldn't tolerate side effects. Avtivait is certainly an interesting supplement-many of the ingredients are those also included in Cav Health.org for MVD. :xfngr: this helps your Cass.
 
If you mean doggie Alzheimer's/dementia, yes. Our Shih Tzu had it for the last three years of his life. It was not officially diagnosed by our vet, but internet information verified it. It wasn't the worst case, I'm sure.
 
Think Nicki has dealt with this too -- it is the dog version of Alzheimers. It may help to get her incontinence panties etc. I am sure others will have good advice! I am sure it is a relief to get a diagnosis though never pleasant to find out the cause. :flwr:
 
It is a bit of a relief - im glad theres nothing really wrong with her physicaly.

Im hoping with the suppliment she may stop peeing again - shes not incontnent, she never goes in her bed & dosnt leak, the vet said it's like older people, they dont sleep as long as younger people so she prob gets up & needs to go. She might not have this - but it does sound like it to me, ive been reading up on it & she does do a lot of the things described - except 2 main ones 1 being not greeting people - or not greeting as much, well she goes OTT greeting people! & 2nd lack of appetite, as I explaind to my vet - Cass tells me when she is hungry these days - once it gets past 5pm she follows me & jumps at my legs till I feed her! I have been giving her a little bit extra, not too much as I dont want her to gain weight though!

I dont think she would wear the incntinence panties - she hates anything on her - she freezes when you put a coat on her!!!
 
Like people with Alzheimer's, dogs each display different and similar symptoms. Our Alex, who loved people, became very asocial. Not anti-social, just asocial. It was his only personality change. Early on, he stopped sitting in my husband's lap every evening, where he had spent the previous 13 years. (Hubby's feelings were hurt by this, too). As Alex's dementia progressed, whenever he walked into a room that we were in, he would turn around and leave. Deafness and cataracts also played a big part with this, I'm sure.

The most difficult thing we witnessed, happened on a trip last summer. Alex was always a good traveler. This time, it was so sad to see him wander around the hotel room and end up in a corner with absolutely no idea how to get out of it. He had our house memorized, but was completely lost in the little hotel room.

He always had a good appetite and basically did until he died. He only broke his housetraining once or twice during the six months before he died. Our real dog had left us a few years earlier. His quality of life was good and he was in no discomfort, until the bitter end one week after he celebrated 16th birthday.

And still it was so very sad to say goodbye.
 
Thanx Waldor for telling us of Alex, it must have been very hard for you towards the end to see him like that.

For Cass I think shes a long way from that, shes happily tucking into her hone as I write this - & she knew i had it long before i gave it to her!! I am hopefull with the suppliment th vet gave me that i can keep her from getting too bad for a long time.

Marks nanny has alzheimers, she was diagnosed the day before our wedding last year & she gets very anxious & is very pleased to see people - something i recognise in Cass too.
 
Im sorry to hear youve had this diagnosis for Cass & hope the meds help her:flwr:
 
Sorry to hear about Cass's diagnosis Sonia. Ive never heard of CCD before but hopefully the supplement will help and also delay the onset of any other symptoms.
Give her a big hug from me :hug:
 
I'm sorry to hear about Cass. Please let us know how she does on the pills. How exactly do they work?
 
The suppliment is meant to help the brain be more alert by counteracting free radicals.

Shes acting weird at the moment, yesterday I gave them bones & she is the dominant one ot of my two dogs & usualy will give a growl at Sparky if he coms near her when she has a bone - yesterday he went near her bone & she walked off! Then she wouldnt go near Sparky or the bones - so I threw them out.

Last night her stomach looked a little bloated - which I put down to having had the bones for a couple of hours.

This morning I came down & only Sparky greeted me - bearing in mind they sleep in the kitchen which has no way out. I started to panic as I couldnt find cass - then she appeared on one of the kitchen chairs which was pushed under the table. I had left a blanket on it yesterday that I had washed but ive never seen her sleep on a chair before.

She seems quite tired today & itchy -(which she does when shes stressed) I dont know if this is anything to do with the suppliment or the condition or something else - its weird though!
 
Just thought I'd give a quick :updte: on Cass.

She's been on her suppliment Aktivait for 8 days now & so far we've only had one wee overnight - which I actually blame Mark for as he let them out last & didnt watch them so she may not have 'gone' outside. Cass spends a bit more time now with us on the sofa at night like she used to rather than being in her bed at our feet - something I hadnt really thought about but while I was reading up on the disorder on the net this was one thing that kept coming up!

So I think so far so good - I have to phone the vets in 2 weeks to let her know if I have found any improvement & then she will decide whether to carry on with the supplient or change to something else but I'm happy with the way things are going at the moment so I'd be happy to contiue on the suppliment for now - I guess it's only early days & with something lie this things will change in the coming months/years but for now things are good so Im happy!:)
 
Very good news that the supplement appears to be working :) !! My English Cocker Spaniel Abby who has now been gone for four years had Canine Cognitive Dysfunction. The Anipryl did not work with her. Wish we had known about the supplement, although it may be something newer.

Abby became a pacer -- up and down the hall, around the kitchen, back down the hall. Right after she started showing symptoms that we recognized our neighborhood Dog Park opened and we went almost every evening -- our first Clumber was then a puppy. Abby would pace along the fenceline of the Park, making it completely around at least once and frequently twice during any visit. The other dogs seemed to sense that she was older and struggling and they almost all left her along, even the young, goofy Labs and Labwannabes.

My mother, at 89, has had cognitive problems, getting progressively worse, for the past two plus years. It may sound funny but having lived with Abby has helped me understand my Mom's situation and be more patient with her.

Good luck with Cass. It can be a very sweet time of your life with your dog.
 
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thanks phyliss, the suppliment is fairly new from what ive read & i think its brilliant - i have back my Cassie of 2 years ago! I think this has been coming on a lot longer than i thought to be honest, probably because the symptoms are quite subtile & I put a lot of it down to old age.
 
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