pippa
Well-known member
Hello everyone, I wonder could anyone help/advise me?
Pippin is 12 years and 3 months...he is on heart medication but recent scans show he is doing pretty well considering. His liver and kidneys are also fine.
He has Cardisure twice daily, Cardallis in the morning and Frusemide three times a day, the last one around 7.30pm.
No matter what time he goes to bed or how late he toilets at night, lately he always needs to toilet anytime between 4 am and 5.30am. I don't mind getting up to let him out. the problem is he is wide awake and wants feeding and kicks up a huge fuss to be fed, getting himself very stressed, so I now have no option but to feed him then.
We have tried EVERYTHING! To no avail. he was always a foodie but has gotten really bad lately, looking for food all day when he isn't sleeping, although he does sleep a lot. basically apart from a short walk all he does is eat and sleep. We increased feeds to three times daily instead of two, same amount divided into three lots. has healthy treats, is a good weight etc.
Our vet has said he is quite senile and that is why he is hungry(or thinks he is) most of the time, and stressed if he is not fed, especially in the morning when he wakes, which once or twice was as early as 3.15 am
There is nothing we haven't tried...
He was also a little restless through the night, so he was started on Diazepam last thing at night for a while to see if it helps, but all it does is make him sleep soundly until he wakes at 4/5 ish and he is wide awake looking for breakfast, nothing else will do!!!
Any advice, I am exhausted!
My husband has to be up at 6am for work and works long hours, he used to feed him then, except on weekends. I have a chronic illness, so finding all this very stressful. We are both worn out but obviously worried for Pippin too. All he seems to do is eat, sleep and bark (a lot)
He is not our first oldie, Gus was 14 but never was like this!
I wonder if any of you have had experience of this or of a senile Cavalier and also wondering whether to bother continuing with the Diazepam at night?
I don't really need advice on when or what to feed as believe me we have tried everything
Thanks in advance xxx
:updte: I have decided to stop the Diazepam as it was only making Pippin more agitated. He is getting increasingly worse day by day with the dementia and although his heart is stable for the moment, although he is on a lot of heart meds, we have been advised we may have to consider having him PTS sooner rather than later as his quality and enjoyment of life is diminishing
I know this site is very quiet at the moment but if anyone reads this and has experience of Dementia it would really help me.
I am giving him a natural calming supplement containing L-Tryptophan, which seems to be helping a little for now.
Pippin is 12 years and 3 months...he is on heart medication but recent scans show he is doing pretty well considering. His liver and kidneys are also fine.
He has Cardisure twice daily, Cardallis in the morning and Frusemide three times a day, the last one around 7.30pm.
No matter what time he goes to bed or how late he toilets at night, lately he always needs to toilet anytime between 4 am and 5.30am. I don't mind getting up to let him out. the problem is he is wide awake and wants feeding and kicks up a huge fuss to be fed, getting himself very stressed, so I now have no option but to feed him then.
We have tried EVERYTHING! To no avail. he was always a foodie but has gotten really bad lately, looking for food all day when he isn't sleeping, although he does sleep a lot. basically apart from a short walk all he does is eat and sleep. We increased feeds to three times daily instead of two, same amount divided into three lots. has healthy treats, is a good weight etc.
Our vet has said he is quite senile and that is why he is hungry(or thinks he is) most of the time, and stressed if he is not fed, especially in the morning when he wakes, which once or twice was as early as 3.15 am
There is nothing we haven't tried...
He was also a little restless through the night, so he was started on Diazepam last thing at night for a while to see if it helps, but all it does is make him sleep soundly until he wakes at 4/5 ish and he is wide awake looking for breakfast, nothing else will do!!!
Any advice, I am exhausted!
My husband has to be up at 6am for work and works long hours, he used to feed him then, except on weekends. I have a chronic illness, so finding all this very stressful. We are both worn out but obviously worried for Pippin too. All he seems to do is eat, sleep and bark (a lot)
He is not our first oldie, Gus was 14 but never was like this!
I wonder if any of you have had experience of this or of a senile Cavalier and also wondering whether to bother continuing with the Diazepam at night?
I don't really need advice on when or what to feed as believe me we have tried everything
Thanks in advance xxx
:updte: I have decided to stop the Diazepam as it was only making Pippin more agitated. He is getting increasingly worse day by day with the dementia and although his heart is stable for the moment, although he is on a lot of heart meds, we have been advised we may have to consider having him PTS sooner rather than later as his quality and enjoyment of life is diminishing
I know this site is very quiet at the moment but if anyone reads this and has experience of Dementia it would really help me.
I am giving him a natural calming supplement containing L-Tryptophan, which seems to be helping a little for now.
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