# Dementia



## Herocrates01 (Mar 12, 2015)

Hi my old girl Chloe was diagnosed with dementia. Sometimes she is normal (well as normal as Chloe can be )other days she comes back in the house and poops. She has started to eat Yackys' poop. Chloe will also just stand and look lost. The rest of her being is fine. She is East German and I'm wondering if anyone else has been down this road. I could really use some advice.


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

Hello, sorry you are going through this with Chloe. How old is she? I have no knowledge, with dog dementia, but maybe someone else can chime in here. Good luck.


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## Findlay (Jan 8, 2015)

Hi. My 13 yr old GSD Jake had senility/dementia. He past away very peacefully May, 2014. Jake did the poop thing too. He didn't even know that the poop was coming out of him.
He sometimes appeared to be confused and around 4pm everyday he would start pacing and continued pacing all night long. 
I finally called the vet and he prescribed a sedative. It helped Jake to rest and sleep.
In elderly people that type of pacing at night is called "sundowning."
The vet said it's called the same thing in elderly dogs.
My advice is to spoil your Chloe. Lots of special attention and awesome treats. Everything she loves. I'll bet she already gets all that and more ( :
Good luck and take care.


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## astrovan2487 (May 29, 2014)

I think my senior GSD has dementia also. She had issues pooping in the house too, I'd let her outside alone, she would pee then come right back in and poop while I was feeding her in the house. I've found that if I go out with her in the morning and evening and walk her around a minute she poops outside. I think when she's outside alone she's confused without me and just wants to go back inside without taking care of business. She also does the pacing every night and looks lost sometimes. She goes to her water bowl and forgets that she wanted a drink. I give her a treat and keep the house calm and eventually she settles down. I like Findlay's advice, spoil her as much as you can. It's so hard to watch them get old


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## martinaa (Jan 5, 2012)

Our last newf had dementia at the end. I think that affected his quality of life much more than his failing hips did. When the spells hit we could tell he was suddenly transported to a scary strange world - didn't even recognize us sometimes. Sedatives weren't an option because he reacted oddly to them. Sedatives made Finn extremely combative and obstinate.

Finn had the restless pacing too, confusion and tendency to get lost, as well as the occasional sudden thought to run away from those he was most devoted to. It was very much like how it was for my grandmother.


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

I suggest you try giving the supplement cholodin. I have been giving it to my Sting who is 9 since last Oct. He was geting periods of confusion, panic attacks at night, and so on. I noticed results in a week. I did just give him the regular dose and not the loading dose. He did not have any side affects. Here is a thread on it http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...pplement-senior-dogs-sometimes-worth-try.html


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. My old girl was fine up until the age of 13. The last 1.5 years was a steady decline - DM, vision loss, hearing loss, dementia. It's hard to know how each thing affected her. She could have lost bowel control, because of the DM, or because of dementia. She too, would eat, the poo, if I wasn't right there to clean it up. Prior to that, she never had accidents in the house. Maybe she just thought she needed to clean it up. She often seemed confused. I sent her to the bridge at 14.5. By that time, she had no muscle mass in her rear and was having difficulty getting around. It was difficult to watch her struggle. Letting her go seemed the kindest thing to do.


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