Five Meds That’ve Helped my Dog’s Dementia — YOGABYCANDACE

I’ve been sharing a lot about Buckles on Instagram and have received a number of questions and just wanted to have everything in one place so here we are.

Buckles is 13 years old and every change of the season for the last two or three seasons he started acting a little weird at night- panting, pacing the house, whining, and eventually it just seemed he wanted to sleep outside. Usually within a week or so of the change of season, he’d be fine at night, but only when he’d put him outside to sleep on the deck. Once outside, he’d calm right down, curl up on his bed and go right to sleep for the whole night, which was really hard on me because this dog is like my child – I would do anything for him, and he means everything to me, so knowing he was outside in the freezing temps of winter just crushed my soul but he’s a husky, and they can not only withstand frigid temps, but they really love it. I have a security camera outside so I’d just check the camera every hour or so (my sleep was seriously disturbed but I couldn’t fall into a deep sleep because subconsciously I was worried about him – but believe me, any time I’d try to bring him inside he’d cry, pace and pant until I let him out again).

Anyway, we felt like we had a good routine down and he was sleeping soundly through the night outside until about a month ago. The pacing and panting would start, he’d whine and cry, but when I put him outside, he just wanted to come back inside. When he was inside, he seemed to want to go outside. And it would repeat again and again for hours. He just could not get settled, and he was clearly very stressed. One night he cried the entire night without any break. I tried bringing him to our room, I tried sleeping on the couch next to his bed, I left the lights on, I turned the lights off, nothing worked, and finally I couldn’t take it anymore so I brought him to the vet and it turns out he has what’s known as Sundowner’s Syndrome – basically like a doggie dementia. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the sun or light, but basically when nighttime comes, dogs tend to get confused and scared and having the lights on or off doesn’t seem to make a difference in Buckles’ confusion. There doesn’t seem to be a cure, but there is a lot you can do for it to manage the symptoms. I am so thankful to my people on Instagram because someone recommended a medication that I started right away until I could get him to the vet, and my vet said it was the best thing. Here’s what we are doing for Buck:

• Senilife– There are two versions: this for smaller dogs, this for bigger dogs, and this is the product to get if you’re dog is experiencing Sundowners/dementia. It is for brain function and this stuff works. It says it takes about 7 days to kick in – for Buckles, I noticed a huge difference within two weeks, and I’ll tell you about that in a sec. The downside is that these pills are GINORMOUS. They also have Red40 dye in the capsule casing, which is not good for humans, so I can’t imagine it’s good for dogs. So what I ended up doing was piercing the pill with a sharp knife, and squeezing it onto a little spoonful of coconut oil, which Buckles loves. He licks it right up, without any issue.

• CoQ10 – This is an enzyme made naturally in pets but as they age, the production diminishes, so we supplement with 1 pill per ten pounds. I eased into this with just two pills to start, and now we are up to three. Buckles is 54 pounds right now so I’m working our way up to 5 pills slowly. CoQ10 is good for gum health, cardiovascular health, recovery, immunity, carb metabolism, liver support, circulation and stamina.

• Fish Oil – Fish oil helps to improve brain function, inflamed joints, and heart health and is great for their coats. Buckles doesn’t love it but again I just squirt a little on some coconut oil and he’s all for it.

• Melatonin – Dog melatonin was recommended by our vet to help him stay calm at night until the meds started to work.

• Trazodone. – Buckles was prescribed trazodone for nights when he really can’t settle.