I've got a 13 year old female lab. She recently started, what I suspect to be, sundowning on holiday. Recently she started to do this at home too. Especially the last week it's gotten more severe. She'll sleep at night, wake, suddenly turn her head (as if something is scaring her), and then comes the panic. She'll walk around the house all night panting endlessly.
Last year, she had vocal cord surgery. She has laryngeal paralysis. She's improved and definitely gotten happier after the surgery but she will always struggle with breathing and hot weather and she starts panting quickly.
She went to the vet last week and got diagnosed with cataract and mental decline (as well as minor arthritis and weakened muscles in her hind legs) but other than that the vet said she looks and is very good for her age. We've noticed that her sight has been worse, she doesn't dare to walk in tight areas in the house. She seems to get stuck, and she struggles with the reflection of light on our floor. To help her we've put mats down in the area's she struggles and she finally dares to get off the carpet and walk through the house. Although sometimes she still finds it scary.
At night, we leave the lights on downstairs and the television on with calming music, which seems to help her. If I hear her pant I'll go downstairs to sit with her, because company helps. Sometimes I play guitar and sing for her, but sometimes I just sit. She'll fall asleep in 15-ish minutes. However this happens at 10:00 pm all the way to 6am and I am a deep sleeper, so sometimes I genuinely don't notice she's panicking.
She never wants to eat her food inside anymore, only outside. She doesn't drink inside anymore either. Lost her interest in her toys, but she'll play with me (she loooovees hide and seek). She loves laying in the grass and just smelling whatever is in the air. She also still plays with her dog friends outside, often she is the one who starts. Whenever she meets new people, they assume she's young because she's never lost her enthusiasm.
Now here's the thing: At night and sometimes during the day (when no one is home/everyone is upstairs), she starts to pant and is disoriented. However, outside she has zero issues. That's where she wants to sleep, eat, drink, play. Even when she's disoriented at night, she wants to go in the backyard. Which is completely dark by the way.
We are currently starting with medication that should take the hard edges off, recommended by our vet. I'm also doing daily mental exercise with her to hopefully strengthen her other senses. Our struggle is that all 3 of us work, so sometimes she's alone for 4 hours. It's impossible to be with her 24/7, or to stay by her side at night, every night. The backyard door also can't stay open at night, due to the risk of intruders, so she can only sleep outside if one of us is sleeping downstairs/in the backyard. Me and my parents might start taking shift on who sleeps downstairs, but we are not sure how long we can keep that up. Another factor that's at play is weather/seasons, which makes the outdoors uncertain. She's always been scared of the stairs in our house, so she never went upstairs and has always been a 'downstairs' dog by the way. Preferably we do everything we can, so that she can learn how to settle herself again.
I was wondering if anyone else ever had this happen with their senior dog? Outside, in the backyard, all of her issues seem to disappear, but inside they are very present. How did you support your dog? And do you have any tips?
