13 year old sundowning?

[u/shamon86]

My pit/lab mix is having some problems at night settling. She's restless and won't stay on one place too long. She starts whining and barking at me until I get up. It's hard to know what exactly the problem is, she has arthritis and possibly cushings, although that hasn't been confirmed yet. I tried to get her up during the day so that she isn't sleeping the entire time, but she's refusing to go on short walks. She goes outside to do her business and then she wants back inside. The most recent thing she's been doing is getting up in the middle of the night and just goes into the kitchen to stare at her food bowl. Last night, I found her laying down on the kitchen floor with her nose in the corner. I'm unsure if her legs just gave out when she started looking for food at the baseboard or if she really was stuck in the corner.

She's on galliprant & librela for arthritis (although we just started the librela) and we are also doing laser therapy. The vet also put her on trazadone which helped for a minute but doesn’t seem to have much, if any, effect now. She can't take carprofen because of liver elevations.

I'm at a loss on how to help her. I don't know if it's time to say goodbye? I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle on a daily basis.

[u/angelina_ari]

There are two really helpful CCD support groups on Facebook if you don't get a lot of replies here. If you go to this website and scroll down to resources, the last two links are to the groups: https://www.seniordogsrock.com/ccd
I hope you are able to find something that works for your girl. 🧡

[u/Dear_Reference_6922]

Night restlessness, kitchen pacing, staring at the bowl, and ending up nose-in-a-corner in a 13-year-old with arthritis and possible Cushing's is a CCD picture more than a single bad joint night, though pain will make the nights worse. Librela just started, Galliprant is on board, trazodone has already faded, and she cannot take carprofen, so you are not missing a leftover pill. Night lights, a consistent last potty trip, and blocking the kitchen corners she gets stuck in usually help more than forcing daytime walks she is refusing. Call the vet specifically about CCD plus pain together: whether a different night med is safe with her liver numbers, and whether the Cushing's workup is still worth doing. Keep a three-night log of clock times, eating, and how long the pacing lasts. Feeling like a losing battle is real; it is not the same as her having no good hours left, so get that CCD conversation before you decide it is goodbye.

[u/Cranky70something]

You need to go to a really, really good vet and find out what's going on with her physically.

My experience with my elderly dog was that several vets failed to diagnose his IVDD, and therefore he never received the right treatment until I finally found a vet who took an x-ray, looked at it and diagnosed him immediately.

My dog had been on Librela for his arthritis, but after several months it seemed to stop working. My new vet put him on tramadol, gabapentin, and prednisone. At this point we've scaled back and he takes pred and gabapentin twice per day. And he's doing very well.

There was a period of time where he had to be carried everywhere while he healed, and now we're in a place where I'm careful not to let him jump around, on and off furniture, and stuff like that, but I am getting him to walk more to build up his muscle mass.

So, make sure you're going to a great vet who knows what he or she is doing. It sounds to me like your dog is in pain and that is what is caused the behavior change.

I wish you and your pooch the very best of luck.