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We all know the meaning of the pet sign
when your dog goes
to the door and barks—‘I want to go out.’ Here are some pet signs we
have interpreted over the years from our senior pets. Since we are not
vets or animal behavior specialists, we do not claim these are universal
signs for all pets, just ours. Please check with a qualified animal
practitioner to interpret your pet’s signs.
Head in food bowl— when a healthy
pet does this in an empty food bowl it usually means they are hungry.
But
when
a senior or sick pet does this it could mean they need a specific
"healing" ingredient from food or nutrition their body is lacking. Is your pet suddenly eating
inappropriate items, such as dirt, rocks, twigs or leaves? Is your
pet suddenly licking red sandstone rocks or wanting to drink from a
natural body of water with algae in it? This could mean a
mineral, vitamin, fiber, enzyme or chlorophyll deficiency. Maybe they are not getting
enough nutrients for a
carnivore (from nutrient deficient or special diet dry kibble)
to fill them up. Dogs need 60-80% meat + fat protein, while cats
(obligate carnivores) need 70-90% meat + fat protein to be healthy.
Head in water bowl—when a healthy
pet does this in an empty water bowl it usually means they are thirsty
but when a senior pet does this and there is water in the bowl, what
does this mean? It could mean they need some nutrition their body is
lacking or they do not feel well and they want to “wash” away that
“icky” feeling.
Lapping up water furiously, then
vomiting—while dogs are notorious for quickly gulping their food, we
started to see
this
when our dog, Mikki, got chronic
renal failure (CRF) and lapped up water and then vomited. She
was constantly thirsty but she would either gulp water too fast or the
signal that her stomach was full of water just was not making it to her
brain in time to stop (she also had doggy dementia at 18 years old).
When we observed this, we tried to distract her after a while by petting
her or offering her treats. This would stop her drinking water. We did
not want to discourage her from drinking frequently with CRF but we just
wanted to cut the consumption or speed of drinking down.
Getting stuck in corners—when our
dog Mikki got doggy dementia (18 years old), she would wander into the
corners of the room and just stand there. One night she wandered into
the downstairs bathroom and got stuck behind the door. She barked all
night until one of us woke up and “rescued” her by turning her body
around so she could walk out the bathroom. Apparently, her mind could
not figure the way out or her “reverse gear” was broken.
Sitting in litter box but not using it—our
dying cat, Iris, did this on her last day with us. She first developed
labored
breathing.
Then she went into the litter box and sat down without doing anything.
We deduced she felt “icky” and wanted to ‘eliminate’ that feeling. We
later learned that night at the hospital she was dying of congestive
heart failure and she quickly passed away while in an oxygen chamber.
Not getting comfortable sitting down—when
a pet cannot get comfortable in any position sitting or lying down, we
suspect something is wrong. We deduce they are in some discomfort or
pain. One obvious answer is arthritic pain.
Sometimes isolated supplements, herbs, homeopathic
remedies and even drugs may help. But our 15 year old cat with
pancreatitis and triaditis suddenly started doing this. She
would lie on one side with her legs stretched out to the left, then
switch to the right side. We learned this was probably due to the
labored breathing and congestive heart failure she would later die from
that night. We suggest a vet visit whenever you see this happening.
Whenever one sees abnormal behavior in a pet
it behooves
one
to seek professional help in interpreting what might be wrong. The above
signs are just our interpretation from observing our pets. Most pet
parents know their pet better than anyone else. See our December, 2013,
newsletter, You
Know Your Pet Best.
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