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Hello! Hopefully a few people are still around this community, but I may cross-post to one or two other dog-related communities, in case you are a member of a few.
I have an almost 11-year-old female Labrador. She has always been a sweet, patient, tolerant dog. No excessive anxiety/fear except with thunderstorms & fireworks.
In the last few months, I have noticed a couple of small-to-moderate changes in her behavior.
1) She seems to be losing some of her tolerance/patience with other dogs. 95% of the time she's still fine and I can take her to the dog park, take her around other dogs, she's not attacking other dogs or anything of that sort. Most of the time I can also tell what is annoying her and it's reasonable she's getting annoyed and getting snarky. For instance, she doesn't really play much anymore and doesn't like being jumped on, getting her ears/muzzle/head bitten (in a playful manner) etc. She's NEVER liked being humped and has always been the least tolerant with that behavior, but she's also always been more patient with puppies and smaller breed dogs. I've noticed she just seems a little quicker to get snarky lately. My husband & I were dogsitting for a couple of Bichons over the holidays. One was very old (14) and couldn't see/hear very well. This Bichon and my Lab slept together on the same bed multiple times without issue. Then one night while they were sleeping together, the Bichon got up to get some water, and when she came back and stepped on the bed, my Lab suddenly jolted her head up and snarled at her pretty good. My husband & I were shocked. My Lab did not hurt her, did not even make contact with her -- it was just so startling to us that she snarled for no apparent reason.
2) The 2nd behavior issue I have noticed is that she has started acting afraid/frightened when I take her places, especially new places. I have always taken her tons of places since we adopted her when she was about 2 years old and she has NEVER been afraid. She is a registered therapy dog through Pet Partners and she has been going to our local hospital for therapy visits for the past 2 years. In the last couple of months she has acted afraid when I have taken her on a home visit for the Lab rescue I adopted her from (I have been taking her on home visits for YEARS and she has never been anything but excited and gregarious/friendly when we arrive to the potential adopter's home), she has been afraid when I took her to an elementary school for a Read to Rover program, and the last time I took her to the hospital (that she is very familiar with) she also was afraid. In each situation, she acts fearful for the first 20-30 mins or so and then seems to relax and is fine by the time we leave. It is so strange.
I took her to our vet at the beginning of last week and detailed these behavior changes and he didn't really seem to have any suggestions except Addison's disease. He seemed really on the fence about testing her for it as she is not showing any of the other symptoms and he said behavior changes due to this disease are usually "drastic & dramatic." He wasn't sure if what I was describing was drastic enough. The test itself is a bit expensive (over $300) but I have gotten estimates from another lower cost vet clinic near me and I'd be willing to do it...I'm just not sure it's a viable option.
Other than this, she has a couple more common health issues in older Labs, like some arthritis in her hips that we give her Dasuquin (a glucosamine/MSM supplement) daily and Adequan injections monthly. Pain med as needed, but she never seems in too much pain and still runs around, swims, and is fairly active for an older dog. She also has mast cell tumor cancer that we do not do much for currently as she's been through 3 surgeries already and the tumors keep popping up. Vet felt further surgeries were not logical and I opted against chemo.
Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions/ideas or thoughts regarding the Addison's test either way. Thank you!
I have an almost 11-year-old female Labrador. She has always been a sweet, patient, tolerant dog. No excessive anxiety/fear except with thunderstorms & fireworks.
In the last few months, I have noticed a couple of small-to-moderate changes in her behavior.
1) She seems to be losing some of her tolerance/patience with other dogs. 95% of the time she's still fine and I can take her to the dog park, take her around other dogs, she's not attacking other dogs or anything of that sort. Most of the time I can also tell what is annoying her and it's reasonable she's getting annoyed and getting snarky. For instance, she doesn't really play much anymore and doesn't like being jumped on, getting her ears/muzzle/head bitten (in a playful manner) etc. She's NEVER liked being humped and has always been the least tolerant with that behavior, but she's also always been more patient with puppies and smaller breed dogs. I've noticed she just seems a little quicker to get snarky lately. My husband & I were dogsitting for a couple of Bichons over the holidays. One was very old (14) and couldn't see/hear very well. This Bichon and my Lab slept together on the same bed multiple times without issue. Then one night while they were sleeping together, the Bichon got up to get some water, and when she came back and stepped on the bed, my Lab suddenly jolted her head up and snarled at her pretty good. My husband & I were shocked. My Lab did not hurt her, did not even make contact with her -- it was just so startling to us that she snarled for no apparent reason.
2) The 2nd behavior issue I have noticed is that she has started acting afraid/frightened when I take her places, especially new places. I have always taken her tons of places since we adopted her when she was about 2 years old and she has NEVER been afraid. She is a registered therapy dog through Pet Partners and she has been going to our local hospital for therapy visits for the past 2 years. In the last couple of months she has acted afraid when I have taken her on a home visit for the Lab rescue I adopted her from (I have been taking her on home visits for YEARS and she has never been anything but excited and gregarious/friendly when we arrive to the potential adopter's home), she has been afraid when I took her to an elementary school for a Read to Rover program, and the last time I took her to the hospital (that she is very familiar with) she also was afraid. In each situation, she acts fearful for the first 20-30 mins or so and then seems to relax and is fine by the time we leave. It is so strange.
I took her to our vet at the beginning of last week and detailed these behavior changes and he didn't really seem to have any suggestions except Addison's disease. He seemed really on the fence about testing her for it as she is not showing any of the other symptoms and he said behavior changes due to this disease are usually "drastic & dramatic." He wasn't sure if what I was describing was drastic enough. The test itself is a bit expensive (over $300) but I have gotten estimates from another lower cost vet clinic near me and I'd be willing to do it...I'm just not sure it's a viable option.
Other than this, she has a couple more common health issues in older Labs, like some arthritis in her hips that we give her Dasuquin (a glucosamine/MSM supplement) daily and Adequan injections monthly. Pain med as needed, but she never seems in too much pain and still runs around, swims, and is fairly active for an older dog. She also has mast cell tumor cancer that we do not do much for currently as she's been through 3 surgeries already and the tumors keep popping up. Vet felt further surgeries were not logical and I opted against chemo.
Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions/ideas or thoughts regarding the Addison's test either way. Thank you!