An Emergency Change

About a year and a half ago, my dog, Roman, had to go into 24 hour emergency. He ate a large raw steak from the trash and gained the disease Pancreatitis. His pancreas was inflamed and swelling up. After a day and a half, we got him back and they told us how well he was reacting to the IV and medications. We were so happy to see him and he was such a happy 12 year old puppy (now 14). They never said anything negative about his night over and said that he should be healthy again.

Well, a year and a half goes by and we're noticing a lot of differences with him. He's crying when by himself (so a bit more needy), dislikes long walks, and has blurry vision. But the main one we've noticed is couch licking. Every time he gets on the couch, he has to lick every part around him. He never did that before. And we've noticed this new habit because we always need to clean the couches (leather) after he licks it. Do you think that my dog had a stroke when in the emergency room and they just didn't say anything? Do vets tell their patients' owners about anything negative if they ended up leaving positive?

 

It had been, as you said, about eighteen months since the emergency. So it is rather difficult to say whether your dog's present behavior is in any way related to the emergency. Only a qualified vet can tell what really is happening to your dog. Have you made an appointment yet?

 

Did these behaviors start within a reasonable time after the emergency visit? Or, did some time pass, then the behaviors began?

My sister's cat went through pancreatitis last January. It took a long time for her to heal. However, it doesn't seem like she had any lingering symptoms.

I'm wondering if there could be something going on. It's possible that in old age your dog has become needy. However, the crying is somewhat odd in a dog that did not whimper before. Not wanting to take walks isn't normal for a dog either, especially if that dog loved to take walks before. It makes me wonder if he is in discomfort of some sort.

The couch licking could be anything. It might be nervous energy.

I've had many emergency clinic visits. I have found the veterinarians to be pretty up front with me. Normally, they share their report with our regular veterinarian, so any information that need to be passed on was shared by one or the other.

I think I might contact your veterinarian to see if you should be concerned. It's difficult to say if the behavior changes are related to the original episode or something different.

 

You would need to share this concern with your Vet. They can tell you if this is something to actually be concerned about. I'm not sure your dog suffered a stroke, this could though be some sort of emotional trauma. We don't think dogs understand things that happen to them, but they do. Your dog spent time in an emergency room away from it familiar surroundings, which includes this couch. It could be that licking the couch is another way for the dog to make its territory, guess its better then the other way when you think about it. Still a Vet can tell you if this is a physical problem or if your dog is just reacting to a change in its routine, and the fact that it was very ill for awhile.

 

@Victor Leigh - We have made an appointment before about it, but it wasn't with the emergency hospital. Actually, according to our vet, they couldn't get paperwork from the emergency database. It's like Roman wasn't even there to begin with which is very odd. So that's also a reason why I believe that something may have happened that they didn't want to enlist?

@Melody - Well, what made those symptoms relatively normal (because we were told about it when he was young) was his signs of Dysplasia increasing. His muscles are weakening little by little. So it is why we understand the new behavior of him not wanting to go for walks, but the couch licking is what concerns us. He's done it since he came out of the hospital and we've sometimes noticed a bit of his face looks relaxed than the other. It could be nervous energy, but we're confused about what. He's living the say way he has been for 6-7 years.

@pafjlh - That can be understandable. It was a very quick process and a hard night. I remember that we would go there every other hour (it's practically down the street) and even call in to see if he was alright. So he knew that we were there for him no matter what. But the trauma to just be around so many strangers can be overwhelming.

 

A year and a half later, you're seeing differences? No, I don't think it's because of the visit then. It sounds more like he's just getting older. A lot of those changes seem pretty normal to me for a dog who is 14. I'd still suggest making an appointment in general to make sure everything is okay, but I doubt it has anything to do with the previous visit.

 

I do know that when men get old, they sometimes become senile and do odd things. Not too sure if the same thing happens to dogs. Is there any other vet nearby where you can go for a second opinion?

 

Talk to the vet definitely. Before my old dog had passed, he was doing weird things like this. He was whining all the time when my parents left for work, I would have to comfort him but he would still be whining. He didn't whine like that until his old age. He also slowed down on his walks, unable to go as far, and had trouble getting up and down the stairs. He also started trying to eat rocks, which he didn't do when he was younger. We found out later that he had stomach cancer, so perhaps the whining was from pain and he was trying to eat rocks to suppress the pain...or it might have been because his mind was going, as he was older, and he probably had dementia.
Take that dog to the vet as soon as you can because if it is something other than just age causing it, the sooner it's found the better chance there is to cure it.

 

If Roman is 14 he may be is getting senile as Victor has mentioned and your dog may require behavioural medication. Then again he may have tooth or gum problems.
As everyone has mentioned another trip to see a vet would be in order.

 

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions! I've made an appointment for Roman for this Tuesday. We're going to make sure that all paperwork is in order and figure it out. Considering that the paperwork from the 24 hour emergency is missing, we'd probably visit there first before his appointment to validate the disappearance. I'll let you all know what the vet says!

 

It could be age related as some dogs develop new habits as they grow older. Hope that the vets will finally figure out what could be the cause of his licking habit.

 

Ugh, I hate when offices "lose" paperwork. It seems to happen all too often. And at this point, they all use computers and should have both a digital and physical copy of all their records. There's no excuse for having entire set of data missing.

 

Well that's what made me wonder if anything happened without me knowing. The fact that paperwork was missing just makes me feel like something went wrong, you know? But I do agree. Having both, or even just digital is the way to go now. And soon there after, holograms! Haha.