Dog Not Eating and Acting Oddly - Advice needed

[ehrnst]

Hello, experienced Doggie DU'ers. I need some ideas, if you have a moment....

Linda adopted an Aussie Shepherd mix from our rescue early last year who couldn't be crated or really left alone for long. This is the perfect home for him, he's NEVER one been left alone since and they adore him. He may be spoiled to a fault actually. He's now about 3 years old.

Sully hasn't been eating and she's taken him to the vet twice in the last week for an array of tests and got a clean bill of health. Below is his detailed behavior patterns and I'm hoping someone can help with a new suggestion or idea on what might be going on here. I'm not sure his not eating is a big deal since it's only really been a week, but when combined with the other stuff, something non-medical may be going on.


"Thanks for contacting me about Sully's not eating...we're really unable to figure it out. He isn't as active as usual until Dad gets ready to take him out...then he's all up and ready to go, pulls hard on his leash and does fine on his walks (his stools are fine). But, he is just not interested in eating any dog food or even chicken & rice, tuna in water w/rice (which he usually loves), hamburger cooked & mixed with kibbles...not even enthused about treats.

He hasn't lost any weight YET, but this has been going on for at least a week. We have managed to get him eating sometimes late at night, but not last night or all day today.

Sully has been exhibiting some strange behaviors lately, which I'll try to list:

He stopped sleeping in bed with us (or he'll get up for a short time, the bolt upright and jump out of bed to go lie in the hall...he used to sleep all night through in bed until I'd get him up around 6 am to go potty, then he'd return to sleep for several hours and eat his breakfast (dog food). He also seems to not be able to get really comfortable, keeps changing positions which are sometimes very odd looking. He stays right outside our bedroom door so he's still close to us, but I'm awake a lot during the night and hear him constantly shifting around his positions.

He seems to want to be outside all the time (unless it's hot or raining) as opposed to being in the house with us.

Several months ago, he started being VERY restless after we went to bed. About 2am, like clockwork, he'll start (almost frantically) pacing around the house, huffing & puffing, some- times whining to go out (it's almost like a panic attack).

Sometimes, he'll even jump up in the bed and start nudging and licking my face when we don't respond to letting him out during these huffing and puffing sessions (we try to ignore it, but feel "Well, maybe he really does have to go" and we don't want him to be uncomfortable, so we let him out.

One of us will usually get up & let him out in the wee hours and he'll just walk outside and lay under his tree, unless one of us goes out in the yard with him and then he'll do his business (sometimes he does nothing). He is getting harder and harder to come when called at night (almost like he'll hide from us until we walk out to get him, then he'll come back in)

Many people on Dogster have suggested that he's just "training us" to his whims, but we don't think that's the case (it seems like a psychological problem to us, but the vet has NO idea about this point). Even he said that Sully's just playing games, but we're not buying it as it came out of the blue and the not eating makes no sense at all to us.

When he is outside at night, he'll start frantically running back & forth across the front yard, quite aggresively and bark at nothing. He's still as sweet as ever with us, but this unusual behavior has been going on now for maybe a month and a half.

One thing has niggled in my mind is that is that I have contstant migraine headaches and have been having quite a bit of angina/heart pain (however, the Cardiologist says I check out ok heartwise). So, I know that some dogs can sense health issues and I sometimes feel like he's trying to tell me something...I just dont know what (is it about me or about something that's bothering him that we can't seem to get at the root of)???

And, I've had these problems the whole time we've had Sully (they ARE getting worse) but it never affected his behavior before (other than maybe 6 months ago, he suddenly smelled my breath and absolutely recoiled and for weeks wouldn't come near me, but stick like glue to Clark...Clark assures me my breath seems fine to him, but dogs have such heightened senses that I've never figured it out.

After a few months, he came right back to me as if nothing had ever happened, but lately he's back to staying off by himself or laying over by Clark's side of the bed. He loves for me to pet him and comes to me for treats, so I don't know what to think.

These night time activities really do seem to be something psychological (he gets SO frantic) but on our limited income we can't afford a dog psychologist or trainer if that's even plausible.

We're most worried about the not eating...nothing physical shows up, so what could it be?

We're just stymied here, and very concerned about him. We're trying to do everything we can for him within our capabilities, but having the vet clear him physically is a relief, yes, but leaves the question....then what IS it???

I'm sorry to make this so long, but I felt I needed to fully explain what we're experiencing with our beloved little guy. Any suggesions anyone with dog experience might have would be most welcome (so long, at this point, it doesn't involve a great deal more expense). We love Sully very much and even have a pet insurance policy on him so we never have to make a decision based on finances where his welfare is concerned (we're not ecstatic with the insurance company so far, but we're really just getting started and this is the company recommended by the Humane Society of the US).

Do you think he may have experienced some head trauma when he was younger that is just now manifesting itself? That's all we can think of, having pretty much cleared him physically with the vet.

Thanks so much for taking the time to try and help us figure this out...we're so baffled. "

[GardeningGal]

1. It does seem to me that Sully is sensing something they can't see.

If it were me, I'd suggest Linda get herself a full physical since the dog has reacted to her. I know the e-mail indicated that she checks out okay cardiac-wise so I'd want to be sure that a complete physical ruled out any other kinds of issues.

No other ideas here.

[livvy]

2. I assume he's neutered, but could he be reacting to a female in ...

the neighborhood who is in season? Male dogs can get real weird. My bouvier didn't want to eat, got real restless, and whined a lot when my female was in season. It stopped when I had him neutered, but my other neutered male still acts kind of strange when he gets the scent of a female in season.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Could there be some sort of high-pitched sound or vibration in the neighborhood...

something that only happens at night...Something that only the pup can hear?

I know that my German Shepherd gets sort of like that when there is an approaching thunder storm. I am not even aware if it yet, but he senses it and starts pacing and panting and trying to hide under my bed.

[AZBlue]

7. That's exactly what I was thinking.

Maybe a new neighbor or someone with a new schedule. A noise that upsets him or reminds him of something from his past now occurs during the night - the 2 am regular situation makes me think of someone coming home at night maybe.

[KC]

4. Have the vet

check his teeth. It might be that he has a bad, infected or loose tooth. Also have his ears checked for infection.
Our cat did the same thing with food..stopped eating ,etc. Turned out one tooth was infected and had to be pulled.

Just a thought

KC

[erinlough]

5. My dog has been doing the exact same thing!!

The restless movement, the jumping up like she hears something, I hadn't noticed her scratching, but last night when I checked her she had 4 scabs on her head where she had been scratching. I can only guess that she had a flea infestation which should not happen because we have her on flea meds, but it was the end of the medication cycle. I suggest checking her carefully.

erinlough

[ehrnst]

6. Thank you for all the great suggestions!

We've forwarded all this to the adopter, and she's going to get a second opinion, and is getting an ultrasound done to rule out an abdominal obstruction.

This is really helpful!!!

I'll post updates.

Thanks!