3:30am Wake Up Call

[astahley]

For the last 2 weeks, my 5 year Rottie has been waking me up at 3:30am in the morning. She comes over to MY side of the bed and starts whining (why not my husband's side?:)). I thought she wanted to go outside to go potty. Nope. Maybe she's hot since she is panting A LOT. So I turn on the fan. She has been scratching in licking a lot. So I gave her a bath. She just wants me to get out of bed, sit and pet her. I tried telling her to lie down on her bed. She goes there and comes back. We have a crate and she refuses to go in it. Our trainer told us not to force her in it. Once in it, she whines and whines and rubs her nose again the metal gate. She refuses the treat that we give her when she is in the crate. So we've given up on the crate.

I need my sleep. Help! I am tried of watching my husband sleep! :p

[Beckysmom]

Start with a full veterinary check up. she may be trying to tell yuo she is hurting or not feeling well. I don't want to alarm you but some cancers, serious stuctural problems, etc. start out with something like this. Not being able to sleep and panting was how one of our dog's heart problem first presented. Possibly the dog was woken up by an irregular heart beat and just wanted the comfort of having a person's attention. I have also had a cat who normally was very independent signal that he was failing with a similar routine of early am wakings and soliciting attention that were not characteristic. If physical reasons are ruled out, then you can probably get a bunch of ideas for how to help this as a behavioual matter. For starters, banning the dog from bedroom would probably get you a oood night sleep. Trading side of bed with spouse, earplugs....

[Cassandra]

In my experience, I never found my dog to bother me for trivial matters...at least not in the way your describing. My dog started doing something similiar. She wanted me to pet her in the middle of the night. A year later I found she had cancer. I think she hurt in the night and wanted comforting.

Not to alarm you but maybe your girl doesn't feel well and is trying to tell you something?

~ Cas

[astahley]

Beckysmom & Cassandra, thanks for your suggestion. I will make an appointment with my vet today. Thanks. I hope it's nothing but an upset stomach. :(

[Beckysmom]

I hope it is just an upset stomach too, or nightmares.

But make sure she gets a really thorough check up, not just a cursory look. --as I think you just saw from both of us probably simultaneously writing similar thing and posting within moments of each other, not that one saw the other's post, too many people have experienced being annoyed by a beloved pet keeping us up at night only to discover that the pet had an extremely serious illness. And if so, learning this sooner when there may be something possible to do about it is better than later. Ask specifically about heart and cancer possibilities. Let us know how the vet visit goes.

also, the itching could be related or could indicate allergies or parasites or need of a different food, so mention that at same time. And when she wakes you up and you are petting her, it might help to notice if there is anyplace that seems sore, particularly perhaps paying attention to shoulders and hips where osteosarcoma tends to start, or anything odd in addition to the panting, you could check her temperature and feel over her heart or get a pulse rate yourself at that time.

Kate

[astahley]

Kate, Brandy has HD. The vet said it is not serious but has put her on G3 (glucuosomine) and rimadyl. I just switched her to Innova.

Now I am worried. Brandy weights 86lbs and only eats 1/2 cup of Innova and 1/2 can of wet dog food. Sometimes she hardly eats. The vet said not to worry because Brandy is readily and willing to eat human food.

I called the vet. He is book solid. I am calling a few friends to see where they take their pets. My poor baby!

[fbkeays]

Originally posted by astahley
She has been scratching in licking a lot.

There was two reasons why I got a complete physical on my Misty last May. One was that she was scratching and licking a lot without any apparent reason and the second was she just seemed to be acting old. She was 7 after all, but she just didn't seem like her self.
She had the very early stage of lymphoma. I did a little research and found out that unexplained itching is a human symptom of lymphoma. It was so early that only one lymph node was just slightly different feeling- not swollen, just a tiny bit different feel. It was too early to even get enough cancer cells from the needle biopsy. It took 3 weeks to finally get a difinative anwser.
I am very fortunate that I have a vet that really believes me when I say the dog isn't right. I am sure that if I took her to another vet that they would dismiss that one lymph as proof that she had a skin problem and the lymph was reacting to that and forget about taking a sample of the lymph.
Misty's blood panel was perfect, every indication showed that she was perfectly healthy, except for that itching and the barely different feel to the one lymph. I can't remember if she was panting more then usual or not.
Excessive panting is a sign of pain too.
Misty has been on chemo for going on 4 months now and is enjoying life. She will be 8 next month and I am very confident that she will see her 9th.
Praying that it isn't serious.

[astahley]

My husband called the vet. The vet said that we might have OD on the rimadyl since Brandy was groaning when she gets up and sits down because of the HD. I told him no way. She got a 75 mg pill in the morning and 1 in the evening. The vet said maybe her bed was not comfortable causing her to get up.

I see $$$$ for the office visit ($65), x-ray ($80 per x-ray) and bloodwork ($75 - $200 depending on type of work done). I feel like I am a bad mommy. I wished I had more money.:(

[carolynnl4]

Trust me, I Know how you feel about the money.
2 weeks after I got my baby, she started to get sick. To figure out what was wrong, she had x-rays, bloodwork, lots and lots of pills, expensive prescribed food, a sonogram, and finally, surgery.
But I'm a student...and at this time, I was about to quit my job and start law school, and money was *very* tight.
But I talked to my vet about it, and he really helped me on a lot of things. I even have a sneaking suspicion that when he took her to the animal hospital for her sonogram he didn't put that on my bill. (Which ended up at almost $2000 -- paid for it with school loans.)
Your vet wants her well just as much as you do, and if you talk to him about it, there might be payment plans or generic or *something* he can do.

Hang in there...it's only been a month since Athena's surgery, and I already know it's money that I will *never* regret spending.

[astahley]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question. I see the vet on Saturday. I'll keep everyone posted.

[Karnac]

I have two dobies who sleep in kennels in my bedroom. I normally get up at 4:30 a.m. but if I am not careful with the dogs they will make it 3 or 3:30 a.m. I was able to solve a lot of this by making sure they are in the back yard from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and don't have anything to eat or drink after 7:00 p.m. When I do this they sleep until the alarm goes off. Assuming that your medical exam turns out o.k. you might try this as they sleep later when they are tired and don't have an urgent need to relieve themselves.

[JeanT]

Did your vet do liver function testomg (part of a full blood work up) before starting the Rimadyl and has LFT been done since? Insist on LFT. Rotties are sensitive to Rimadyl. Most common life threatening problem is liver disfunction. It doesn't always apprear early in treatment.

I would stop the Rimadyl immediately until the LFTs are back. -- And up the glucosamine and chondriotman with Ester C!

[Cassandra]

ugh...Rimadyl. My girl vomited on it and then couldn't control her kidneys and started peeing in the house. She was mortified. She was such a dignified dog and she would have such a horrified look on her face when she lost it in the house.

I didn't know what to do because she would cry in the night and was in so much pain...it was heartbreaking as the months wore on. One day I received a flyer in the mail for a glucosomine for horses and dogs. I thought I would give it a try because of the testimonials, they seemed pretty convincing.

I was absolutely amazed at the difference. I took my dog off Rimadyl in two weeks of using the product. She became a young dog again, running up and down the stairs, spinning and zomming around. For six months she was a happy pain free animal. I was able to spend my last times with her joyously. Here's the link to the product: http://www.springtimeinc.com/live/details.asp?prodid=33

It is a very sweet, powdery product and I needed to put it in wet food for her to take it.

astahley - I really hope it's just a tummy ache. My good wishes are with you!

[astahley]

Karnac - I will try your suggestion after all the tests are done at the vet.

JeanT - I will ask my vet to do the LFT test that you suggested.

Cas - Thanks for the website. I will check it out. If the product worked for your sweetie, hopefully it will work with mine.

I will ask my vet to do a thorough exam on Brandy this Saturday. I don't know what this consist of? Does anyone? I want to make sure all the necessary test are done by the vet. Thanks!

[Beckysmom]

Originally posted by astahley
Kate, Brandy has HD. The vet said it is not serious but has put her on G3 (glucuosomine) and rimadyl. I just switched her to Innova.

Now I am worried. Brandy weights 86lbs and only eats 1/2 cup of Innova and 1/2 can of wet dog food. Sometimes she hardly eats. The vet said not to worry because Brandy is readily and willing to eat human food.

I called the vet. He is book solid. I am calling a few friends to see where they take their pets. My poor baby!

Suggestion: read the book The Nature of Animal Healing by Martin Goldstein DVM.