Old Dog won't Sleep at Night

[deepsilver]

My 18 year old cockapoo won't sleep at night.  He sleeps during the day when we are not home and during the night he is restless.  He is up every hour seeking activity and pees on the floor when he doesn't find any.  This is making his us crazy as his activity is keeping us awake.  Having him sleep in another room or outside is not an option as he has extreme seperation anxiety.  We've tried many options to make him not be so restless including taking him for walks at night to tire him out, giving him natural pet medications to relax him,  giving him up to 50mg of Benedryl (he's only 14lbs) and as far as having the vet prescribe a low dose of acepromazine to help sedate him at night and NOTHING works.  He countinues to be up at night pacing the house.  Please help, I'm beginning to lose my sanity due to lack of sleep.  

[KnightGal1228]

I would recommend everyone have their dogs tested for Cushing's Disease.  This is something that can cause 'accident's in the house and other behaviours in older dogs.  For those of you who have vets who seem uncooperative, SEEK OUT ANOTHER VET.  Do not try to play 'doctor' yourself.  If the new vet is just as unhelpful, find another until you find the one that truly cares.

Also, many, many older dogs suffer from arthritis, and laying on the floor is a way to get pain relief.  Again, do not give your dog things you think would help.  Medications are specifically formulated for humans or animals.  Don't resort to things from your own medicine cabinet.  You may be doing more harm than good.

[KaMaLo]

I just took my 12 year old to the vet and he couldn't find any health reasons why my dog would be doing the same as most of your dogs stated above ^(Not sleeping from 2-7Am).
Charlie (my dog)doesn't seem too interesting in fun activities.. You probably think I'm full of it, but it's true. He likes walks just so he can pee on everything, so that's no problem. He doesn't play with other dogs(Like no desire too at all, even when he was little. But he did like to hang with the Pitbulls)
I could buy the funnest awesomest toy in the world and after 5 minutes of throwing it and chasing it, he's done.... He wants to chew the eyes or ears off then that's it ...
He naps during the day and I'm sure if he had it his way he'd sleep the whole day away. (I've posted a sort of more detailed question on my page thing . If you have time to answer it. I would be so greatful)
I've been farting around with his food . Went from Pedegree, Iams which is what he has now(He really likes the meaty pieces..Easier to chew) Senior balance food, Blue buffalo, and Acana. This has been in the last year not just recently.
He also gets canned  dog food sometimes(not regularly).
I asked my vet about anything and though he did mention dimentia He said he will not give me anything. and to bring him back in a couple of weeks if it consists..
Well I'm pretty sure something is wrong it's been 6-8 months now. and my dog wont sleep.
I believe  that has made his heart  murmer worse. I don't know what to do and what (meds) he can be on now that he has early stages of heart failure.
Now I do realize that this blurb makes no sense.  I just had to write something and this comment thread is the longest and most helpful I have found as of yet. I'm lost ...If my vet doesn't know what to say to me , I don't know how I can help my dog.

[helping758]

My 12 year old Kerry was having same issues and I discovered he was having issues with pancreas from too much fat in diet.   Put him on low fat diet and within a week he calmed down and is sleeping through the night.  Pacreas was in pain and the more fat he ate, the more pain he was dealing with which caused him to pace attempting to get me to figure it out.  Now we all sleep peacefully.   Find dog food with 10% fat or less.

[stardelf1978]

I have a 15 year old Staffy who hasn't really had any medical conditions in her life, except the odd minor skin issue.  She sleeps in her bed in our bedroom and has always been difficult to wake in a morning, largely due to being quite deaf.  She could sleep for 12 hours without moving.  About two weeks ago she woke up suddenly at about 2 o'clock in the morning and woke me up trying to climb on our bed, as soon as she was on, she wanted to get off, then straight back on and this went on all night.  I can see from some of the above posts above that others have experienced the same, except my dog is trembling and wants to lie practically on top of me panting directly in to my face making it impossible to sleep.  We have a fan blowing all night with the windows open, i've felt her inner ears and her body temperature is normal but she pants non stop. I know trembling would usually be a sign that she is in pain, however as soon as we get up for work, all this behaviour stops immediately.  She is still begging for food, is still very keen to go on her walks and can't wait to get to my mothers where she spends the days playing with her 3 yr old jack russell, chasing balls etc.  Absolutely no panting or trembling.  She is totally fine at home until she wakes up in the middle of the night and round we go again.  She isn't showing any signs of dementia described above, no confusion or strange behaviour at all at any other time of the day.  We've had over 15 dogs over the course of my life, all have made 14 minimum and we have experienced most old age issues but this is completely new to us.  Our vet has prescribed medication to aid her breathing, combat any infections, ease any pain but nothing has changed.  I'd appreciate any insight at all.  Thank you.

[swallace55]

I have a 19 year old chow/malmute/husky/samoyed mixed female that Is blind, deaf, decrepit, incontinant, and poops in the house.  I have found solutions for all of the above problems.  That isn't what drives me nuts.  She just won't settle down at night.  She gets me or my husband up nearly every hour of the night.  It starts around 11 at night and stops around 7 in the morning.  We put her out in a fenced yard in the daytime so she can cool down since the house is too hot for her and get some walking in (she paces in circles if she can get up).  
  Why is she awake at night and asleep in the day?  Seems totally backward and goes against all good common sense.

[Leebeehunt]

Yesterday i had to put our 15.5 yr old cockapoo down.   He had severe cognitive disorder with non stop pacing and confusion.  He was deaf for a few years now and was wetting on the floor.  we put a diaper wrap on him which worked wonderfully.   That controlled the urine until he began to poop - whenever it came upon him around the house.  His life ended with severe diareah (yellow mustard). Therefore , i believe he had liver failure possibly mistaken for cognitive disorder.  His urine smelled skunk like with a brown tint.  the Standard (Bloodwork at the vet did not show any disorder...  ) So in addition to the cognitive disorder i wish had paid  attention to changing his diet to counter  the possible liver disorder.  He was in awesome physical shape, yet his mental state was bazaar along with very black eyes.   When ammonia toxins peak in the dogs body the behavior is similar to the cognitive disorder.   So it's worth  monitoring both conditions....as certain foods should have been avoided with any liver disorder.