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.  

[mikz]

I also has the same problems with my yellow labrador puppy, he doesn't sleep at night, only if I scoot down near  his sleeping area and wait for 30 min. for him to sleep. After an hour he's awake again and super active, that he wakes me up to play. He also prefers to sleep in the morning for awful long hours I guess 5 hours or so. And even if you wake him up or try to play with him, he won't budge and just keep on sleeping. He also has a very small appetite. Please tell me what to do?

[ginger899]

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[ginger899]

I do certainly understand how difficult this must be for you. Incredibly difficult, as we can handle things ok if we get our sleep, but things become impossible if we are sleep-deprived. I understand from a personal point of view, as the last year or so of my mother's life were like this. She was suffering from dementia which got worse with every passing day, and seemed to have no concept of bedtime, or getting-up time, and no awareness of other peoples' needs. She was sweet and gentle, but would shout out in the night to go to the bathroom, or something. It was very very hard, particularly on my brother who did the largest portion of the caring duties.

If your dog seems fine at all other times, and it's just during the night he is restless, then I wonder -is it the quietness at night which might bother him or make him anxious? Does he sleep any hours during the day? If he does, I wonder if it might make a difference if you were to ration his daytime sleep (I know it sounds a litte cruel) if you can, so that he would be more ready to fall asleep and hopefully stay asleep longer at night (after his medication and a little food perhaps)? If you ended up getting 6-7 hours sleep a night it would make a great difference.
It sometimes used to work ok with my mother, if we managed to keep her distracted so she wouldn't nap in the day (hard work but worth it!) she would then stay asleep longer at night without getting up or shouting out.

Do you take him out to pee very last thing before bed? Wanting to pee could possibly be disturbing his sleep?
Some drugs can cause diuresis (peeing more) as a side effect, but I just looked up Anipryl, and it doesn't say ths, but it does say that it CAN cause restlessness or hyperactivity sometimes in the early stages of treatment.

I'm surprised the Valium doesn't knock him out! I'm wondering if perhaps the vet is using a very conservative dose, wanting to see what happens with a certain dosage, etc, and it may be that he needs a higher dosage? I do think maybe you should run all these problems past your vet, and see what he suggests. You may be able to get to speak to the vet by phone rather than make an appointment. It wouldn't cost anything to do that.

[Strasner]

My apologies for the type o's - on my phone

[Strasner]

I'm doing research as I M having similar issues with a Lhasa mix who's age is unknown tho we guess about 15.  He's on 2 mg of Melatonin, 5 mg of Valium every night - omega 3 fish oil as well as his 3 week of Anapril for dimentia.  My dog doesn't get much exercise - he's mostly blind and mostly def so it's a good 20 min walk to the end of the sidewalk!   I'm about at my wits end.  I do rescue and have my others in training classes - so I try to sty informed and do what's best.  He's 30 kbs and can't get through the doggie door on his own - so he barks to be carried in and out our back door - steps.  He won't use a ramp and I have constant pain now in my shoulder and neck from picking him up so many times ...   The Valium and melatonin work for about 4 hours - he is wide awake barking to go outside at 3 am- then he will settle for about 30 mon and start barking again.   I've tried a crate, special sleep spot and putting him on my bed.   The ONLY thing working right now is if I give him a little food then  move to the couch and have him lay on the couch w me.  But this is at 4 or 5 am wvery night.   We know hw has a tumor on his liver which was randomly discovered they an X-ray for another reason.  He doesn't seem to be in pain - and is fine and content all others times - but from 3-7 am it is just awful and I don't know what to do.  They said the anapril may take 30 days and we are in Weeek 3-praying this makes a difference.  Sigh

[Margot49]

I went through something similar with my aunt's dog I brought home to live with us after my aunt passed.  I definitely believe they can and do suffer from dementia.  She had always slept on the bed but, as she got older, she would get restless, jump off the bed, want back up, paced, etc.  Yes, lost a lot of sleep.  I finally put her bed, with a blanket in it, under my dressing table and she settled down and slept there.  My aunt also went through this scenario with one of her Scotties and the dog would get up and pee everywhere.  I assume the dog sleeps in your room?  Does it just have a bed or use a crate?  You probably don't have one but I find ex-pens come in handy.  You could try putting an ex-pen around the dog's sleeping are to keep it contained, preferably in your room.  Put a small blanket or towel in the bed. Often, dogs love to *nest*.  You might try leaving a night light on near the dog's bed or put a radio near the sleeping area and put on very low so it doesn't disturb you.  I'm surprised the ACE didn't work. You might try asking your Vet about trying some Melatonin and have him/her recommend the dose.  Perhaps a low dose of Valium.  Is he on any other meds like maybe Pred? Some of those meds can cause nervousness and irritability.  Also, I would try to feed dinner no later then 6:00 PM and try to limit water intake before bed time.
So hard taking care of the old ones sometimes and knowing what they want or need.
Good luck. Hope you can get some sleep!