Sue ,he needs to go to the vet ASAP . Any sudden change in behavior can be due to a medical issue . He could be in pain . Also as they get older it is harder for them to hold their pee all night . His fretting is trying to tell you something . Try giving him a larger area w a per pad for overnight . And get him to the vet . : )
Sheryl Sent from my iPhone On Jul 2, 2013, at 9:51 AM, Susanne Defoe <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, > I need some advice here. We first fostered and then adopted 12ish year old > Elmer last year. He is now 13ish. He is around 5 pounds and has 3 teeth. > He also has a very bad heart murmur/enlarged heart but has not required meds > for that yet. Because he is old and frail we tend to let him get away with a > lot of things our other 2 Chi's would never do. > > Well, Elmer is getting more and more crabby. I am the alpha dog/caretaker of > the dogs. He will snarl at me and attempt to bite me whenever I do things to > him like to get him to go outside, to put a belly band on, to pick him up, > etc. My biggest problem is that up until a few weeks ago he would happily > sleep in his crate at night. I would say "time for bed" and he would go into > his crate and wait for his treat, I would close the door and all was good for > the night. Now he will go snarling and snapping into the crate, will snarl > as I am closing the door and then he sits in there panting and crying like he > is going to die any minute. The crate is in our bedroom right next to our > other Chi's crate. It takes probably 15 minutes or more for him to calm down > and then he wakes up frequently during the night and pants and frets and paws > at the door to get out. During the day he loves to be in his crate with the > door open. It even has a heating pad in it. We have tried letting him be > loose at night and he sleeps on our sofa for part of the night and then jumps > up on the bed and wants to sleep with us in the bed. I want him to sleep in > his crate. How do I do that without him fretting and giving himself a heart > attack and keeping us up? I have tried Melatonin, Rescue Remedy and > Composure to mellow him out. I know he is trying to be dominant but am > unsure of how to deal with him because of his frailness. > > Thanks!!!! > Sue >
