CANINE COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION by Kim Gillette, Esq. and Dr. Rafe H. Schindler
C anine Cognitive Dysfunction, or CCD, is a combination of what we know as Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia. The American Heritage Dictionary 1 defines these as follows: • dementia (di’ men’ she) n. 1. Irre- versible deterioration of intellec- tual faculties with accompanying emotional disturbance resulting from organic brain disorder. 2. Madness, insanity. • Alzheimer’s disease is (akts’ hi- merz, alts’) n. A severe neuro- logical disorder marked by pro- gressive dementia and cerebral cortical atrophy. CCD, sometimes called “doggy de- mentia,” is an age-related neurobe- havioral syndrome in dogs that leads to a decline in cognitive function. It is a unique disorder that is not breed- specific, but rather age dependent. It affects all dog breeds equally. The prevalence of CCD in smaller breeds, such asHavanese, arises only because these breeds tend to live longer, and the dog’s owners are able to observe more of the symptoms emerging over time. MANIFESTATIONS OF CCD: CCD is an umbrella term em- bracing four separate cognitive behavioral patterns: 1. Involutive Depression: This oc- curs in the dog’s later years and is similar to chronic depression in humans. Untreated anxieties seem to play a key role. Some of the symptoms include circling, wandering, house soiling, leth- argy, sleep disorders, decreased learning, and vocalizing. 2. Dysthymia: This causes a loss of awareness of body length and size. Dogs with dysthymia often
get stuck behind furniture, or in a corner. Other common symp- toms of dysthymia are disrupted sleep-wake cycles, constant growling, whining or moaning, and aggressive behavior. 3. Hyper-Aggression: Dogs with hyper-aggression tend to bite first and warn second. 4. Confusional Syndrome: This is the profound decline in cogni- tive ability. It is the closest thing to Alzheimer’s in humans. Con- fusional syndrome results in a decrease in activity levels, a de- creased desire to explore, and a decreased response to things, people, and sounds in the dog’s environment. The dog is less focused and shows altered re- sponses to stimuli. With confu- sional syndrome, dogs forget fa- miliar features in their lives, and in more advanced stages, dogs forget who their owners are. DISTINGUISHING CCD FROM OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES The changes associated with CCD are subtle, and the gradual variations in the dog’s behavior can be challeng- ing to notice for even the most atten- tive owner. In her book, Remember Me? Loving and Caring for a Dog with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction , 2 Ei- leen Anderson lists the most frequent signs of CCD: • Pacing back and forth or in circles. • Staring into space or at walls. • Walking into corners or other tight places and staying there. Lack of spatial awareness. • Appearing lost or confused in otherwise familiar places. • Waiting at the hinged side of the
door to go out. • Failing to get out of the way when someone opens a door. • Failing to remember routines, or starting them and getting only partially through. • Sundowning or mixing up wake and sleep patterns. A change in sleep patterns, or a disruption in circadian rhythms, is one of the more specific symptoms related to canine cognitive dysfunction. A dog that used to sleep soundly at night, now paces all night long. • Altered interactions with family members or other pets. Social be- havior replaced with crankiness and irritability. • House soiling; this is one of the most common ways CCD is dis- tinguished in dogs, especially if the dog was previously house- trained. • Changes in activity level. Taken together, these are the most common signs of CCD. However, in- dividually, they may simply be a seri- ous medical problem and not CCD. A thorough physical exam, including blood pressure measurement, urinal- ysis, blood tests, and a careful review of the medical history should be used to rule out health problems that have similar symptoms to CCD. Some examples follow. The behaviors associated with the on- set of impaired vision and/or loss of hearing in older dogs can frequently be confused with CCD. Loss of hear- ing and/or sight can lead to confu- sion and less interaction with family members, but [this may] not be CCD. Health issues in senior dogs, such as diabetes, millitus, Cushing’s disease, kidney disease, and incontinence, can all lead to unexpected urination
30 • T op N otch T oys , N ovember 2021
Powered by FlippingBook