Maggie's Woes

Hi,

Maggie - my ten year old Canadian domestic - has just visited been diagnosed with a long litany of woes and it's got me worried! She has a "stage 3" heart murmur and that sounds serious. She has an enlarged thyroid, but I know that meds can probably help that. She also has some tooth and nerve problems that seem to have come up almost overnight. I'm waiting for tests, but it's pretty scary.

Initially, I took her to the vet because she's taken to waking me up every night between 2 and 3, pawing at the wall or the head of the bed. If I go and feed her fresh food, she usually eats a mouthfull or two and settles down, only to wake up again at 5 a.m. Every day. The vet isn't sure what this is all about, but it happened before a year or so ago after we renovated our bedroom. Once I moved the furniture back where it was, she settled down for a couple of months. The vet doesn't seem to know what's bringing this behaviour on, but thinks that maybe if I get the other stuff resolved Maggie will be OK.

Has anyone ever heard of similar problems - with the waking up I mean? Many thanks, E.

Is your dog on meds for the hypothyroidism?

I think you may have trained your dog to wake you up in the middle of the night for a snack.:p
I accidentally did this with one of my older cats,who would wake me for a snack every night at 1:00a.m.!

To break her of this habit, you'll have a few sleepless nights, but it's the only way to resolve it.

When she wakes you, you must either ignore her, or remove her from the room. Dont' react, or say anything, or give her the regular snack - just lead her out and close your door.

Dogs do only what works, and if waking you gets her nothing fun or pleasureable, and in fact gets her ejected from the bedroom, she will learn to stop doing it.

Pssssst LR,this is a cat..... :D

Pssssst LR,this is a cat.....

OH.:p Duh.....

Then my advice applies even more, because this is just what I did with my older cat.

We had just moved to this house, and my old gal starting crying in the middle of the night. I would get up and give her some treats - usually cream and cheese - to quiet her.

So.....she thought "Wow, how cool! I wake her up and she gives me yummy things! I'll do this every night!" And she did. She was smarter than I, obviously.

I finally came to my senses, and at the first cry at 1:00a.m., I got up, grabbed her and deposited her in the bathroom.

I can just picture her sitting there, thinking, "Where's the cream? Where's the cheese?"

But she got the message and it only took a couple nights.

What a lucky cat you had! All Maggie gets is some tinned catfood! :p

Seriously tho', thanks for the suggestion, but we tried this. In fact, we were event away in Europe for two weeks and Maggie was at home with my folks. I thought perhaps after that extended a period of NOT being catered to, she'd have overcome it, gotten the point, whatever.... Unfortunately, this hasn't proven to be the case, hence the visit to the vet to see if there's something medical behind the behaviour.

Thanks again, E.