Hello Everyone...
New to the Chow Chow forum. Meet our Mango (see pix).
Mango is about 11 years old. We got him from the Chow rescue in the summer of 1996. He is a very important member of our family. Mild mannered, well behaved, social, and very laid back. He is healthy and visited the vet for his annual checkup 3 months ago. We love him very much.
Mango has a problem, and I will describe it by telling you how he behaves
during these "episodes".
Usually happens later in the evening or late at night when we are sleeping. He begins to pant, tongue hanging. He seems to be a little disoriented walking around aimlessly. He looks for confined spaces, like under the desk, in the bottom of a closet, into a corner, etc. and begins to paw slowly as if trying to uncover something. He wimpers slightly. His panting becomes very heavy and his nose is dry and warm. He does respond to me and understands.
We have found that he wants to go outside on the porch (cold?) lays quietly, with his head up, and seems to calm down. He regains his normal calm demeanor after about 20-30 minutes. We bring him in and he drinks water from his bowl. Panting has stopped, and his nose is moist and cold. All is OK again.
This has been happening for several months, one episode every 2 weeks or so. Sometimes we find the contents of the closet bottom all over the room, or the computer wires under my desk all tangled, and last night he was wedged in the space between the wall and the washer pawing away, a gallon bottle of detergent toppled over and the gooey liquid all over him and the floor.
The vet is puzzled. He says dementia...maybe.
Anyone have similar experiences or knowledge of what this might be, and how we can help our Mango boy ??
.
