Sharing something quite personal today. Sometimes we look for answers and there's none to be found, we can only share our experiences and hope it helps or comforts someone who needs to hear it.
Those who have been following us online or visiting lately will have noticed a lot of changes here at the ferretry. Not just the new enclosures we’re building and getting made but we’ve really added a lot to the kit guide (I’ll put the new sections on here eventually, those from the future please note it is updates every year so in 2021 you’ll probably want to check out our new copy 😉 ), we’ve got 2 new puppies on the team and Molly’s been kept at a distance from visitors. Someone’s mentioned lately that I’m a busy woman lol the truth is this is more a coping mechanism for what’s wrong.
That’s what I really want to talk about. We have finally got to grips with what is wrong with Molly which is great but… it’s not something we can fix. Molly’s got doggy dementia, also called canine cognitive disorder or CCD. In short, her memory is failing her.
We’re having difficulty medicating without triggering her other health issues so that leaves us supplementing and managing her. Supplements won’t help her since she gets all the supplements in high proportions in her diet already, so we’re left with managing her. It’s not as straight forward as it seems.
She gets up she goes out for a pee with the pups, plays with them then sits in the kitchen until breakfast… most days. That’s her routine, that’s what we do but some days she just doesn’t want to go downstairs, or wants to go in the crate, or doesn’t want to stay in the kitchen or howls. She’s started pretending to pee in the garden and then wetting the bed… and then sitting in it (???) and not wanting to get off for us to wash it, sometimes she goes out for a pee several times in a row like she can’t remember if she’s been or not. She’s getting up at strange times in the night, crying and wandering. Advice is to crate her but she’s always slept on the bed at night so that’s even stranger to her and she spends the night yowling. She spends half her time dismissive of everything, the rest confused and even scared, she’s always been a nervous dog with a balshy attitude. She’s lost that attitude now. She’s not herself.
And that’s what hurts so much, she’s not our Molly. We love her so much, but she barely seems to know herself. I trimmed my hair and put a fringe in recently. I always had one growing up, she seems to know me better now. We think that might be why she plays with the pups too, one looks very like Tammie when she was young. Sometimes we wonder if she has any quality of life in this new neverworld her brain has put her in. But she’s not in pain. But she’s doesn’t want to interact with anyone most of the time preferring to stay in her bed. She seems so happy at times but is that enough? What really constitutes a quality of life?
We’ve tried the “recommended” way of managing her and it doesn’t work for her, so we’re winging it. We’re not ready to let her go yet but I don’t know if we’re doing the right thing. I wish we could ask her, the real Molly. I wish this was something we could make better. I wish this wasn’t going to get worse. But it will and where do we draw the line?
That’s why I’m busy. I’m throwing myself into all the other pets to distract me, to stop me worrying about her, to help me feel less useless.
Wish us the best
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