Hi - I feel a bit silly posting this but we're a bit worried about our female lab. She's 6 years old and normally very perky and 'up for it' but in the last four days she seems to be behaving differently. She's more subdued around the house, tail often low (not tucked between lega, but lower than normal) unless fussed - then it wags, she seems more wary as well - if we're doing anything near her bed she gets out of it rather than, as before, lying there and watching what we're doing. It's like she's nervous we're going to drop something on her (we haven't!) while she's in her bed. She is also nervous of her food which is so different it is worrying - when we encourage her to eat she gobbles it down as normal but she almost needs permission to eat. One very weird thing the other day, I went past her bed and as I usually do patted her on her head and she yelped and jumped out - she was awake before I patted her so it wasn't that I startled her awake and the pat was gentle. I rubbed her head gently to see if it was tender and she no showed no sign of discomfort but it really shook me up - probably more than her! When we take her out she is fine but possibly a little bit less energetic than normal - or are we looking to hard...not sure. She has not been exposed to any incident that we know of that caused her to be frightened (we've been with her for the past week apart from leaving her for a couple of hours max while we're shopping) and she has not been separated from us or her home, but in many respects it is almost as if we had been away and she got unsettled. We wondered if she is in pain and have gently explored her all over to try and find any tenderness or any wounds/lumps etc. We're not experts/vets but we found nothing. So, we're at a loss to know if it is in her mind (i.e. something has happened to upset her) or she has a virus or similar or if she is in pain or something else. We had one thought - she is spayed but do spayed bitches have 'phantom' seasons ? Could it be that (there's no other symptoms but we're just wondering as it seems to be a mood change rather than physical) ? We'll probably take her to the vet tomorrow if she is the same but just wondered if anyone has any thoughts on what could be the problem? Thanks
Re: Change in behaviour - subdued and wary I'm sure you feel worried about your girl. I'd take her to the vet for sure, and ask the vet to look throughly in her mouth. And I mean thoroughly, not just a quick look. He should be checking for broken or cracked teeth. You know your dog and obviously something is not right with her. My first thought would be pain of some kind. Let us know how you get on with the vet.
Re: Change in behaviour - subdued and wary I was just going to say, a very thorough check over at the vets, especially of teeth and ears, would be the next port of call for me in your situation. Hope you find out what the problem is, as it is worrying for you and something is obviously upsetting her. Do let us know how you get on.
Re: Change in behaviour - subdued and wary I agree with Rachael and Karen I would definitely take her for a check up. However my friend had a very similar problem with one of her Rottweiler bitches a couple of months ago. She became very wary as if scared but only at home. She was fine on walks and behaved normally. My friend took her to the vets who did a thorough check up and full bloods but could find nothing wrong. The strange behaviour went on for two or three weeks gradually getting back to normal. No idea what the problem was although she was only a few weeks off coming into season so my friend wondered if it was connected to that.
Re: Change in behaviour - subdued and wary Ah you must be really worried ,she sounds a lovely dog that gets lots of love and attention for you ... Let us know what the vet says after your visit and I hope she seems herself more soon x
Re: Change in behaviour - subdued and wary To update, and glad to say it's good news! We took Lola to the vet yesterday, but it was a bit like when you take the car to the garage and the fault doesn't occur. She was much more perky in the morning and pretty well her normal self and totally confident. However, we thought better safe than sorry and still took her to vet who gave her a complete once over, teeth, eyes, temperature all ok; ears fine but a bit mucky in one, but not enough to cause distress; no muscle/joint pain; all organs felt from outside normal. So it is a bit of a mystery but we and the vet suspect that she probably ate something that disagreed with her (she is a lab after all) - but it is supposition. We're keeping a close eye on her but she is totally fine so far which is obviously a big relief.
Re: Change in behaviour - subdued and wary great news...and you'll feel better having had her checked out!
