Our dog, Astro, is a female Vizsla, who turns 14 this summer. She has been remarkably healthy, and led a vigorous life. Even though she has slowed down with the years, she still gets more than 60 minutes running most days.
About a week ago, we started noticing some cognitive changes in her. She seemed to be wandering more in the house, sniffing everywhere, and even sniffing us all over. In the last few days, she acts like she doesn’t know who we are, doesn’t respond to “Astro,” has been making some unusual vocalizations, acts constantly hungry, is not interested in her favorite green laser, and generally acts like she doesn’t know where she is. Her vision is still good, based on her seeing things in the distance. She has also peed in the house twice, which she hasn’t done since she was a puppy. When we took her on one of her regular walks today, she just wanted to stop and sniff everything, and ultimately we leashed her. She has no problem covering ground, she just doesn’t want to run like she did earlier in the week.
We stopped into the vet, but they can’t see her until early January.
This fits what Google says about dementia, but it seems awfully sudden. Not sure if a UTI can cause confusion like in older people. We are doing our best to keep her comfortable, but if there is some condition that is treatable, obviously we want to do that.