QUESTION

Trudie has started behaving strangely at night by digging up my carpets at the front door and howling. She does this constantly and will not be comforted, the vet said a few months ago that she was slightly blind and losing her hearing but is fine during the day unless she gets left alone, she is eating normaly but drinking a bit more also has lost a slight amount of weight. The vet prescribed vivitonin one tab twice daily two weeks ago but didn't seem to know much about it. I have not seen any change in her behavior and the vet has now taken blood to see if anything will show up. Do you think vivitonin is the right way to go for the dementia or can do anything else as she is happy and healthy every other way?

Lorraine

ANSWER

Dear Lorraine,
Vivitonin can increase the blood supply to the brain and so can sometimes help with senile changes in dogs. In other cases it does nothing at all. The only way is to try it and see- you need about one month to monitor any change.

Julian Norton