It has been more than a month since I’ve posted about Misha for good reason.  December was not kind to our little midget dog.

You might remember my post about the wind and how scared Misha was.  Since that day, she seemed to be off.  I couldn’t quite pinpoint it.  She just wasn’t herself.  There were several nights where she would wake up, run to the other room, then climb back inside her tent as if nothing happened.  I assumed she was hearing noises in the night.

During the day, she seemed okay.  There were times where she would suddenly look up, stare at the ceiling, then flee to the bedroom.  Nothing really out of the ordinary for Misha.  But now that I look back I realize these incidents were increasing in frequency and intensity.

We got through the holidays just fine.  New Years Eve there was a lot of revelry in my neighborhood.  People were setting off fireworks for 2 hours.  Misha was skittish.  I understood.

But, it didn’t compare to her behavior the next night.  That night, she woke around 3 am and would not settle down.  Under the bed, under the dresser, in bed with me, down the hall…  I tried to console her but nothing worked.  She was in full blown panic attack mode.  I took her potty around 5 am and again at 6:30.  Then, she went back to bed and slept for 3 hours.

That day started out okay.  She was tired, but seemed like herself.  Then, around noon, her terror repeated.  This went on for about 4 hours before she tired out and fell asleep.

She stalked me mercilessly in the evening.  She tried desperately to be on my lap, but she didn’t want to be on my lap.  She went under the computer desk where I have her safe place with her bunny.  She didn’t want to be there either.

She had another restless night which meant I didn’t sleep either.

Sunday, she woke up fine, though I could tell she was fatigued.  Lack of sleep affects dogs just like us.  Around noon, the same thing started over.  By afternoon, I was running all sorts of scenarios though my mind from disease to eating backyard mushrooms.

I began suspect the culprit was her medication.  She’d been on Proin for about 9 months for bladder leakage.  It seemed that each episode of terror occurred a couple hours after she had her pill.  I was well aware that Proin caused anxiety issues.  Was this what was happening to Misha?

I didn’t give her any that evening.  She slept pretty well.  She got up once to rearrange her body parts, then crawled back into her tent.

The next morning I gave her the dose.  Sure enough, 2 hours later she got all squirrelly on me.  That evening, I passed on the Proin and she slept like a baby.

I was pretty sure the Proin was giving her panic/anxiety attacks.  I ran it by her veterinarian.  She confirmed my suspicions.

When I look back over the last few months, I can see that around September, she was becoming a little more edgy than normal.  She started the 3 am forays around the house sometime in October.  It seemed she was hiding from flying insects more often (well, fear of the fly swatter more than insects).  It started slowly until it reach its crescendo at the end of December when all hell broke lose.

The experience has been a reminder that side effects from medication don’t always occur right away.  Sometimes they don’t occur for months or years after starting a medication.

I’m glad for all our sakes that it was so easy to figure out.  We both need our sleep!  No more Proin for Misha!  (Of course, all this happened a week after I refilled her medication…sigh)