I’ve got a 9 year old rottie who is in great health, but definitely ‘losing it’ in the mind. Good thing he is very gentle by nature (at 130+lbs), but I’m afraid I might have to put him down even though his body is in pretty good shape..... :-(
Get his thyroid checked ~first~ [T4 and Free T4] and then have a full tick panel run on him.
we had a very large rottie/pit mix that developed grand mal seizures unknown etiology at age 7,and 2 times coming out of a seizure he didn’t recognise his family and was very aggressive- growling and circling for a few minutes and our other dog was some form of long haired black belgian (can’t remember the correct name) got protective and there was the possibility of a disaster—now the belgian was also with a temperment problem outside of immediate family,had a “justifiable bite” on the record and unfortunately had to be euthanized due to liver failure,(we don’t know how he got this either) and the mixed breed continued to have his seizures despite many drugs and blood works and maintaining serum levels but was also getting domineering at times and out of place thinking he was the boss.
He had to be euthanised at age 11 due to going in and out of seizures nonstop one night/into the morning.
Let me tell you I was always thinking of what would happen if that dog “lost it” as whatever genetics he was,the muscle tone, energy, strength,teeth and fur were like that of a 2 year old.
both guys were picked up from the street literally at about 5-6 months of age a couple of weeks apart and no one was searching for them.
guess they found us.
This happened to my beagle a few years ago. The vet told me that she was suffering a neurological disorder that was basically canine alzheimers.