Conditions that can affect your dog’s sleep

15th January 2020

If your dog is unwell, they may struggle to get a good night’s sleep. It can be difficult to determine if your dog isn’t sleeping well, as it’s likely you’ll be sleeping at the same time as them. An Animo activity and behaviour monitor can give you an insight into your dog’s night by providing a nightly sleep quality score.

If the score drops and remains low for several nights, then you may need to investigate if they have developed a condition that is adversely affecting their sleep.

Arthritis

Many older dogs suffer from arthritis, with painful joints keeping them up at night. You will want to make sure they don’t over-exercise during the day as this can make their joints hurt more when they settle down for the night. As well as tracking sleep quality, Animo can help you monitor your dog’s activity levels and set daily activity goals so that you can make sure they don’t exercise too much.

Allergies

If your dog develops an allergy, they might want to scratch more, which will disturb them at night. Animo can detect increased levels of scratching so if you notice this as well as a decline in sleep quality then you might want to take your dog to the vet so that they can investigate if your dog has developed an allergy.

Fleas

If left untreated, fleas can lead to excessive scratching and open wounds. Just like allergies, scratching due to fleas can keep your dog awake at night. It’s important to treat an infestation of fleas as soon as you find them so that it doesn’t get to the stage where your dog is scratching themselves red raw, which can lead to other problems like infections. If you look through your dog’s fur and discover small black flecks, this is likely to be flea dirt. Speak to your vet for advice about flea treatment.

Separation anxiety

Many dogs don’t like being alone, so as soon as they are put in a room by themselves at night with the lights off, their separation anxiety could take hold and they might struggle to get to sleep. To help combat this, tire them out during the day through both physical and mental stimulation. Make sure they have a comfortable bed in a quiet area of the house, away from external noises that could disturb their sleep further. You also try ADAPTIL diffuser which sends “comforting messages” similar to those a puppy receives from their mother when they are young. This helps to relax nervous dogs.