Why is my old dog hard to wake up? Is this normal or a concern?

If your dog is otherwise fit and healthy and there are no worrying signs, like weight loss, poor appetite, excessive thirst, excercise intolerance, seizures etc he most likely is fine and these two episodes were just due to very deep sleep. However, please, report these episodes to your local vets when you see them next time. They will fully examine your dog (including neurological examination) to make sure that there is nothing to worry about.

She could have been so deeply asleep she might not have noticed you picking her up. She is an older dog and possibly starting to be hard of hearing as well. If she woke up shortly after and is behaving normally, I would not worry too much. If she had a problem waking up, then you should have her seen by a veterinarian.

It sounds like he is experiencing typical geriatric changes. There is not much we can do to restore hearing if caused by aging. The energy definitely slows down as they age. A daily canine multi vitamin may help. If you haven't been getting his blood checked once a year I would consider this and go see your vet to have this done as there certainly are diseases that can cause shadow to feel lethargic and sleepy. In regards to going up stairs, it sounds like arthritis may be slowing him down a bit. I would consult your vet about pain medications that you can give shadow to help with arthritis. Dasuquin for dogs is a great product along with omega 3 fish oils to aid in reducing inflammation. Welactin is a great fish oil product you can get over the counter. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please contact me with any additional concerns you may have!

Is he running into things around the house? He could be suffering from some blindness which can make them hypersensitive to anyone coming around their face. If this is all of the sudden, it could be due to high blood pressure and I would have your vet check him out to see if he needs to be on any blood pressure meds. Another possibility is that he may have had a seizure in his sleep which caused the twitching. After a seizure, they can be very hypersensitive to any touch or movement until they snap out of it. If he isn't improving, I would definitely have your vet take a look at him to see if there is anything else going on. If he doesn't snap out of it suddenly, then I would believe even more than it was likely a seizure. I would call your vet and talk to them about the seizure. Your vet will likely recommend a panel of bloodwork to ensure there isn't anything metabolically wrong that could have caused a seizure. I would recommend to start a seizure log which records the date, time and what he did during and after the seizure. If these episodes begin to happen often then I would contact your vet about this as well. I hope this helps!

His doesn't sound like anything to be concerned about. She is getting older so it is udnerstandsble that she may not rouse as easily as she once did in her younger years. Also the description of events suggest she was having very vivid dreams and the eye twitching is normal when a pet is asleep. This is an indication of REM sleep. Also pets are often limp when they are completely asleep. However if you still are concerned about Precious, then there are no issues with taking her in to your vet for a standard physical exam to ensure she is in healthy condition.

Poor Shaggy sound very lethargic! If he doesn't want to get up and is randomly squeaking, he could be in pain. Arthritis is very common in older dogs. I would take Shaggy into the vet for an exam first thing in the morning. The vet can diagnose if he is suffering from arthritis, and can give him some pain meds for it. Rimadyl (an NSAID) is a good drug to give to help with the symptoms of arthritis. I also recommend giving him glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate supplements. They provide the necessary nutrients for cartilage repair and function. Use of them helps relieve some of the symptoms of arthritis, and you can use it in conjuction with Rimadyl to help maximize relief from his symptoms.

At 3years of age he would generally expected to be more active but every dogs character is different and some are very placid. If his behavior has changed over the last 3 months I strongly recommend a full health check by your vet to rule out medical or painful conditions which may be reducing his mobility