Dog suddenly needy.

Dr. Marie replied:

I can't say that this is something that I've seen commonly. It does seem a little bit odd that your dog was relatively aloof and now he is obsessed with being with you.

I'm afraid I don't really have an answer for you though. My first suggestion was going to be to have him have a thorough physical exam to make sure he is not trying to tell you that he has a health issue, but it sounds like that's not the issue.

This is probably totally not the cause, but I know when I was pregnant all of my animals did this to me. Any chance that's possible?

It's also possible that when he stayed with your friend somehow your friend conditioned this behavior in him. But, if this is the case I'm not sure how you would "uncondition" it.

The moaning sort of has me concerned though. Chihuahua dogs are really prone to a couple of things that can cause them some pain such as back problems or anal gland issues. I've seen some dogs get more needy when they're dealing with this type of issue. If your vet doesn't feel like he has any obvious issue then perhaps they would be willing to do a trial of pain meds. If he is better on the pain medication then I would go into deeper investigations for pain issues.

If it get much worse then you can talk to your vet about prescribing anti-anxiety medication which may help.

Sorry I don't have an exact answer for you!

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

Interesting. I think it is certainly possible that your dog is picking up on something that you are not even aware of. But, at this point it would be tough to say what that is!