I know this must seem like a strange post but I was wandering if any one else with pets had noticed their pets behaving strangly when having a bout of Afib. My dog would suddenly stop whatever he was doing and just sit and stare at me. He then comes up really slowly , close to my face and smells my mouth, I have wakened up at night to find him beside my bed staring at me at me ,at first I thought he was 'loosing his marbles ' but I now know he does this when I am in Afib . Not all my bouts were too bad and didnt really notice some of them at first, its only when I have to urinate pints that I now recognise what was happening . With his behaviour I am now aware sometimes beforehand what is about to happen. Then there's my two cats who are typical cats and do their own thing, only look at you when they want food. Their behaviour changes if I am having a really bad turn and have to lay down (sadly this is happening a lot more these days ) They will come and lay on top of me and stay by my side for hours, they are brothers and are 13 years old and have never behaved this way before . I was just curious if anyone else had noticed their pets behaved differently.
pets and AF: I know this must seem like... - Atrial Fibrillati...
pets and AF
Interesting yet not surprised to be honest. I have one cat left who only realy wants my wife and has never shown any interest in my heart rate. No dogs either but considering what wonderful things caring animals (hearing dogs etc) do for their owners I wouldn't dicount it. Probably picking up minute audible markers with their acute hearing. Lucky you.
Had to reply because I am a cat lover but I find mine is a bit wary of me if I am unwell in any way, not necessarily AF. He obviously thinks he might get it too and is not as caring as yours.
When I was a child my mother had terrible sciatica and was confined to her bed. Our cat refused to go anywhere near her, although usually she was his favourite. This convinced her that she was dying but fortunately she lived through it and the cat resumed his favourite place on her lap. They are a law unto themselves…
Must admit I have been quite freaked out by their behaviour. For a while I was convinced my time was coming to an end and the animals could tell .
But I think (and hope ) I have a lot more time left on this earth
. Wouldn't be without my 'fur babies' they do make me smile when times are rough.
What a lovely heart warming post. It makes me wish that I had a dog.
When my daughter had covid recently (with no symptoms whatsoever, I must add), her cat who's 11 years old came and sat on her lap for the very first time in it's life, she was overjoyed.
What a lovely little dog, Saltcoats 😊.I didn’t notice it much at first but after my last couple of episodes I realise that one of my cats will glue herself to me the day before I have an episode. Normally, as with cats generally, she’s conked out asleep all day but her behaviour changes completely and she follows me everywhere, sitting on my lap at every opportunity for the 24 hours before an episode starts. Once it starts, mind you, she pushes off and does her own thing again😄
I am so amazed by these replies . Aren't animals fantastic.
We could learn so much from our pets .x
Fascinating and very sweet. I don't have a dog at the moment but I can imagine it. Recently it was discovered that dogs can detect the presence of Parkinson's disease, as we tend to exude (sorry if you're reading this over breakfast) a certain odour of sweat if we have it or are about to. Maybe AF has a similar effect, it would be good (?) if pets could warn of its coming. The Parkinson's thing was only detected because uniquely the wife of a sufferer detected it too, because of her dogs are now being trained to diagnose the disease.
I read about a woman whose cat would suddenly not sit near her. She was sure something was wrong and went to her GP. After some time she convinced them to do investigations and it turned out she had breast cancer. Truly wonderful animals, our cats. The problem is whenever mine is in a typical huffy cat mood and refuses his usual cuddle, I start to wonder why…
Hi SaltylassMy old lurcher, who very sadly died 3 weeks ago, would come and cuddle whenever I was ill. Especially noticeable when walking her, she would slow right down and not leave my side.
If dogs can sniff out pre epileptic auras, then I don’t suppose it is unreasonable for them to sniff out a dodgy heart rhythm.
Aw so sorry about your dog. It’s a sad time. We lost our lovely setter 4 years ago and still miss her.
We now have this little rescue boy.
Sorry to hear about your fur baby .Sending big HUGS.
Our grandchildren are with us a lot, and our dog loves their company. However, she began behaving oddly by leaving the room when my granddaughter entered. If it was just my grandson, the dog behaved normally. This went on for a couple of weeks, with the dog slinking out of the room with her tail down, looking fearfully over her shoulder. We thought maybe our granddaughter had accidentally trodden on her paw or something, but still strange, persistent behaviour. Then, my little granddaughter began drinking excessively, and - you’ve guessed it - she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. As soon as her insulin levels were brought under some kind of control, the dog resumed her normal behaviour. I have heard dogs can be trained to recognise rises and falls in insulin, but I didn’t imagine they were aware naturally. If they can do this, it’s not surprising they can detect all kinds of fluctuations in our bodies’ behaviours. Unfortunately, my dog seems totally unaware of any of my Afib patterns !
Isn't it amazing Glad to hear your.x granddaughter has got things under control
Whenever I’m not well , not necessary AFib, my two dogs go very quiet and come and sit by me!
My cat saved my life last week. Literally. I have not been well for a few months now (I have COPD and permanentAF). I had a Pace and a late procedure last year, felt like a new woman for a week and then regressed. The ablation had 'stunned' the AV node but not destroyed it and it recovered. I had a second and unfortunately have been ill ever since, and have got progressively worse. For 4 months I have been cycling a COPD exacerbation. There appears to be no infection (no one looks beyond the obvious)and I have alas been repeatedly let down by the system.Phew, and that was in a nutshell 😅. Back to my hero, Marley. I was discharged from hospital last Tuesday. On Wednesday I was ill all day. By evening I had lost all my fight, but my blood oxygen level was dangerously low. I reached a point where I just wanted to go to sleep and not wake up. Marley took over. He insisted on settling by my head despite my protests. He then repeatedly tapped me gently on the cheek. I am sure he was trying to keep me awake. As my 02 was at 75% and I was showing no sign of recovery I rang the ambulance.
Wow!
Hope you are feeling more like yourself soon. Yes ! have had the same with one of my cats tapping my face and trying lay on my head ,
Have come too, after a bad turn ,I'de be on the couch with two of them laying on my chest (if it wasn't difficult enough to breathe)
Its fascinating to hear that other pet owners have similar animal communication going on.
Hello there. Yes I can totally relate to your post regarding pets. I had a beautiful dog called Wilson, but sadly he is no longer with me, but I would wake up in SVT because he was whining and it got progressively louder until I was fully awake, other instances are of waking up and he'd either be lying as close to my bed as he could get or be sitting staring at me and yes, sniffing around my mouth which was something he never did unless I was having an episode. I also believe he knew when I contracted COVID several times as he did the same constant sniffing around my mouth.
Dogs can definitely smell covid . They are being trained for this so they can be used at airports. They can smell cancer too. Their olfactory sense is amazing .
This is such a lovely post/ thread. How heartwarming.As I'm in persistent AF I can't comment on that but I can say my cat was really sweet after my 2 recent ablations. Though my lap is usually her favourite place, she was really good about not sitting on me when my groin was healing. But she sat next to me constantly. She just seemed to know.
I have 2 spaniels have had Copd for a few years and the older 1 used to stand behind me and nudge my legs till I sat down and sit in front of me with her paw on my leg and sure enough my af would kick in luckily very mild infrequent attacks for me ,then in 2020 she started sniffing my mouth shortly after i was diagnosed with cancer have had both chemotherapy and radiotherapy and nodule shrinking but secondary not as much so im sre she knew before me
Sending big hugs to you and 'fur babies '
I have a friend who’s dog recognises when her daughter is about to go into a hyper or hypoglycaemic attack. Dogs can learn to recognise all kinds of medical changes in humans.
Yes. My cat comes and lies on the bed with me when I'm having an AF episode. My little furry nurse. I'm sorry you are suffering more frequently.
Absolutely. I have 2 cats but my black one, Molly seems to instinctively know when I'm not well, got whatever reason. She will lie by my side, only moving to go to the loo (not even to eat) and there she will stay.
There are dogs who can apparently sniff out cancer so it doesn't surprise me at all.
Looks like you’re not alone Saltcoats. My husband was feeling dreadful, and had no idea why. Turned out he had pneumonia, but every day my two cats sat one on each side of him as close to him as possible. I think animals have a built in sense when their ‘person’ is ill.
It is documented that some animals sense illness and distress in humans and have saved lives with alerting owners, not just dogs trained to do that. My lovely old pug never left my husbands bed until ten minutes before he died. He’d been unconscious for a few hours, she got off the bed and started trying to lick his face, on hind legs, gave one woof and then he died! My other dog, a jack russell got under the bed and wouldn’t come out until the undertakers had been. I lost him soon after too and him and his ‘dad’ scattered together. If nothing else they are a great comfort when we feel unwell, and we’ll for that matter, totally unconditional non-judgemental love and devotion. Take care ❤️
After my father died in 1976 his little dog was griefstricken. She was never the same after he died. She grieved for him until she died a year later.
Sorry for your loss. What a sad time for you .It's so nice that your 'wee jack' is with his dad. Our Jack is attached to her dad's ankles wherever he goes (even the toilet) as you mentioned they give so much love.
Sending BIG HUGS.
Thank you. Hugs to u too ❤️
Well, it happened today, my very elderly father had a heart attack last week, mild but many co-morbidities and on here we know ‘mild’ is no measure of distress and fear. He came out of hospital last night and I called in again today to see him and took my dogs, the same elderly pug who sensed my husbands imminent death, not fussed by him, and her bestie my french bulldog who never ever leaves me for a second even if I only walk across the room. The frenchie got on his bed and I practically had to drag her away when time to go. She’s never leaves my side but she knew my dad was feeling rough and it was amazing to see. He was quite amused by it as it’s always been a joke about my ‘shadow’ not letting me out of her sight. ❤️
Oh yes, most definitely -- my cat (and those from my past) would act differently if I was in a-fib. He would come from wherever he was to my side, then sit and stare at me, or simply make himself at home next to me.
A book some of you might like is ‘Rounds with Oscar’ about a cat in a nursing home who could sense when people were about to die and stayed with them until the end no matter what.
My cats are like leeches when I'm not feeling well. They can't get close enough to me. It gives me much comfort. I believe animals have a 6th sense. Maybe even a 7th sense. 😊 Look at the ones who can "smell" cancer. A lady I read about years ago had a dog who knew when she was about to have a seizure (epilepsy). I just read there are some dogs now who can detect covid. These animals are amazing creatures.
Yes our dog used to do very similar things. Never left my side. Xx
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