Pacing and Circling in Dogs

The symptoms of potential canine compulsive behaviors are similar to those you’d find in a human suffering from obsessive compulsive disorders or even dementia.  Here are some things you might notice in your pet to some degree:

• Your pet keeps circling in the same direction and can’t seem to change direction
• Pupils of eyes are unequal in size 
• Confusion or disorientation
• Aimless wandering
• Changes in sleeping habits and behaviors
• Changes in gait
• Limping or reluctance to move
• Changes in house training habits

• Appetite changes - both increased as well as decreased

• Other compulsive behaviors likes spinning, tail chasing, fly snapping, excessive licking, toy fixation, barking etc

Types 

There are various types of behaviors which could present in pacing and circling activities:

• Environmental or external contributors
• Systemic disease
• Neurological or neoplastic disease

While, it may seem “cute” or “funny” when your dog does the tail chasing thing, or when they’re pacing or circling sometimes for hours on end, it is important to note that it may not be an intentional way to get your attention but instead could be a signal to a deeper, more serious problem which needs evaluated and treated, sooner rather than later.

Some pacing and circling are quite normal doggy behaviors and should not raise any alarms in pet parents.  It is, however, not true of those pacing and circling behaviors which are being done without the normal triggers and for those compulsive behaviors which are increasing and seem almost constant.  Here is a list of some of the things which could be at the root of these compulsive behaviors:

Anxiety or Anxiety Disorder

• This would include the fear generated by fireworks
• Too-little room for your pet to move around
• Lack of mental or physical stimulation / challenge
• Pain from an injury or other condition
• Past traumatic event which is being remembered

• Canine compulsive disorder - similar to human obsessive compulsive disorder in which canine exhibits repetitive behavior

Liver Disease or Abnormality

• Diseased or damaged liver could cause neurological issues resulting in pacing, circling, head pressing and behavioral changes 
• Hepatitis and some parasitic infections can also cause neurological issues 

• Liver shunt - happens when a blood vessel shunts blood around the liver instead of blood processing through the liver to clean out the toxins

• Neurological damage occurs when the blood is shunted around the liver, allowing the toxins to build up in the bloodstream and kidneys

Cushing’s Disease

• This is a disease which mainly afflicts older dogs
• Is due to an imbalance in the hormone cortisol
• All three forms of disease are chronic and progress slowly

Canine Cognitive Dysfunction

• Dementia or Alzheimer's  with deposits in the brain similar to those found in humans

Brain Tumor

• The pacing, circling and other repetitive behaviors are caused by neurologic changes from the pressure being exerted on the brain by the tumor as it grows

Ear Infections

• Bacterial, fungal or parasitic

As one might expect from the list of potential causes of pacing and circling in dogs, diagnosis is not easy nor will it likely be done with a quick blood test.  Your veterinary professional, or other attending veterinary professional, will need a complete history from you which includes dietary regimen, living and housing arrangements, exercise regimen which includes where that exercise takes place, any injuries or health conditions which have befallen your pet over his life and the details of the symptoms you’ve noticed along with their duration, noting whether they came on gradually or suddenly and their severity.  

Your vet will do a physical examination and will likely need to order blood testing, urine and fecal testing, radiography (x-rays), perhaps CT or MRI imaging to ascertain if there are any masses present which could be factors for the symptoms and clinical signs being displayed by your family pet.  Once the testing results from the various testing modalities being utilized by your vet are received and evaluated, an appropriate treatment plan will be developed and initiated for your canine family member.

Of course, it goes without saying that the treatment options presented to you by your vet will be dependent upon the cause he has found for the pacing, circling and other compulsive behaviors of which your pet is suffering.  

• If a systemic condition is found, treatments will include those options which are consistent with the disease condition found, for example oral medication administration, perhaps behavioral training, changes in your pet’s home environment to reduce stress and anxiety, medications to treat the infectious component, if any, or potential surgical options in the case of tumor growth being the causative affliction 
• If your vet determines that the problems stems from dietary issues, then he will make recommendations for dietary changes to help remedy the problem
• In the event that your vet finds everything in his testing of your family pet to be normal and diagnoses your pet with a behavioral issue only (which doesn’t have a systemic component) and if the behavior continues beyond a few days, he may refer you to an animal behaviorist for appropriate treatment