Pets and the Paranormal

A couple of years ago, I made a thread about my dog. To recap what was going on, my dog would stand at the far end of the kitchen, and stare into the laundry room. His ears would be raised, and he was staring attentively. He did not seem frightened at all. I extensively researched this. It would happen on days the sky was perfectly blue, which ruled out his hearing thunder. It would happen when the neighbors on that side of the house were not home, and there were no noises that I could hear coming from that side of the house. I could not find any reason for him to do this.

Fast forward to today. For the past week, he has been acting, for lack of a better word, insane. It started with him hiding under the kitchen table, which he had never done. Then I would notice him standing in the laundry room, staring at the wall. Tonight, his behavior is at an all-time high. He has been running around the house in a panic. He refuses to eat. He is shaking and panting. He is visibly frightened. I have noticed he is trying to hide in and under things. He wedged himself in my closet. When I closed the closet, he started to dig at the carpet. He then ran under my desk and I had to drag him out. He is also starting to sit or lay in corners.

He is an old dog (11, turning 12 in June). I suppose it is possible he is starting to develop some sort of mental disorder. I am reminded, however, that this behavior was first manifesting a couple of years ago. If anyone has any experience with something like this, please help.

We have a cat and shes a year old, for the last 2 days she been wandering around the house crying her head off (Spayed btw) and generally acting like a freak. Like she is anxious about something or worried, at least that's what we are getting out of it. This is out of the norm for her, so not sure what's going on but it's kinda strange. _javascript:icon('')

reply to post by itscocobaby


Maybe they know something is coming that we don't? It's always possible.

He has finally laid down, although he might have just worn himself out, as opposed to calming down.

reply to post by Zezima



Yes I have had experience with this. Two summers ago we had a spirit visitor that hung out in my daughter's bedroom. She was only a year old at the time and was very frightened when it first started happening. I was still rocking her to sleep at night and she would cry and cry and cry, looking up at the ceiling in the corner, terrified.

While this was going on, I too could feel a negative energy in the room. I felt something hovering over my head and behind me while I was in the rocking chair, the exact place my daughter was looking. A week later, this was still going on, I was playing with my daughter in her bedroom and my husband came in with our dog and closed the door so he wouldn't get out and chase the cats that were in the other room.

The dog went absolutely crazy, barking, sniffing and chasing something we couldn't see around the room. I felt the room get hostile again and I opened the door to let the dog out and the room calmed down.

This lasted for a few months and eventually quieted down. I don't have any problem with it today.

During that time I spoke to a woman who has paranormal abilities. Who asked me some questions about it and then later on asked me if we had a lot of pine trees around our house. I said no. Then I remembered that just a month before this started, two of my neighbors had really large pine trees cut down because of pine rot. The lady said that would explain it. She said our visitor was a nature spirit and for some reason chose our house to retreat to when its home was destroyed.

She told me that it was a neutral spirit, which means not good and not bad, it takes on the energy around it. So when I was in protective mode and hostile towards it while protecting my baby, it was also reflecting back hostile energy in the room. When I started accepting it and ignoring it, it also did the same and our toddler was able to have her peaceful nights back.

I do not know what to tell you about your situation but I do know from experience that dogs and small children can see and sense things that most adults cannot.

I will tell you this, I have come across paranormal activity many times in my life in many different houses and while at first it is frightening, when I began to accept it and then ignore it as if it was an every day part of life, the disturbances stopped. I also ask to have myself and family surrounded by love and happiness every night before bed and that helps too. Love is way more powerful than any other energy force.

I hope that helps!

reply to post by wiggleworm


Thank you for your reply. The thing is, I have not gotten any vibes or feelings in my 8 years of living here. I locked the dog in my room an hour ago, and he was running around in a panic. But I feel fine, albeit worried for my dog's health.

reply to post by Zezima


I'm glad to hear he has settled down now poor doggie, Maybe you are on to something with pets sensing something coming. I'm going to keep a close eye on that and see if this correlates to any events that have happened around here in the last few days..I'll keep you posted Love and Light

reply to post by itscocobaby


Ok, thanks. I'll ask around as well. One thing I do know: If something is coming, my geckos are unaware; they have just been lying around as usual .

reply to post by Zezima


You may want to take your dog to the vet for a check up and make sure the dog is totally healthy. My cat used to act like that just before she had seizures. I'm not trying to worry you, but it's a good idea to get him checked out.

reply to post by MadameAquarienne


Hum well thank you for info, I hadn't considered it might be something like that. She just seems very insecure lately and follows us around crying. I'll take her into the vets that's a good idea.

I"m responding for both the dog owner OP and the cat owner that have posted. I have had animals all my life, and have seen this kind of behaviour by my dogs and cats. My first question would be where do you live? are you near any major fault lines? Animals can sense the sounds coming from earthquakes long before they happen. If you can rule out living near a fault line, then I would also start assessing whether or not you have a spirit visitor. Dogs will for the most part act defensive with unseen "invaders" to their home, at least if it's someone they can't identify, like a departed relative. Cats behavior will reflect the nature of the visitor, if the visitor is a loving family member that has passed on but coming by for a visit, a cat will switsh it's tail back and forth and seem curious about the spirit. If it's a negative presence, they will tend to growl and hiss. I don't think it's a neurological problem in the older dog by what you have stated, because the dog would also be showing signs of aggresiveness towards you (if it were dementia). it's not a bad idea to have him checked out though, it could be something else, but I'm not leaning in that direction. Just from reading the information given, I'd say it's either seismic activity or an unseen visitor.

reply to post by justsaying


I live in Knoxville, TN. The closest fault line I can find is the New Madrid. We have gotten earthquakes in the past few years, although they were nothing more than dish-rattling events. I will definitely have him checked out though. I am actually going on vacation next week, and I have arranged to put him in my vet's kennel. I will tell them what is going on.

Also, there is one more thing I noticed. This behavior is occurring at certain times of the day. It starts around 4:30 PM and lasts until I go to bed. It doesn't matter when I go to bed, but as soon as I lay down, he settles down too. This morning, he was acting perfectly normally, and if I were a betting man, I would say he will continue to act normally until 4:30.

reply to post by Zezima


Before you jump to any conclusions, just have doggy checked out by a vet and specifically so, for doggy Alzheimers which would include sun-downers syndrome. It generally, with all the medical advances these days only manifests from 10 onwards, but can show up from 6 yrs and onwards.

My dog started going completely insane a couple of months ago and it got progressively worse. Eventually I decided now I'm taking her to a vet as I can't continue like this, and I'm worried sick about her. And this is what we found out, for now she's only on melatonin, which is helping her tremendously. You know melatonin is just a sleep hormone, it helps to calm them down. She's almost her old self again, providing we give her her meds on time every day, of course.

I would say another sure way to find out if it's a ghost or something, is bring in another dog, and see if it behaves the same, if it doesn't then you know your dog is actually sick. That's how we knew, we have two dogs, and the other one would watch this one going completely ballistic every day, with this expression on his face like his friend had lost it, and at night when it's sleeping time, annoyed, because he couldn't get any sleep. I kid you not, our labby has those expressions on his face, could of course be not, as it's difficult to say what dogs are thinking but he would sit there and watch her running around doing her crazy almost suicidal stunts, like he's thinking WTF?

So do that, bring in another dog, and check for reactions, if all is fine, then take your dog to a vet ASAP. She was fine the rest of the time, healthy appetite the works, didn't look sick at all, but come afternoon, she'd start doing the most insane things, with not a care for her own welfare in her behavior, it's called sun-downers syndrome and it is a side-effect from doggy Alzheimers. You can read up about it as well. The vet called the doggy Alzheimers; Canine Cognitive Dysfunction, which is similar to human Alzheimer's, so we just call it doggy Alzheimers it's easier to say than the actual name for it.

I hope that's not it, for your dog's sake and yours, but I thought I should mention it. Good luck.

reply to post by Zezima


I live in Memphis and have been following the recent quake activity in Arkansas, which means I am following quake activity across the board , and have noticed there have been some very minor quakes in eastern Tennessee, and in North and South Carolina over the last two weeks. But they were very isolated and not a daily occurance. I will just add that there are members here on ATS who live in the North Carolina area that have reported constant rumbling noise, mostly at night, in which they suspect underground tunneling is going on, since Knoxville is near North Carolina. Aside from that, after reading Felix777's response about his dog's behavior starting up in the afternoon, it seems relevant, although I've never heard of that disorder in dogs, but glad that there is help available to doggies that have this. Good luck, and let us know the vet's findings when you return. I'd like to know myself what is happening with your dog.

reply to post by itscocobaby


Is your cat neutered?

Cats reach sexual maturity some time between 4 months to a year old and when female cats are in heat they act very strangely

Is the cat doing any of these things?

• Your cat becomes more affectionate than usual
• Your cat rolls around the floor
• Your cat carries her tail to one side.
• Your cat becomes very vocal and meows a lot. (This is where the term 'Calling' comes from) This vocalisation can become very noisy with loud yowls day and night. Her voice may become more piercing than usual.
• Your cat assumes a position with her front quarters on the ground and her bottom pointing in the air.
• Your cat's hind legs may 'tread' • Your cat licks her vulval area more than usual
• Your cat rubs her face up against you or furniture more often than usual.
• If you pat your cat on her back near her tail your cat will raise her bottom in the air and may begin 'treading' with her hind feet.
• If she is a cat who is usually kept inside she will be desperate to get outside, waiting for any opportunity to escape.

If so it's nothing paranormal, she just wants some love
cats in heat

reply to post by Fenix777

Wow, after reading up on Sundowners, some of it does seem to fit what is going on. Although, I let him outside at around 10 last night, well after it had gotten dark. He was acting fine out there, but once he came back in it started back up again.


reply to post by justsaying

I will definitely keep you all informed. I leave on Monday the 7th and will pick him up the morning of Saturday the 12th. In the meantime, I will report on how he is doing day-to-day.

reply to post by Zezima


Shame, poor doggy, I really hope it's not the doggy Alzheimers. You know what also helped my dog, she's a husky, and in the wild they would dig themselves dens in the snow. She seemed to be crawling into corners under things etc, like under my computer desk, which is is closed on 5 sides leaving only one side open, in the wild that's exactly how their dens would be, closed on all sides, leaving only one small opening for them to crawl through. So that's what we did, we built her a den, we made it a school project (we do home-schooling with our kids) it took us the whole day, but we built her a den that we could move around put it outside if she wants to be outside, or inside if she wants to be inside, and at night as well as when it rains, it's easy to move it around for her, we put her blankie inside for her too, she gave it two sniffs and crawled inside and voila, she's a happy little camper.

After reading up about the sun-downers, and watching her behavior, noticing that she seemed to forgotten her normal little quirks and fears during that time, and noticing that what seemed left over was her basic instincts, we decided to build her a den, because that would go back to her basic instincts. Maybe try and do that for your little one, give him a place where he can feel safe that would resemble what his basic instincts would tell him his safe place should look like. I tried to put myself in her shoes, I think in her mind, during that time, it's very scary for her, she doesn't understand what's going on with her, she doesn't understand instructions, she only understands what's embedded into her genetic code, and she might not even be able to understand that, but it would feel right to her, she's looking for a place where she can be safe, while her mind is not feeling so well and everything seems scary and confusing, her instinct would be to get somewhere safe and quick, because she might feel that she cannot defend herself while she feels this way. And it worked, now when the sundowners starts, she gets her meds, and she wants her den, she's still panting and her whole posture is still like she's completely scared out of her wits, but she's in her den where she feels safe, so she's not running around with suicidal tendencies, then the melatonin kicks in, and she goes to sleep. Just make sure your little one has plenty of water. During those episodes of my one, I noticed she's drinking a hell of a lot of water.

I'm just mentioning it, because you mentioned that he is crawling into corners, under tables, and digging at the carpet. He might just be looking for a safe place while he's destroying your house. He doesn't mean to, he's just confused and scared. Whether it's the Alzheimer or not, he seems to want to be somewhere safe, so try to provide him with that as best you can. My little one used to have just a bed, but it wasn't covered on all sides leaving only one opening for her. So her bed wasn't making her very happy during those times.

While he's at the vet's kennels next week, ask them to check him for it, just to be sure. And yes, please do keep us updated. And if you come up with other ideas on how to calm him, if he does have the doggy Alzheimers, please do share them. They can be a huge handful when they start going through that, and quite destructive. Good luck.

reply to post by davespanners


It's a female cat and she was spayed at 5 months. I never suggested something paranormal, just making an observation that she is acting differently in the past few days with the going about the house crying and like nagging us all. This is out of the norm for her, that's all I was saying..she get's a ton of affection to, everyone loves on her. But I understand where you are coming from and what you are saying.

Well I am glad you are going to have him checked out I hope everything is alright.

I had a cat years ago who would act so strange in my hallway upstairs. She would sit infront of the bathroom door right by the stairs and stare, hiss or growl and the wall. There was nothing there! She would act so weird in that part of the house. Sometimes she would sit in the entrance to my door and just bat her tail around and poof out all over.

I always felt the place had an off vibe towards the middle of the hall and over to the other bedroom. There were two times where my bf at the time and I saw something or someone in the hall. We both called out thinking it was the other and realized it wasnt. When he did this thinking it was me I was on the couch asleep and when I thought it was him he was in the kitchen.

I have had paranormal experiences before so it wasn't that surprising. What was surprising was finding out later on that the building my townhouse was in was a mortuary/creamatorium decades ago. It was an old builiding that had been converted many times to different things. It gave me the creep vibe when I found out its history. It explained a lot of strange things that all of us had living in that building over time. Both of my cats reacted to it but Lily, the older one she reacted the most to whatever it was.

When my dog died I know her spirit followed me around for a couple of days.
She could also affect people around me.
It was weird, but I liked her so much and I was so sad, that it made me happy to know that she did that.