An Explanation for Nutmeg’s Behavior?

The day after Nutmeg, one of our Cairn Terrier rescues, had visited the vet for her urinary tract infection (UTI), Jim and I were talking to his friend about her “condition,” and also about the way she would freak out at Nora, for seemingly no reason. Friend Dave reminded us that UTIs can cause confusion and agitation in older human patients, so this might explain some of Nutmeg’s psycho moments with Nora.

It’s always Nutmeg who freaks out on Nora, never the other way around. When it happens, she’s extremely vicious, and I used to worry that she’d actually kill Nora.

On one such occasion, when I was holding Nutmeg back, Nora barked furiously at Nutmeg as if like she were telling Nutmeg off.

“How dare you come after me like that? Who do you think you are? I do not deserve that kind of treatment. I deserve respect.”

“Snarl, snarl, gnash, gnash, growl, snarl.”

As we progressed through the ten days of antibiotics for Nutmeg, her outbursts became less and less frequent.  We’re also getting better at becoming aware that a storm is brewing and can separate them.  Next time, more on our Cairn Terriers’ brawls.