For a thorough understanding of the Narcolepsy disorder, click this image to go to our Narcolepsy Overview page. It discusses its symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment.

Rusty the narcoleptic dog looks just like any other ordinary dachshund dog. He sniffs, he barks and he wags his tails. He runs around to play with other creatures in his backyard. He’s huggable and cute, just like all the others. But there’s something about Rusty that sets him apart. He has narcolepsy!

Some people may have already been familiar with Narcolepsy. It is a sleep disorder where a person feels a sudden and uncontrollable urge to sleep. It can happen at any time during the day. It can happen while eating, attending a class or even driving. However, only a few people know that the disorder can affect animals too. It can happen to cats, mice, sheep and of course, dogs.

For a thorough understanding of the Narcolepsy disorder, click this image to go to our Narcolepsy Overview page. It discusses its symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment.

Just like with narcolepsy in humans, affected dogs tend to be sleepier. They doze more frequently than normal. Rusty the narcoleptic dog is a classic example. When he gets excited, he falls asleep. When he runs around, he suddenly collapses on the floor mid-stride and becomes immobile. He appears to be asleep or just lying down. But if he attempts to rise, he will be unable to. Even if he appears unconscious, he is certainly aware of what is going on around him. This is also one of the symptoms of Narcolepsy. It is called cataplexy. It is a condition where one suddenly loses the muscle tone in the body. It is triggered by strong emotions. In rusty’s case, it was his excitement that triggered the attack.

The situation can be pretty funny for some people since a dog narcolepsy is so rare. They’ve never seen anything like it before. At present, there are already a lot of videos of Rusty the narcoleptic dog being circulated in the internet. And they were instant hits! The videos were even used by some psychology teachers in their classes when teaching about sleep disorders.

But what others find amusing may not be for rusty and the other narcoleptic people who can’t live a normal life. Rusty cannot do the things that he instinctively wants to do as a dog. He can’t run and play for an extended period of time. He can’t stay upright long enough to play with people.The cataplexic episodes, along with attacks of sudden sleep, happen often at anytime during the day. It has definitely interfered with rusty’s quality of life. It can even threaten his life if the attacks happen at potentially dangerous times. So the next time we laugh at a narcoleptic dog, think again. If it were a child collapsing every time he tries to run around, would you have laughed?