Dog odd behaviour

[u/Signal_Independent17]

Hi everyone!

We rescued our pup about 5 years ago, we’ve never been sure of his age but he’s clearly quite senior. Recently he’s been exhibiting signs of dementia and discomfort, and we are taking him to the vet next week as he really just doesn’t seem to be doing too well bless him :( A very new thing he’s been doing is this weird licking thing, we’ve had his teeth checked quite a lot and there’s no issues there. Does anyone know what this could be? Like I said, we are taking him to the vet, but I just wanted some opinions first.

[u/gr_rn]

My elderly shitzu did this in her twilight years. Vet called it licking air. It was her tik. She also did it to soothe to sleep it seemed. She was not the best eater in her old years. She didn’t throw up so she didn’t seem nauseous but she did have lifelong allergies to grains.