Old dog incontinence, how on Earth do I manage this?

[Pedigree]

Ok, dogs are for life and all that but I am feeling at a loss on how to deal with this.

One of my dogs has been having incontinence problems for three years, she can't do long walks do to arthritis, but has at least an hour out in the morning before I go to work, another 20 minutes at lunchtime, another hour before dinner, 20 minutes after her dinner and then another 10 minutes about 11, before I put her back on her crate overnight.

She normally starts barking at 4 am as she needs to go out, then again at 5. During the day, no matter how long she has been out, as soon as I close the door to go out she wees (I often come back within the hour to find the floor already soiled). If I left her in her crate for a short period she goes and wees (sp?) on the bed of the other dog. If I leave the door of the crate open, the other dog takes its bed out and then dear old incontinent takes the trouble to wee in the other dogs' bed anyway.

I can't bear it anymore, the neighbours should be hating us with all the barking at night, I don't have people to visit anymore because the darned dog marks the occassion by pooing or weeing in the room we are sitting at even if we are sitting next to the door she barks at to go out. If I am having a conversation with a visit I need to be opening the door for the dog every 3 minutes otherwise she just keeps baking even if she was out a couple of minutes before.

What can I do? Frankly, I never expected my life to change so very much over the 15 years I have had these dogs (or for the dogs to live this long), but I cannot really cope with this extra pressure on top of all the other stuff that has not gone well over the last years. And that is before getting into the vet fees and insurance costs (around £1000 a year for both dogs)

Any suggestions?

bump

Yes, dogs are for life. What breed are they? Did you look at life expectancy when you were deciding what to get?

To be honest, it sounds as though you are having a lot of problems in your life at the moment, and the dogs are your focus. Are both dogs the same age?

With vet fees and insurance, yes I'm afraid it does get more expensive as they get older. With two very old dogs, you are lucky that you are able to insure them, and £1000 a year sounds about right. Have you looked on price comparison websites to review your cover? Are you happy with your vet? If you are buying certain meds regularly, have you considered getting prescription from your vet and then sourcing drugs via internet? This can sometimes be a big cost saver. Some vet costs can be reduced - for instance, some offer "bundles" for an annual fee to cover all the routine things like vax, worming etc. If you are on benefits you should be able to get help via PDSA or Blue Cross.

With regard to the incontinence, what does the vet say about the causes? There is a great deal that vets can do for urinary incontinence, and for arthritis. Is she having NSAIDs/pain relief/hydrotherapy? I'd be concerned if she is having faecal incontinence as well now - I'd certainly want the vet to check that out.

When you say she "goes out" what do you mean? Are you walking her that much? That sounds a huge amount of exercise for a 15 year old dog with arthritis.

Also if she wees in the house, are you being really careful about cleaning with specialist cleaner, otherwise the smell will encourage her to go again in the same place.

It does sound though, irrespective of veterinary issues, that she is having behavioural issues. Have you worked with a behaviourist at all with her? I'd try something like a pheremone diffuser to help relieve her anxiety. It's also possible that at her age, she may be a little senile so may need some help with that.

Again, I think you really need to have a discussion with your vet to review all of this.

Good luck. You are very lucky to be able to have your elderly dogs with you for so long.

My dmil's dog is incontinent and she has now got her dog nappies. The ones that work best for him are ones that are like a wide band that strap round his lower torso. She just cuts normal disposable nappies to fit inside and changes him regularly. It has transformed her life.

She uses ones a bit like this for her dog but there are ones which deal with the rear end as well.

I imagine you would have to trim hair in that area first and invest in some sort of wipes too.

The dog has had three trainers, and believe, she is way better than when we got her from a rescue all those years ago, she would be the perfect dog if she didn't have so many toiletting problems. Goes out means time spent in the garden (mostly at her own request), and yes, she is fecally incontinent as well. They are far too old to change insurance providers, insurance companies wouldn't get them as new "clients" once they are 11+. The vet is fantastic, I am not in benefits.

Frankly, I checked on the age expectancy, but when I got them I didn't have a child with learning difficulties and a huge amount of health problems, I didn't have the huge financial worries I do now. I wasn't the only breadwinner in the house ( I was not even working), and I didn't expect I would end up with health problems too. So no, as much as I love them, they are no longer my focus, my child's health and welfare is.

The suggestion of the nappies might be an option if she doesn't decide to eat the nappy, could you please expand?

Can you use that band on female dogs?

I am not sure about female dogs Pedigree. There were nappies on Amazon that went between the back legs, much like a human nappy, which would probably be better for a girl.

I am so sorry you have this added to your stresses. Please don't give up on your dogs. She won't be doing this to torment you. Dogs like to be clean with their toiletting too.

As I said, my dmil was at her wits end but the nappies have transformed her life and relationship with her dog.

anything here look like it would fit your dog?

My dmil did have to experiment with what worked on her particular dog.

I have now have had a good look around the linked page and some that were linked from it.

I think I need to try that, do you know if I have to keep the dog shaved if they are in nappies? how often do you need to change them?

My dmil's dog is a lhasa apso so very hairy. She hasn't shaved him at all but uses baby wipes to freshen him up when she changes the nappy. She changes him when it seems "full" or if it has been on a long time, much as you would an older baby really.

How hairy is your dog? For me that would be the deciding factor. If I have to wipe my dog's bottom for him I don't want to have to wipe a very hairy one. Sorry there is no discreet way of explaining it.

I wouldn't invest too much in them until I found the right sort though as it was a trial and error process to find the right one for him.

I really hope this helps you.

You poor thing this sounds very difficult to manage. I would go back to the vet and ask for a thorough check to see if there are any physical reasons for the incontinence. There are some simple and cheap medication that can help in some instances. Review all the medication your dog may be on already. I would also be asking about dementia if the dog has started barking in the night for no reason.

I do feel that your vet need to be the one to help with this. If it is not physical then your vet can refer you to a behaviourist to make things easier for you to manage. Neither you or the dog should have to live like this. If you need behavourial advice feel free to pm.

What breed of dog are they?

She is tiny and very hairy, so even without a nappy, it's difficult to wipe her when she has had an accident (most of the times she ends up having a good wash). agree about not investing too much in nappies until I know they work. Thank you for the idea, so far it seems the last resource.

Snoopy, the dementia issue has been on my mind for a while, she often asks to go out and once out forgets why she needed to be out so urgently, then she starts scratching the dog to go in, 2 minutes after she is got back in, she is asking to go out again, and the process repeats several times until she wees either inside or outside. It is the same with food, she eats like a pig, then asks to go out for a wee, comes back and if I don't remove the food, she will continue repeating the process once and again until she starts vomiting.

Another factor is that they spend a lot of time on their own, I'm not happy about this but I need to pay the bills and keep food on the table, so stopping working is not an option. I'm totally convinced they will be better off with another owner who didn't work but, I am also sure that if I rehome them, they will be gone very soon, both have different health problems, they are not in medication but much damage can be caused if they get the wrong food, one has had a pancreatitis and the other has IBS.

This does sound more like a behavioural issue (or maybe dementia-related at that age) than incontinence as such. With incontinence you'd expect it to be more like uncontrolled 'dribbling' including when she's lying down or asleep, or maybe difficult with 'holding on' long enough when she's left for long periods (and there are medications that can help with these problems). If she's weeing as soon as you leave her, that sounds more like distress at being left. I agree about seeing the vet, and possibly behaviourist as well.

You have to be a bit careful with the 'nappies' as the same as with babies they can cause irritation and soreness to the skin. I've decided against them so far with my older boy and instead we put washable bed pads in the dog beds and in the places he likes to sit/lie. If you do go with the nappy option, there are ones designed specifically for bitches rather than the belly-band style for dogs.

my old dog got a bit like this as well and tbh i thought it was more to do with senility rather than incontinence as such as she would 'do it on purpose' iykwim and always on cue if I had someone round. It is hard, so i do sympathise.

How difficult for you. My old bitch was given medicine for urinary incontinence from aged about 6 which worked and later tablets for arthritis which made a big difference. It cost £50 a month altogether though. Then she kept growing this ghastly growth on her lower gum which looked like a strawberry and got bigger and bigger and got manky in the summer. I had it removed twice, the second time when she was 13 and the vet did not think she would survive the operation. She started having a few faecal incontinence problems too - poo started to drop out when we were walking - almost as if she didn't notice! When she had a stroke aged 14 I had her PTS as I thought it was kinder although I was devastated. I still miss her now but I know that I did the right thing.That is sadly part of our job as owners - how to do the right thing for our dogs as they age. You know rehoming a dog that age with those problems is not an option.

could be dementia ,female dogs that have been sterilised are prone to incontinence and hormone treatment can be very effective,maybe speak to the vet about that.My sons dog is having this now and it has worked a treat

I know is late for rehoming, but she is far from being in need to be put to sleep.

She doesn't dribble on her sleep or while she walks, it's just that she doesn't hold for long, I will ask the vet about the hormones. Thank you.