Elderly dog issue

aonb

Im bringing one of my dogs to the vet on monday morning to have his booster shots.

I have a 15 year old JRT, who is so totally stressed out by vets (hes had a bad time at vets down through the years) that Ive decided that as he's a country dog (i.e. doesnt mix at his age with other dogs/towns etc) I will leave off vacc's now and only visit the vet if hes unwell/has an issue.

Ive decided to bring him to the vet with the other dog on monday morning (gulp!) to have him checked though.

Just in the last few weeks he is really showing his age. Hes getting fairly deaf. Walks have to be pretty short (he stops/turns around!!) Appetite is great (food obsessed) and he is in pretty good form all round (apart from a bit of arthritis, a skin allergy (under control) and a sensitive tum (under control with diet)). But:

Every night the dogs come and lie on our bed while we're reading for an hour. On the weekends they come in the mornings too. Life is good. Last night, the elderly dog was snoozing and peed on the bed. (soaked to the mattress - heaps of pee, even though he had just been out in the garden)

Anyway, hes elderly, not his fault poor baby, but this means he cant come to our bed any more. Hes peed in the house twice this week. Ive been reading up about incontinence. Will talk to the vet on Monday, but just wondering if anyone has been through the elderly dog incontinence issue with any happy endings? Does medication work? Is there anything else I can do for him? Any suggestions/advice from owners whose elderly dogs have had incontinence will be greatly appreciated (and again, I am bringing him to vet on monday to be checked, so just looking for experiences not medical advice)

Inexile

I haven't experienced incontinence in my dogs but you may find that your situation is not too bad. The incontinence may be due to a kidney infection so it might be temporary.

If not I know there are meds which help and also you can get special bedding with allows the urine to soak though to the bottom of the bed so that the dog is not lying in it.

Good luck on Monday

Millem

aonb wrote: »

Im bringing one of my dogs to the vet on monday morning to have his booster shots.

I have a 15 year old JRT, who is so totally stressed out by vets (hes had a bad time at vets down through the years) that Ive decided that as he's a country dog (i.e. doesnt mix at his age with other dogs/towns etc) I will leave off vacc's now and only visit the vet if hes unwell/has an issue.

Ive decided to bring him to the vet with the other dog on monday morning (gulp!) to have him checked though.

Just in the last few weeks he is really showing his age. Hes getting fairly deaf. Walks have to be pretty short (he stops/turns around!!) Appetite is great (food obsessed) and he is in pretty good form all round (apart from a bit of arthritis, a skin allergy (under control) and a sensitive tum (under control with diet)). But:

Every night the dogs come and lie on our bed while we're reading for an hour. On the weekends they come in the mornings too. Life is good. Last night, the elderly dog was snoozing and peed on the bed. (soaked to the mattress - heaps of pee, even though he had just been out in the garden)

Anyway, hes elderly, not his fault poor baby, but this means he cant come to our bed any more. Hes peed in the house twice this week. Ive been reading up about incontinence. Will talk to the vet on Monday, but just wondering if anyone has been through the elderly dog incontinence issue with any happy endings? Does medication work? Is there anything else I can do for him? Any suggestions/advice from owners whose elderly dogs have had incontinence will be greatly appreciated (and again, I am bringing him to vet on monday to be checked, so just looking for experiences not medical advice)

My old dog is completely incontinent and leaks non stop without medicine. She is on the most amazing amazing syrup called propalin. It literally works in 20mins. If for whatever reason we run out the leaking will start up again within 24 hours. She has been on it now I would say at least 2 years and hasn't suffered any side effects. To be honest there is no way we could manage without it! It is not too expensive as dosage is based on weight I think it costs around 50cent a day but your dog will cost much less as she ways 30ish kg. vet thinks her sphincter is now going as she has been having the odd pee explosions and has been know to wet her bed during the night but it is not too bad at the moment.

aonb

Many thanks for that Millem - but does that syrup only apply to a bitch I wonder? Sounds like a super solution. As Inexile says, hopefully my poor old boy 'only' has a kidney infection or something. Wont worry too much until we see the vet on monday morning, but happy to hear how other people deal with incontinent dogs.

Millem

aonb wrote: »

Many thanks for that Millem - but does that syrup only apply to a bitch I wonder? Sounds like a super solution. As Inexile says, hopefully my poor old boy 'only' has a kidney infection or something. Wont worry too much until we see the vet on monday morning, but happy to hear how other people deal with incontinent dogs.

I don't know if it only works on bitches. It was first one my vet put her on and she is on it every since! A man I work with had an old male incontinent dog and he was on medicine which worked wonders it wasn't propalin. I think there are a few on the market, your vet will know! My vet told me incontinence is leaking so not just going for a pee in front if you, the dog doesn't realise it! I happens when they are sitting or lying down. I wouldn't go down the dog nappy route to be honest though! She would probably try and eat them off! I order biggest bottle but sometimes there can be delays getting it. I thought she would be grand for 2days without it, I ended up having to put puppy pee pee pads underneath her and had to leave a voicemail for my vet (it was Saturday afternoon) who ended up leaving me out a tiny bottle in his porch for me to collect needless to say I ALWAYS make sure I have enough!

DBB

To the best of my knowledge, it's okay to use sphincter-control meds on males. We've used it on males anyway ... It just seems to be a female *thing* because bitches have to use it a lot more than dogs.
Good luck with your old guy aonb, hope it's just a trivial thing :-)

aonb

Brought my elderly dog to the vet this a.m.
(Really incredibly he didnt seem to mind going in at all - great start!)
This vet is very sympathetic when it comes to the elderly dogs. Brought a urine sample, had that tested - everything perfect, no infection. Heart/lungs all fine. No temperature/tummy sensitivity problems. Vet doesnt feel that its incontinence (yet) as his bed is dry overnight. when hes been peeing in the house, its in other rooms - i.e not where hes lying/sitting etc. Vet prefers not to throw tests/xrays etc at the dog, but to wait and watch - see if theres any pattern, watch how much water he's drinking, see if is becoming a problem/issue.

Im so happy its not a kidney infection - vet says he is in pretty good shape for his age - he didnt get a thermometer up his bum (the ultimate hate!) so he's happy - oh and home via the butcher and got him (and his wimpy pal who sooooo SUFFERED during his booster shot!!!!) two nice little bones each. Bones eaten, both recovering from the trauma on the sofa. We live to fight another day!!!!

muddypaws

Its great when you have a vet that you trust isn't it.

Would you consider maybe getting a picnic rug to put on your bed, the ones that have the waterproof underneath, you may get one cheap now as the picnic season is finished, but they're not usually that dear anyway. They're nice and soft on top, so would be a nice surface for the dogs to lie on, and hopefully keep your bed dry underneath.

Best of luck, I hope you have many more years together

aonb

muddypaws wrote: »

Its great when you have a vet that you trust isn't it.

Would you consider maybe getting a picnic rug to put on your bed, the ones that have the waterproof underneath, you may get one cheap now as the picnic season is finished, but they're not usually that dear anyway. They're nice and soft on top, so would be a nice surface for the dogs to lie on, and hopefully keep your bed dry underneath.

Best of luck, I hope you have many more years together

good idea Muddypaws, I actually have one of those - will drag it out. Right now hes asleep on the sofa with a plastic sheet under two blankets 8-) last night he came down to our bed - I bought some bed sheets for incontinent humans (!!!) and kept 1 under him - he is very suspicious of this strange new habit, but soon zonked so just have to make sure he stays on it. COULDNT not let him up on our bed for his nightly treat after 15+ years could I? Hes very intelligent a really special little dog - and of course Im not biased!!

bluecherry74

muddypaws wrote: »

Would you consider maybe getting a picnic rug to put on your bed, the ones that have the waterproof underneath, you may get one cheap now as the picnic season is finished, but they're not usually that dear anyway. They're nice and soft on top, so would be a nice surface for the dogs to lie on, and hopefully keep your bed dry underneath.

Brilliant! I'm going to steal this idea for my setter who has occasional seizures and sometimes loses control of her bladder when it happens.

ncmc

Aw, is anyone else nearly in tears reading this thread??? You are such a good owner to your old fella, a lot of people would banish him from the house. Hopefully you can get some treatment for him, I'm sure he was mortified when it happened, my dog rarely has an accident, but when she does, you can actually see the shame in her face!

aonb

ncmc wrote: »

Aw, is anyone else nearly in tears reading this thread??? You are such a good owner to your old fella, a lot of people would banish him from the house. Hopefully you can get some treatment for him, I'm sure he was mortified when it happened, my dog rarely has an accident, but when she does, you can actually see the shame in her face!

Thank you, very kind of you to say that. Our dogs are a part of our family - hes given us so much love, joy and happiness. The vet was VERY positive about treating incontinence - as was said earlier in this thread, even in males. And yes he felt so bad when he pee'd on the bed - He came back down to the bedroom when I was changing the bedclothes, with his tail down & that ashamed look upwards they give you. He got choccy drops going to his own bed that night!!

coathanger

Your Dog certainly landed on all four paws, when he became a member of your family :)Can I ask if he has started drinking a lot of water as well as the occasional accident. As my Dads terrier is 15.5 years & he is an outside dog & is peeing a lot & drinks an awful lot of water,& I was wondering whether your fella was the same. Hope you continue to enjoy each other for many years to come.;)

aonb

coathanger wrote: »

Your Dog certainly landed on all four paws, when he became a member of your family :)Can I ask if he has started drinking a lot of water as well as the occasional accident. As my Dads terrier is 15.5 years & he is an outside dog & is peeing a lot & drinks an awful lot of water,& I was wondering whether your fella was the same. Hope you continue to enjoy each other for many years to come.;)

That was the first question the vet asked me - if hes drinking a lot of water, that is a real sign of danger - you need to bring him to the vet to have him checked. At his age it could be diabetes or kidney problems. Make sure you bring a sample of urine with you - the vet can 'dip' it there and then and know immediately if theres something going on. (Luckily with a male, you will have no prob getting a sample - first thing in the morning is good!!!!!)

aonb

Im back!
Had a horrible couple of days with my old dog. He didnt eat a thing for 48 hours - this is very worrying as this dog is totally food obsessed. The poos he was making were unbelievable - nearly black & very runny - in the house - and when he went outside, he was straining for ages. Slept and slept.
This is something that has happened to him about 5 times down through the years. Usually accompanied by a totally bloated abdomen. Oddly this time, no bloated abdomen (thank *od)
Every test the vets could think of were done on him during these episodes. (He spent a few days in 'hospital' during 1 of these episodes, when very ill and on drips). Nothing ever found to be the problem/cause.
So today, he is better - had some boiled chicken tonight - happy days - survived another episode. So, Im here to ask your advise on feeding. I dont give him wheat products. I mostly cook chicken & rice, and alternate with beef and potatos. Im wondering if I should move to ONLY chicken (boiled) - any suggestions for what I can feed him (dont say RAW - Im nearly vegetarian and cant tolerate/handle all that raw meat!) - what would I need to add to his diet to ensure hes getting sufficient minerals/vitamins? He gets a raw bone every few days.
(Again, he has been to the vet for this problem about 5 times, nothing conclusive ever showed up. Hes FINE the rest of the time, until this 'flare-up' and theres no pattern/trigger that we can find)

bluecherry74

Your poor dog. In my experience, potato is gentler on the stomach than rice, so maybe try eliminating this for a while. I would stick with chicken, a little masked potato and try a bit of white fish as well - that's very easy to digest.

Be careful what treats you feed him too - it's easy to forget when it comes to treats. You can make your own chicken jerky in the oven. Just slice up a couple of thighs or breasts and put them in on a very low heat for a couple of hours.

Ideally, he should be having organ meat as well but than can be quite tough on a dog's tummy. If he can tolerate that then along with the chicken, fish and raw bone he should be getting everything he needs. If not, you may need to look at supplementation but I don't know enough about this to offer you any advice.

aonb

Bluecherry, thanks for that - have forgotten about white fish which he adores - but we dont eat it much and its so expensive. But I think its come to the stage in his life where he just has to be minded totally - if it takes chicken or white fish only then thats what we'll have to do. I'll mix both with some potato and the water off the meat/fish to bulk it up a bit - he is food obsessed and gets stressed if he thinks he's hungry 8-} (my 94 year old neighbour who is not very diplomatic said to me yesterday "is that his breed or is he very fat"?!?!? oh dear - hes 8kg, should be 7kg - hes hairy & square) Will try him with a bit of liver when hes 100% again

aonb

this is my old guy - on the left:

bluecherry74

Glad to help, but I can't see the photo (and I would love to). Try uploading it here first: http://tinypic.com/