Help! Doggie Dilemma

[seminolewind]

I have a dog that's 16. She eats and wags her tail and is happy for snacks.
However, she can't hold her urine long, so she goes on paper, and we are living rugless. She is not holding her bowels well.
I guess I'm just super tired of cleaning up dog mess, and the smell in the house. I just don't know what to do, if anything.
Any advice?

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

I saw doggie diapers at Walmart a couple of weeks ago. That may be an option or if you can't find those get regular baby diapers and cut a hole in them for her tail. I can sympathize with you

Good luck!

 

[CluckyCharms]

My advice would be to let her out for potty three times more than you normally would for a younger dog. Ours is almost 14 years old and he goes potty (urine) outside about 6x per day now, and in the past he went maybe 2 or 3 times.

 

[Baymule]

Is there any way to put in a doggie door?

 

[Fly 2006]

You can medicate for urinary incontinence, it is very common in bitches especially if they have been spayed but the other problem is not so easy to deal with I wouldn't think, I agree with others, either try a dog door or just keep letting her out regularly, hope you can get the situation a bit more managable X

 

[Overoberyl]

I have a dog that's 16. She eats and wags her tail and is happy for snacks.
However, she can't hold her urine long, so she goes on paper, and we are living rugless. She is not holding her bowels well.
I guess I'm just super tired of cleaning up dog mess, and the smell in the house. I just don't know what to do, if anything.
Any advice?

Cut down on the snacks, only feed her at regular times that way you can more reliably predict when she will have to eliminate. Get her on a schedule like you would when house training a pup and you may be able to catch her and get her outside before it becomes a mess inside.

 

[RHRanch]

First off, if your dog is incontinent, make sure to get her a vet check with a urine analysis and if possible have them ultrasound.examine the kidneys, as one of the most common causes of death for dogs is kidney failure. Hopefully your dog is just old and leaky (LOL), but if the urine is dark or has a strong odor, be concerned.

When my dog was incontinent, we made an area for her to be in using a wire pen. We lined it with a large sheet of vinyl linoleum, then placed the pen on top. On top of this we layered pee pads (Wal Mart has large cheap ones, work fine.) The dog bed had a removable liner in it, we covered the filler cushion with a trash bag (contractor grade) and covered that with the washable liner. We had several of the same liner covers. If your dog is small enough, you can get water resistant dust mite pillow liners from wal mart and use those to cover a cheap pillow, they make great dog beds for small dogs. If your dog is large, consider buying a $30 waterproof baby mattress from Wal Mart and use blankets and sheets to cover it which you can wash. A great product you can put in the car, on the ground, dog bed, etc. is a product called "pooch pads", they come in a lot of different sizes and they suck up the urine and trap it so the dog isn't soaked in it (we used it as a top sheet on the dog bed, and in the car for vet trips), and it's machine washable and lasts many years. Buy two and you always have a clean one ready to go. http://store.poochpad.com/poochpads.html

Another good product are the re-usable doggy diapers which you put an absorbant pee pad in - don't use the flimsy liners they sell to go with them, use poise pads for people, they work better.

 

[seminolewind]

Thanks for all the great advice!

The doggie door is NO, I live in Florida and we have enough pets in the house!

The diaper seems worth a try. I could make a custom one with those pooch pads.

We could take her out 100 times and she will come in and use the pad after she pees outside, I think she's senile.

The cage or a wired in area with pads sounds good.

Her urine is normal light yellow and smells like urine

Got some good ideas to try!

 

[Overoberyl]

The best deal on pee pads you will find anywhere is at Costco. They are a fraction of the price found anywhere else and come in boxes of 100.