Older Dog Incontinence

bekahdrum

I know this is the 3rd dog peeing question, and I actually am going to take her to the vet to check for UTI.

Our Weimaraner is about 13.  We have had her for about a year now, and she has semi recently started peeing in her sleep, on the couch, and her bed at night.  She also can't hold it during the day anymore.  We used pee pads for the daytime, but it is now so much urine that I have to use 2 x-large peepads and it still gets one the floor. 

I am well aware that this is most likely just age related, but does anyone have any tips besides letter her out more often and diapers?  My vet mentioned an estrogen shot?  I have not idea how that helps, but he said that is an option.  I feel like a diaper is unnatural for a dog and that would make her more uncomfortable. 

I am content knowing she is just old and we will have to clean up after her more now.  My DH on the other hand is not handling it well.  He yelled at her last night after he found a pee spot.  Of course he seems to be the one who always finds the random spots and normally is home before me so cleans up the daily pee.  Plus his workout room is in the basement where they stay and it has gotten into some of the framing and so his room smells like pee.

Long sorry, I just know y'all are full of tips (& questions)

TIA

EllaHella

Ask your vet if he/she thinks your dog will benefit from Proin.  Apparently "old lady bladder" is common amongst older spayed female dogs. 

It made the world of difference in our Boston.  And it isn't expensive.  We opted for the liquid drops v the pill for ease.

bekahdrum

Thanks!  I might ask him, but I just checked on side effects and it can cause seizures.  She already has issues with and is on a med for seizures, so I am thinking that might not be the best option, but I will still ask him.

rheenahbride

I went through the same thing a few months ago with a senior dog on diuretics.  I never did find a perfect system though.   There are machine washable pee pads that you can buy so that you don't have to spend so much on the disposables.  She didn't like it, but whenever she was going to lay down to sleep, we made her sleep on those because every time she dozed off, she'd pee.  You could create a confined area for when you cannot monitor the dog that is easily cleanable.  My dog was okay with the kitchen especially since we fed her there and the tile made the messes easier to handle.  I know I loved her so much, but it can get really exhausting.  Hang in there!

mrsjones06

We went throught his with our lab as she got up in years as well. It probably started when she was around 11. We put her on medication for awhile. Don't remember what it was called but it was a pill & while it wasn't ridiculously expensive it wasn't cheap either. That helped for a year or two but it seemed like she built up an intolerance to it where we kept having to increase the dosage. We ultimately decided to buy her a comfy dog house & pillow & move her to the backyard. We still let her in frequently during waking hours & spent a lot of time with her outside but it worked out better for everyone. She would get really upset when it happened in the house & try to clean it up & she didn't seem as stressed about it outside. Our house was literally getting ruined by pee...our hardwood floors got stained in places & the baseboards got stained & smelly where she laid the most even though we tried to be diligent about cleaning it up. If we weren't home or it happened at night it could be hours before we got to it. I also had a baby crawling around which was the biggest factor. I just had to wash her pillow pretty much every other day & clean out the dog house. It was a lot of work for sure. We ended up losing her a little over a month ago though (at 14) & I'd be more than happy to keep cleaning the dog house & washing the pillow if it meant we'd still have her with us.