As you can imagine, taking care of senior pups has its very own challenges.
Here at HWAH we have developed many ways to handle the special care that our senior residents require.
One challenge that many seriously senior pups face is Urinary Incontinence.
If your dog is incontinent the first thing is to have your pup checked by a Vet to make sure that there is no infection or if a prescription might be helpful.
- Dogs that have age-related incontinence can wear doggie diapers. You can purchase the disposable type or use cloth diapers with pads. Keep in mind urine is caustic and should not remain on your pet’s skin for long periods, so if you use diapers, be sure to change them frequently or remove them during times when your pet isn’t apt to be incontinent. You want to be sure to wipe them off each time you change the diaper. We use “baby-wipes”. You can use diaper rash ointment if necessary. If you change the diaper often enough you should not need to use the ointment.
- If your pet is incontinent primarily during sleep, there are pet incontinence beds that work by pulling moisture away from the animal and down into a tray.
- For one pup that visits us often we wrap her bedding with a disposable pottie pad and change it often.
- Boy Diapers are the easiest. You can purchase the diaper and then then add an incontinence pad and just wrap it around the pup covering the appropriate area and you are good to go.
- Girl Diapers are a little more challenging. I find that the disposable ones don’t seem to fit just right so you have to cut the tail hole a bit bigger so you are able to pull the diaper higher up on the pup. The cloth diapers are great. We cut an incontinence pad in half and insert it in the washable diaper wrap. In the past the girl diapers seemed to have tail holes that were large enough for a bowel movement to pass out of the diaper and not be caught inside against the dog’s body. I think this is the best way. The newer diapers have the tail hole so small that it just fits over the tail and if a dog has a bowel movement it will be stuck all over them. YUK!!! We take out the elastic on the newer design to make the tail hole bigger. Some female dogs need to wear a shirt so you can pin the back of the diaper to the shirt so it will not slide off.
- Some pups will only need a diaper at night and simply taken out more often during the day.
More information about Senior Dog Incontinence:
- https://www.vetinfo.com/senior-dog-incontinence.html
- http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/urinary-incontinence-dogs#1
- http://www.seniortailwaggers.com/old-dog-incontinence.html
- http://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/incontinence-senior-dogs-what-do-and-how-help