Bowel incontinence in old dog

Does she seem unhappy? If she is even vaguely aware of her incontinence, it must distress her. It does sound like some kind of dementia.

The same thing happened to our Springer. Around six months before she died at 14 she pooed when she got excited at seeing a family member arrive home. That was the first of many occasions it happened. Again, the vet could find nothing wrong with her bowels. It was distressing for her and us. She eventually died of a stroke.

Melanie - she is sometimes unhappy, quite stressed I would say. Other times she sleeps or wanders about. But she still comes for walks and loves to be cuddled and stroked by us. As Alima says, the incontinence is both distressing for the dog (especially when she has rolled in it in her sleep) and for us to see her this way.

Oh dear yes, our old Labrador was like that for a year or so before we had to let her go at 16. Sometimes she did it lying down and she would turn to the offending item as if to say Oh dear, how did that get there?? Fortunately they were always firm and easy to pick up. A towel in her bed and on her favourite sleeping places also helped. Or you could use puppy pads.
Even Gracie had the occasional accident (14)
I wonder if the reflexes become less sensitive and slower. Old dogs certainly often find it harder to “hunch” (squat) if you see what I mean.
You could reduce the amount of waste in the dog’s diet (and so reduce the quantity and firm up the poo) by feeding her a raw food diet. Hattie has Bella &Duke, but others are available. Much better than dry or complete.

Sorry to hear about your dog's problems Pollaidh good advice on here. I'm not sure there is much else to be done now except just love her and deal with things until she is finding it too much.

MawBroon and Sodapop - so nice to hear similar stories. I daren't change the dog's food as she eats the dried food so well in spite of her teeth not being what they were. We are dealing with it until she finds it too much - exactly that. Of our previous dogs (mostly Spaniels) one lived to be 17 and another to 16 but they didn't dement like this - just slowed down. Our other two each lived until 12 and then died very suddenly (cancer definitely for one and probably for the other). It sounds awful, but we are just really hoping that this dog pops off before she reaches the stage of being in pain and distress.

You can change the food you know, you can do it gradually indeed in an old dog you probably should. Her digestion will have changed in the same way ours has and of course it is softer and goes down more easily - I wish I had known about it when I had Grace as she was a very faddy eater and Hattie’s current food which I buy frozen and keep in the freezer would have been ideal.

My elderly Great Dane did this,it was because the nerves in her spine were dying, and the condition meant her back legs dragged slightly when she walked. She wasn't in any pain and we lived with this until she couldn't get up any more.

Yes Grannysyb I wondered about that. She still walks quite well, but then will easily fall over if she turns too fast or sometimes staggers a bit when she gets out of bed (but then don't we all???). So I am keeping an eye on her back legs. Poor old thing....

so sorry its one of the things as we watch our beloved pets age just as a matter of fact me and my partner work as dog walkers and home sitters and we never mind looking after dogs with bowel or bladder issues we love the pets cats dogs etc just as they are

Pollaidh sorry to read this, very sad. What does your vet say? My two oldest dogs, 15+, passed away this year, we had to have them PTS.

One has dementia, in addition to being blind and deaf. The vet prescribed some pills which which helped for most of the last 12 months of his life. Perhaps your vet might suggest something similar?

But we couldn’t leave them either as the other one started having seizures. So we stayed at home or went away separately.

As labazs said it’s ‘one of those things’ and we have to do our best for our lovely pets when they get senile and incontinent. It’s a small price to pay for the unconditioned love they gave us.

Hi Meg
the vet says she is in fine shape for her age! And she is .... apart from the incontinence, arthritis and dementing!

Just keep giving her the cuddles she needs from you now, more than ever ??

She sounds very like our old Springer who had two minorish strokes, became doubly incontinent and eventually had to be put to sleep about 18 months later. (on Boxing day!!) She was nearly 14 so a good age, but distressing to cope with. We just cleared up after her, made her as comfortable as we could and tried not to draw attention to her failing health as she hated being caught short, it seemed to really worry her. It's about all you can do!