my 9 year old dog can't close his a$$ anymore and wait to be brought out for a walk. vet confirmed he's not sick, but just has weakened butt muscles in his middle age.

the dog craps 3x a day in the house, including in his sleep sometimes and I'm sick of it. The house stinks, the carpets are getting more and more filthy / germy and sometimes with the lights off we step in it.

Vet didn't suggest any solutions and I'm sure he would prefer I don't pester him for any.

No point in scolding him since he just can't help it, and I guess it's not right to put him to sleep due to this...but something must be done...

and who else would want a middle aged dog that can't control his crap anymore..

Help !

 

doggy diapers? seen em on monkeys

 

Im in the same boat. I have a dog thats 15 or 16 (had him since I was 3-4) that lost control of his a$$ about 1 1/2 years ago. The vet gave us something to help somewhat. It give him some control over his pooper but made him lose all control of his bladder. So we took him off of it becuase it made more work for us. Good thing tho is my house is all tile so it makes clean up 10X easier then carpet.

Funny thing is they actually have them

 

cause after the bills came in for my hobby expenses this summer I am feeling a bit loose myself LOL, and when the wife sees em, i'll be outside in the dog house as well LOL.....

 

I might suggest feeding him smaller meals only twice a day. once in the morning and mid to late afternoon. Do not leave food out all of the time. train yourself, wife, and kids to take him out at every opportunity. Diapers might end up being your only answer. Dogs become one of the family and these things are hard on everyone

 

we've only fed him once a day at dinner, and have been feeding him less...and he's thinned out a little...but still can't hold it in....

never pees in the house tho

 

Depending on how big your dog is you might consider keeping him in a kennel during the day. My wife and I have a Corgi mix that we put in a kennel during the day when we are at work. We let our dog out in the evening and she gets to sleep in the easy chair at night. I guess you might consider it cruel, but it also prevents our dog from chewing stuff up or scratching up the back door to get outside.

If you don't like the idea of a small kennel then maybe you could get a baby gate and put it up so your dog is trapped in the kitchen where there is tile. Then at least the messes would be easier to clean.

 

 

They make incontinence pills for animals much like they do for humans. They're developed for people who are losing controls of their muscles for peeing and pooping. My dog had an issue of peeing in her sleep because she couldn't help it and they gave her incontinence pills and they really work. I'd ask your doctor about this option. Keeping the dog in the kennel is not a fair thing to do. Animals dont like defecating in the place that they sleep and your dog will be forced to do that... Imagine laying in your own filth, kind of cruelty in my book. It's not your dogs fault, its nature. Look into incontinence pills though, may be a viable option.

 

I agree that it would be cruel to keep a dog in the kennel if it couldn't control itself. However, most dogs will be able to hold it long enough that they won't mess up their kennel. Luckily, our dog doesn't make messes in the house.

 

Well yes, a dog that doesn't have this issue is fine in a kennel. I use to keep my dog in a kennel all the time during the day. She's really mellowed out because of it and I can trust leaving her out now with destroying anything. Locking up a dog to manage its temper or to teach potty training is one thing, but for the purpose of locking a dog up because it poos itself I do not agree with.

 

Our vet gave us a similar diagnosis for our 13 year old collie, the choice was kennel him for part of the day and clean up the mess when we had to or :-( We bought 100 ft of 2x4 fence and twelve fence post at tractor supply (I think a total around a 100.00) it made a 24x24 run and he would only crap in one corner and he stayed out there as much as he wanted Yea we had to clean up but he lived for another 2 years and he was able to get some controll. Just an idea.

 

Get another opinion!
Some Vets don't give a $hit about how inconvient ownership can be, and give BS advise.
If all 63 yr old humans had this problem, imagine what we'd be walking in!
I've had at least 5 dogs live to their teens without this problem!!

 

I'm glad you guys are offering suggestions but as this thread is 2 years old I'm sure the problem has worked itself out.

If it hasn't there's always this option: