I didn't want to post this in Jeanne's thread as it is too negative. Jeanne, my golden retriever is the same age and sounds exactly like yours point by point right down the line, though the vet hasn't said anything about DM, just a lot of spinal arthritis. He is bladder incontinent and wears a male wrap--problem solved. He is bowel incontinent and we watch stool quality and keep him in the 3 rooms in the back of the house--problem solved. But the barking--I don't know what to do. When he first went down he barked loudly, now he is not so loud so the noise actually does not get on my nerves for the most part. But the air quality is really honestly grossing me out and wearing on me. He does not have especially bad breath. If you were around him and talked to him and petted him you would not notice his breath at all. He has some tartar but I don't think he can have a dental because of age and kidney trouble. Maybe I should ask. I don't think the bad breath is coming from his teeth or mouth per se, it seems more like it is from his lungs and throat and stomach while breathing? All that pant-pant-pant-bark-bark-bark, yeah ALOT ALOT ALOT, it doesn't take him long to foul the air in the room. I open the window and there goes the air conditioning or heating but it smells better. When he isn't barking nonstop the air is fine. We all have to breathe that air, it's gross!In the Golden w/possible DM thread Jeanne wrote:He barks ALOT...ALOT ALOT due to boredom/frustration/wanting attention during the day and dementia at night. We make sure that every need is taken care of.
It's like an old grandpa, what do you do for old grandpa stomach breath...?Can't stop the barking. His pad is dry, his bed is clean, he is turned or helped to his feet. Often he barks because he smells food somewhere in the house and wants to go find it and he can't...well, his bed is in the family room off the kitchen, there are going to be food odors, and I feed most of the pets in that part of the house, too, it's unavoidable. He barks with a half smile on his face, not focusing on anything. I tried tryptophan, not sure it really had much of an effect. The vet receptionist said give him 2 Benadryl twice a day, but I hate to just dope my dog? If I'm going to do that, I'd rather have a prescription for something like clomicalm or acepromazine or something, but he has kidney trouble so I'd rather not, and the idea is to do something for his benefit, not mine. I don't know. Even just hearing that someone else is putting up with the smelly rebreathed air problem would cheer me up.
What about one of those machines that purify the air, do they really work?
