Senior dog - lots of questions

[caringforbailey]

Hello,
First time to this site, so far it is very helpful.

My dog Bailey is almost 15, she is a shepherd husky mix that we adopted from a shelter when she was just a little puppy. She weighs about 90 pounds. She has arthritis and has had it for a while. She has not gone up the stairs in almost a year. I had her on deramax for the past 6 months and this was working pretty well - this means she could get in and out, sit on the porch or sit in the yard and walk around herself. Our Vet did some blood work and told us to stop with the deramax since her kidney levels were high. On Tuesday she got her first shot of anaquin (sp?), she will get one each week for the next 3 weeks and then it will be every other week and then eventually monthly. So far she has gotten much worse since we stopped the deramax. She had been having issues once in a while where she would defacate sometimes without knowing it and laying in it etc. The past two days she seems to be urinating in her bed which she always seemed to know she had to pee and would get up and go out.

She also drinks a lot of water. Her appetite is good, her personality is great, very alert etc. I am honestly doing my best to care for her and keep her comfortable. She has 3 orthopedic beds spread around in areas she likes to lay. But I don't know if I am doing everything I can.

How do I clean her?? She has dried poop on her butt right now. I have been trying to cut her hair and clean it but she cannot stand for long periods of time. I don't think she could go through a full grooming.

Is the incontinence due to us stopping the deramax?

Is it better to have her on the deramax where she seemed to be in less pain.

I read in the blog about Sam-E - would this help her at all?

We are willing to do anything as long as she is not in pain.

This is tough and we want to give her what she needs after being there for us for so many years.

[Bobbie]

I'd try SAM-e and in the meantime go back on the Deramaxx unless the kidney values were VERY high. The thing is, at 15, we are talking about keeping her comfortable, and if the means of doing so hastens the end, well, that's the way it goes. SAM-e may help alleviate the effects of the Deramaxx but it itself takes a bit of time to start helping so that's why I'd say go back on an NSAID (maybe a different one) first. If your vet says it is harming her ask about how long she has if she takes it- how long until it would kill her- and how painful a death. This is a quality of life issue if she is in great pain without it.

She should also be on glucosamine. (If she isn't.) Adequan should help but it sounds like, at this point, she still needs more.

I suspect she is incontinent because it hurts to get up and go out.

[caringforbailey]

Thanks. She does take glucosamine every day. Do I need to speak to the vet prior to putting her on SAM-e?

The vet said that her kidney levels were high and that if absolutely necessary I could give her a half a pill once in a while.

I know she said if the kidneys go then the dog will not be able to eat or drink and will then just throw everything up and would have to be put down.

[Bobbie]

You should be able to use SAM-e with or without the vet's approval; it is a supplement, not a drug, but you may want to check with your vet. They do sell a veterinary version of it but other than dosage being 10% different it is exactly the same drug. I give my 25 lb corgi 400 mg a day and he has taken it for years. Studies have shown its anti-inflammatory effects are comparable to NSAIDs and it adds liver support, unfortunately not, to my knowledge, kidney support.

If Deramaxx is out ask about Tramadol. It's a narcotic-like pain med that should at least help your dog rest comfortably. The main thing now is that if the quality of life goes downhill without the drug, you have to decide which is more important, but at least explore other options before going drug-free if going drug-free is having such disastrous consequences.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

I'm with Bobbie on the Sam-e. It has a lot of benefits, including a mental feel good. A lot of your questions, I can't answer, because I am only now having a dog actually live long enough to exp. the serious old age infirmaties. All my others lost had catastrophic injuries. My new old guy has many issues and tonight, I watched him stumble up the stairs, but his hindquarters have been very weak since he got here in April, paralyzed. He now runs, jumps backwards and does stairs, stumbling now. His enjoyment of life only suffers because of his inability to eat. He was hit by car in head, neuro DX, paralysis, deaf almost blind from the hemorrhages in eyes from the collision and an ugly bony protrusion on his head that is growing alarmingly.

My old lady, 10 year old AmbrrNanaDog, lab/husky mix, is suffering from a 7 year old broken shoulder. She gets calcium and condroitin supplements as well as the occasional doggie asperin.

Massage is a wonderful comfort, a light T-Touch massage. http://www.ttouch.com/whyTTouch.shtml

[Christine]

My Bailey had similar issues to your Bailey. She wore a Lift and Assist Harnass so that I could help support her when she needed to urinate. I used Poop on Demand if she had not gone by bedtime. A ramp is also much easier for both of you to navigate outside. Just make sure it is wide enough so noone gets knocked off of it. If these things don't alleviate unplanned urination, be sure to check for a UTI.

Bailey was on a low dose of Prednisone daily with a tummy protector (help me here, girls). There are many pros and cons about Prednisone, but it helped my girl. Definitely speak with the vet about it and know that it is not something that you can start and just stop without gradually decreasing the dosage.

Your girl is lucky to have you. We are here for you both.

[CarolC]

She may be drinking a lot because of the kidney issue. The first indication I had that Merlin had kidney trouble was that he was drinking his water bowl dry and I went and bought him a really big water bowl. Not sure how many quarts it held but it was $12. He had mild kidney trouble and the vet checked and said he was not concentrating his urine. We put him on a special diet that was easier on his kidneys and his values improved, and he was maintained a couple more years that way, but he did drink a lot and wet a lot. When he finally went into renal failure, it did not respond to treatment, and he went downhill rapidly as your vet said. The vet explained to me you can maintain a cat with chronic renal failure for a long time, but dogs are different.

My dog also was incontinent of stool. He went while sleeping or at any time. He couldn't help it so I just cleaned up and made sure he knew I didn't mind. I kept his rear shaved/trimmed. Your vet can do this, ask for a "sanitary clip" for hygiene and they will shave under her tail for you. If your dog is dropping stools in bed, the best thing to do is stimulate her to evacuate using techniques in the following article, or be sure the food you are feeding her produces a firm non-sticky low-odor stool. I did both with Merlin, you may not have 100% cleanliness all the time but you can improve the situation a whole lot that way. For what it's worth, I do not recommend Science Diet canned k/d, it gave my dog soft stools, but the Science Diet k/d dry gave a decent stool.

https://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/?title=Bowel_management_in_incontinent_pets

If she is peeing her bed, and she is on orthopedic beds, it is very, very, very important to be sure the pee is not soaking under her hip. You will end up with a urine burn and they are hard to heal on a down dog. The best I can say is, it's not an easy situation with a large dog no matter what.

I will mention another possibility, but I do not really think this applies to your situation. Older spayed female dogs can develop something called "leaky old lady syndrome", which is treatable with medication (D.E.S or Proin). The first sign is usually bedwetting. You can ask the vet about trying those, however if she has a kidney problem and is not concentrating her urine, she is just going to drink a lot and need more frequent bathroom breaks. When you get her up to take her out, you may find she urinates during the lift. Someone developed a simple harness to solve that problem, please let me know if you need the link.