Dolly

For those seeking advice on caring for incontinent pets and animals with kidney-related problems.
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CarolC
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Diaper wear and tear

Post by CarolC »

This is a diaper, or should I say was? Dolly bounces on her bottom and goes out and explores the back yard as well as the house. Her diapers naturally wear through from friction on the ground bounce-bounce-bounce as the mileage builds up. But this diaper does not look too worn out because the denim is still blue, yet it is worn through clear to the liner.

I noticed a while back that the threshold in the doorway from the back yard to the sunporch had the head of a finishing nail showing, but I kind of scuffed it with my foot and it seemed OK. It was right in the exact spot of the doorway Dolly goes through to go in and out. Finally weeks later I bent over and felt it. Sure enough, it was sticking up more than I thought. Probably enough to catch and tear a diaper, or to catch a thread on a diaper that already had some wear, and tear it further. So she has probably been wearing out the seat of her pants faster because of that snag in the doorway.

It is fixed now. A couple of taps with the hammer, which I could have done weeks ago if I'd realized. If your pet wears out diapers, it is a good idea to take a close look at the surface they are bouncing or dragging on. :lol:

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critters
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Re: Dolly

Post by critters »

It's understandable, but kind of amusing, to think of her wearing out the seats of her britches! :D
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

Post by CarolC »

I posted before that I was using a grocery bag to keep Dolly's diaper dry on days when she wanted to go out and the grass was wet. It works but has been less than ideal. Some days it works fine, and then other days she tears out the leg hole and comes in with a wet diaper. I tried taping the leg hole, but that wasn't entirely foolproof either. But I think I finally found the solution.

I have a stack of plastic bags that they give you at the vet when you buy supplies. They are super sturdy and thick and tear-proof. I made one of them into a diaper cover for Dolly and it is perfect. She did not tear it at all. Really, as much trouble as I had getting the hole in the corner (could not tear it by hand, had to use scissors) I think one bag is going to last a LONG time.

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Here is a picture of Dolly in her bag, just coming in from outdoors.

Dolly_vet_bag.JPG

And here is a picture of how I cut the bag for her to wear. The little 1.5" hole in the far corner is for her leg to go through. The reason I snipped the handles open was to be able to stretch the ends to have plenty of length to knot it around her waist. So I think this is finally the solution. The grocery bag was a good idea, but we just needed better bags. :D

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critters
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Re: Dolly

Post by critters »

Seems funny for her to be wearing a bag. :mrgreen:
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

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It's not exactly a fashion statement, is it? But when she goes out and bounces around on her bottom in the wet grass in her denim diaper, it soaks all through the fabric and the front gets wet, her waist gets wet. Then she comes in and bounces wet/muddy splots and streaks all over the place, like walking in with muddy boots, only it's her bottom so the tracks are rounder? And I have to change her diaper, which wastes a pad I just put in 20 minutes ago, because usually this happens first thing in the morning when the grass is damp.

And she's a really good dog, but she's usually in high spirits when she comes in from outdoors, so I have to get her to hold still so I can change it, when she's all excited. I don't think I've ever said this, but this is how good she is. When she knows it's time to change her diaper in the afternoon, she lies down on her side with her leg side up so I can unvelcro the old diaper. Then when I go to put the clean one on, she sits up so I can get the pad under her and fasten it. :smart: :smart: :smart: :angel: :angel: :angel: But she doesn't do all that when I have to change her because she's wet, because she's excited and it's an unscheduled change I guess. But mainly, we just don't want wetness around her waist against her skin if we can avoid it...
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critters
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Re: Dolly

Post by critters »

And avoiding a bit of washing isn't a bad thing, either! :mrgreen:
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

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We woke up this morning to more snow than I've seen since I moved here in 1988. I made a new plastic bag diaper cover for Dolly because I didn't want to not let a disabled dog have as much fun as every other. Dolly stepped her 2 front feet out the door into the snow, turned around, and came right back in! Guess we're not going to have to worry about getting a snow-packed diaper! :lol:
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critters
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Re: Dolly

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I don't blame her!! :lol:
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

Post by CarolC »

I have decided Dolly needs a small pack of disposable diapers for emergencies. I don't even know what size to get since she has never worn any, we'll try a 3. This is because of the diaper and bedding issue we encountered in the recent outage. Emergency preparedness for incontinent pets! :D

Sunday night before the freeze/storm/power outage I did doggie laundry because I didn't want to have to go out in the freezing garage and do laundry the next morning. So I did all her bedding and diapers. That turned out to be a good thing because the next morning we were told to conserve (don't run appliances), they started rolling blackouts, and then shut off the power completely and it stayed off for 2 more days, M-T-W. When it came back on Wednesday, a lot of people had low water pressure or no water at all because the city had been unable to run the pumps to pump water out of the ground into the water system (plus everybody was dripping faucets to avoid frozen pipes but there were thousands of broken pipes). So no water pressure, or if you had water you had to boil it. We were lucky we had water (with low pressure), but what if the next time we didn't?

Dolly has 6 denim diapers and wears 2 a day (she'll have more later this week). She also has 2 synthetic washable diapers. This is normally plenty because I do laundry every day. By Tuesday afternoon I was afraid she would run out of denim diapers so I thought, "No problem" and washed them and hand wrung them out the best I could and put them in the porch to dry. They would not dry. It was snowing outside. It was cold and damp inside the porch and getting colder and damper, because the power was off. And they just wouldn't dry. They didn't look like they were going to be dry by the time we used up her 2 synthetic diapers, then what? :shock: I was wishing I hadn't washed all of them, because at that point anything I could put a pad in would have been welcome whether it was fresh or not.

Usually Dolly sleeps without a diaper. She gets a fresh set of bedding every night, because she bounces on her bottom and surfaces need to be clean to ensure she doesn't get an infection (and by the time she's spent 8 hrs in her blankets, they are not clean enough to re-use because she dribbles/leaks).

In addtion, when the power is out and the house is cold she needs blankets without wet spots, because wetness would be cold.

And finally, we were lucky it was only 3 days, but if we had run out of bedding I would have been stuck digging through the laundry hamper smelling linens to see if I could find any that she could re-use, and that's not how I want to care for my dog.

So a pack of Huggies should help a lot. If we ever have the same situation again, we will change her sleeping routine and she will sleep in a Huggies instead of au naturel. Her bedding will stay cleaner and if necessary we can re-use it. I am also getting some XL disposable underpads. She usually has a quilted playpen sheet but she can use a pad instead. That will extend her bedding. She's a burrower and she likes going down into her quilts. :sleepingdog: We've got extra quilts but it's harder to find sheets.

I've also been kind of halfway thinking of some kind of roof or cover that I could put in her crate, that would be warm to go under. It's kind of the same theory as a Dogloo, but not as tall and covering more floor space. If it ever got down to freezing in here, she would need more warmth than her usual 4-piece bedding. But if she had a little lean-to to go under, that could keep her warmer without lots of extra bedding, and that would make the bedding last. Something like the top half of a corner litter box might work. Then she can be a little Eskimo dog. :D

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critters
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Re: Dolly

Post by critters »

How about a smallish travel crate without a door? Many of my monsters have enjoyed a "house" like that.

Good idea about the diapers, and if you get the velcro kind you'd never have to worry about the glue going bad if you seldom or never use them.
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

Post by CarolC »

My cats like sleeping in travel crates, too. For Dolly I'm picturing something with lots of floor space so she can move around on her quilt to a dry spot. Something bigger than that litter box top above. Her bed is a fleece bottom pad, over that a quilted cotton sheet, and over that a pink backed underpad and a poofy baby quilt, and she's been going under the underpad this winter. I imagine with the vinyl interior layer it is like having a roof over your head. If I could get her a "roof" that is not too tall and has enough floor space so she could move around to dry spots on her quilt, it would keep her warmer in a power outage. However if she is wearing a good enough diaper, then she won't need to move to dry spots and something like a travel carrier would work, especially if you eliminate the air holes.

I wonder what size the biggest laundry carry-tubs are? You could make a door in that and flip it upside down. I used to have a really neat tub that had some kind of horse supplements in it. Don't have it anymore but it was the right size. One of these days we'll be able to go to the flea market again! :waiting:

I got her Huggies yesterday. She is not a size 3. That diaper is huge. Wasted $8, I'll donate them. I'm not even sure she's a 2. Why the heck don't they give waist sizes with baby diapers? And what's this new thing of different styles for active, moving babies versus babies who aren't crawling yet? I admit it make sense for babies, but which one is my dog? Also, that Huggies tape does not reposition well. I used to like Huggies but I don't like these. I may try another brand next time.
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critters
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Re: Dolly

Post by critters »

How about those enormous bucket tubs with the rope handles? Like people use for drinks at parties?

:lol: :hysterical: :haha: Over your size rant!!
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CarolC
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Re: Dolly

Post by CarolC »

Yup, I think we're talking about the same thing. I sometimes call it a laundry carry tub.

Dolly woke up yesterday with a kink in her neck again. I didn't realize there was anything wrong till I went to diaper her as usual and she yelped and wouldn't let me touch her. Then I figured it out. When she is like that, her neck hurts and she can't lie down. I don't know if she can't get into a lying-down position, or if maybe she can but then knows she won't be able to sit back up.

I started her on leftover Robaxin and checked in the afternoon and she still wasn't better. Now she is on Robaxin + diazepam + Tramadol. This is maybe the 4th time this has happened and I have to reinvent the wheel every time. She really needs a loading dose the first day. By not doing that right off the bat, I let her have a sore neck for hours longer than necessary, but I had forgotten that was what worked last time, and it isn't on the label on the bottle. She still was not able to lie down at bedtime but was almost there. When I checked this morning, she was finally lying down and sleeping. Imagine not being able to lie down all day. How tired would you be?

Here is a picture taken from a distance so I don't wake her. It shows the welcome sight of her lying down and resting! She needs to sleep and be relaxed and let the muscle spasm go away. She is crated today and seems to remember what this is all about. She has not whined to get out at all. She may be crated for a couple more days. When I see her bouncing in her crate for her food, that's when I figure her neck must be better and we can take a chance.

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Re: Dolly

Post by Christine »

We recently got some single ply toilet paper by mistake...there was a reason it was so cheap. We usually use paper towels to pre-wipe excess grease off of dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. (I know you should not have to do that, but even the good dishwashers will get build up if you don't.) Anyway, maybe this would also be a solution for your pickup issue. Also, I purchased a "pooper scooper" for Penny in the last few months when I had to go out with her on lead and that worked really well. (When she went out on her own, she never went anywhere we walked...always off to the side or in the woods.
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Christine
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Re: Dolly

Post by Christine »

Not sure where the discussion I was replying to went, but you get the idea.

So glad Dolly is doing better. She is so lucky to be with you and all your knowlege!
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