[Dailydrool] Dealing with a mildly demented dog (not a joke)

[Val Brewer]

I wrote to Linda off-line about Nelly's in the house peeing, but then it 
occurred to me it might be helpful to others to share some of the tricks we have 
developed for dealing with Bo.

As many of you know who have followed Bo's saga over the past year, he has had 
four major surgeries. There was an unexplained internal injury on his plane 
flight to our new home; then after moving here Bo developed severe ulcerative 
colitis, and as a side effect of straining to poop, he herniated two muscles 
which needed repairing. One of the repairs failed and needed a second repair. 
Through all of this, his meds. were being adjusted. He was on prednisone for 
awhile, and now is on a more intestine specific steroid, Budesonide. For the 
past few months Bo has been pretty well, all things considered, and has regained 
a spark and enjoyment in life. He is 7. However, between all the surgeries and 
meds., we believe he has become mildly demented. This manifests itself in an 
increase in bassetude (stubborness), increased fear of new situations, but 
especially a bit of disorientation after dark (sundowning). Sometimes the urge 
to pee seems to simply overtake him, and he stands and squats (even inches from 
the doggie door). This happens most frequently if he has just awakened or 
awakens at night.

We have taken several steps which really seem to help. First, at night we leave 
lights on in all of the rooms leading to the doggie door. We have a solar 
controlled light just outside the doggie door on the foundation of the house. We 
have placed the water bowl next to the doggie door (so that if Bo takes a drink, 
the doggie door is right there). We take him out to pee maybe four times a day 
on a leash and for as long a walk as he can manage at 6 AM upon rising and at 9 
PM before going to bed. The doggie door is always available to a fenced yard. If 
Bill or I should get up ourselves during the night (and wake Bo) we go out in 
the backyard with him till he pees. We always take him out before leaving the 
house for any reason. And I bought a big Bissell carpet shampooer and shampoo 
all the rugs every 2 weeks with Pet Odor and Stain remover shampoo.

Are these steps 100% effective? No. But maybe 90%. We know we will have to 
replace the carpeting if and when we move (we are renters). In the house we 
still own and rent to others on Oahu, we have put in all tile and wood 
floors--we rent to people with pets; seems only fair. If we should ever buy 
here, we will rip out all carpeting and replace with tile and wood as well. We 
are hopeful that with time, Bo may improve even more, though he has never been 
the sharpest tack in the box. But we are not holding our breaths and take him as 
he is. His twin brother, Harley, by the way, is healthy as a horse, sleeps 
through the night and never has accidents. 



      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20100906/7a7b112c/attachment-0002.htm>