[Dailydrool] Old hounds and incontinence and green beans

[Jane Hay]

Ginger was bowel and bladder incontinent for the last two years of her
life. We couldn't bring ourselves to diaper her and have that nastiness
next to her skin and on her fur so we made an apartment under a large pub
table that I use for quilting and padded everything in sight to try to
minimize the mess at night and when we weren't home. I'm fortunate and am
home most of the time so I was able to get her out frequently but still had
to clean up the trails she would leave. We just couldn't put her to sleep
because of her incontinence but it's difficult having an incontinent senior
to say the least. We never invited anyone over because the house smelled no
matter how much we cleaned, sprayed or changed out her beds. Our vet felt
she was definitely losing her back end to arthritis and degenerative disc
disease but we were lucky and she never totally went down and ultimately
died from lung cancer. I wish I had something to add to make life easier
but I've got nothing. We just plugged along with her and cleaned up after
her as long as she enjoyed her meals and was a happy hound. Suzy has been
bladder incontinent since she came to us as a crate abused puppy. We've
always wondered if she didn't develop sphincter control because she was in
a crate 20+ hours a day and learned to pee and poop and lay in it. We had
her on Proin for a long time until she had a cardiac event and switched her
to  Incurin since then. Both medications help but aren't 100%. There again,
because I'm home most of the time, as long as she goes out frequently, the
leaking is minimal. She has an apartment in a full bathroom we have off our
family room and isn't allowed to wander the house if we aren't here.

Green beans help! Toby is on a green bean diet right now and we've always
used them when someone got a little too fluffy. We buy an excellent quality
kibble and use the green beans as a filler while we cut back on the kibble
and the treats. Toby likes them and hasn't gained any more weight. I'd like
to see him lose a couple of pounds but that isn't going to happen until
fall comes and we can start walking again. It's too hot here in NC to do
much walking right now so we buy frozen green beans and he gets about a
quarter cup with each meal along with about three quarters cup of kibble.
I'd stay away from the canned green beans because a lot of them have added
salt.

Heart healing and get well drool is flowing to all in need.

Jane, Toby & the Houndettes
Shadow & Suzy
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