Old Greyhound Problem.

superbigal36

Well she is 11 1/2 years old now and in what decent health. We have a dog walker that comes in while we are at work so she is not in house for more than a 4 hour stretch.
At first it was overnight but now sometimes in those short day periods. Peeing in the house.
Any reasonable solution above the worst case scenario ?

Fosterdog

Have you taken her to the vet? She may have cystitis or kidney problems, or thyroid problems, or diabetes, or one of many other things with frequent urination being a symptom.

Does she pee in her bed at all? Does she have little drops leaking randomly or just a proper wee in a puddle? Does she appear to be in any pain while peeing? Is there any blood/discolouration or an unusual smell?

Is she eating or drink more or less than usual? Does she seem dehydrated at all?

Of course it could be nothing more than just age and a weaker bladder than in her youth but it would be worth having a urine sample tested and maybe bloods run just to check for anything worse. Dogs are so good at hiding pain, it may be painful holding her wee in for even a short time so she has to relieve herself.

It may not even be a physical problem but something like canine amnesia.

It could be something that will just get progressively worse, or she may just need a short course of meds or may need to be on something permanently, only a vet can give you an answer.

I hope you can get to the bottom of it soon, it's not nice for you having to clean it up all the time and it can't be nice for her not being able to control it.

superbigal36

Thanks for that. Assuming it is simply old age are you saying we just have to live with it ? I am just being told she also "pood" twice.
We have a large garden as well.
Can they just get lazy when not liking the cold weather outside ?

bugslet

I'd say that you need to go to the vets.

Assuming that she was clean before, then there is a medical reason behind it somewhere - it may or may not be something, but it needs checking out.

i wouldn't say it's laziness,t he dog is probably unhappy about the situation as well. FWIW, I have a 14 year old and he needs to go out far more frequently than he used to. As long as he goes out every couple of hours during the day he's fine.

superbigal36

It would have been nice to think a hound that was in the Racing Posts Top 10 dogs to follow one year, would know better
Joking aside I will get to the Vets.

bugslet

maybe she didn't read that edition:p

narabanekeater

lol about the Racing Post. The problem with greyhounds is not a lot of vets know much about them. Weve even had them refuse to see them. Almost 12 is a fantastic age for a hound. Are you feeding a good but lowish protein diet? I know quite a lot of about the breed as weve had them since I was little both racing and then as spoilt rotton pets. If you can get a urine sample a urine test would be handy at the vets

dizziblonde

narabanekeater wrote: »

lol about the Racing Post. The problem with greyhounds is not a lot of vets know much about them. Weve even had them refuse to see them. Almost 12 is a fantastic age for a hound. Are you feeding a good but lowish protein diet? I know quite a lot of about the breed as weve had them since I was little both racing and then as spoilt rotton pets. If you can get a urine sample a urine test would be handy at the vets

Yeah - if you DO go to the vets for bloods etc - just remember to check they're aware that some of the blood values for greys can be a bit different anyway (I did have a good site bookmarked that had the differences but I've lost the link in a PC meltdown).

Mine's currently alternating between chucking a strop at the indignity of being expected to go outside when it's cold (and snow... the cheek of the sky for pulling THAT trick on her), and then wanting to go out ASAP as she's sat cross legged for so long... and driving me crackers with it!

Don't think she ever made the Racing Post though - had a fairly long racing career (she's got two pages of races on greyhound data) but seems to have been solid yet somewhat obscure in her time.

narabanekeater

Ah bet she did you can check im sure. My eldest DD is names after one of our 1st greyhounds. Just love them. I had one whom we had to buy her own setee and she only went outside to wee. Would never walk unless it was just round the house to potter