Eddie is in congestive heart failure. He will never get better and is basically staying alive by taking medicine 3 times a day. The heart failure is causing water to surround his organs and makes him look pregnant. When this happens it makes Eddie very uncomfortable. The medicine helps keep the water gain down.
The heart failure makes it hard for Eddie to breath, he tires easily and is hungry all the time. The water collecting around his organs and the medicine to stop that from happening make Eddie THINK he is thirsty so he drinks a lot of water.
Well what goes in must come out.. Eddie pees ALL THE TIME! He even pees in his sleep...
Eddie IS housebroken and will bark at you to let him outside but he has to pee about every 1/2 hour and sometimes he just can't help but pee where ever he is standing at the moment. If he is barking at you and you just can't go let him out because you are in the shower, cooking something, washing dishes so you have to dry your hands first, I mean anything where it might take a minute to run to the door he can't help but pee. The pressure hurts him....
I am ALWAYS picking up pee. Last night in 4 hours he peed in the house 4 times. And was let out what feels like a million times.
Tonight in 1 hour he peed in the house twice.
He has been peeing in his sleep which I learned the hard way by letting him sleep next to me one night. Where ever he sleeps we have to make sure he has the washable pee pad under him and EVERY day for about 2 weeks now that pee pad has been washed.
I am just not too sure how much more I can take. He isn't ever going to get better, the extreme heat and extreme cold make his symptoms worse and honestly when it gets warmer out I am afraid he is going to wander out of the yard.
I work all day so the only person home to let him out is my mom and God lover her, she just doesn't remember things like when she lets the dog out she needs to let them back in. My dad is just careless and doesn't pay attention so if Eddie were to walk outside with him, he would never know and I worry Eddie will just wonder off.
I just don't know what to do. He is happy probably for the first time in his life. You can totally tell who ever owned him before was really mean to him. He peed on the floor the other night and my husband said "Eddie what did you do that for" and he said it in this real funny voice.. not a mad voice at all and Eddie got so scared he ran and hid under the bed. Every time Eddie thinks you are mad at him he runs and hides under things. Poor dog.. some beat the crap out of him.
Eddie LOVES to come out to the barn and play with the other dogs. He follows me absolutely everywhere. He is a sweet little dog but I just don't know how much more I can take. The cleaning of pee is driving me crazy. Thank God I have hard wood. I mean except for my bedroom and at the rate Eddie pees I will need new carpet soon.
Obviously he is not up for adoption and I would keep him if I could find a solution to the peeing. My life is nothing but cleaning up Eddie pee.
I don't know what to do. Should I put him down? The vet said he wasn't sure how long he would live... eventually the heart failure will take his life but when will that be? A year? 10 years? next week? No one knows and I am not sure how much longer I can go on with a living breathing pee bomb that spontaneously explodes about 10 times a day in my house.
I feel like a horrible person for even thinking of putting him to sleep but I seriously might loose my mind cleaning up pee.
Last night Eddie was driving me crazy with needing to go out and with peeing in the house that he slept in a crate last night.. he hasn't had to do that in months. The crate was FULL, like poured it out of the crate.. full of pee. The bed that was in there was TOTALLY soaked, you could ring it out.
I just don't know what to do... I keep thinking if I can wait til the weather gets warmer but what does that matter? It isn't going to be much of a life if I have him leaving in the kennels just to keep my sanity by not having him in the house peeing on everything. I mean the kennels are fine for a dog that is there temporarily but for a dog who will never get a forever home.
UGH! I am starting to feel like one of those crazy rescue ladies who has a bunch of dogs at her house that are totally not adoptable because they are aggressive or sick and she refuses to put them to sleep because she doesn't believe in euthanizing an animal... IDIOTS! If a dog is in pain put it to sleep.. mental or physical. See but Eddie isn't in pain because the medication helps with that.. so now what do I do?
8 comments:
Poor Eddie. I had similar problems with a dog that became diabetic towards the end of his life and an old cat with kidney problems.
The best solutions we found were doggy diapers. They can however get expensive as they are disposable. Or my preference was for belly bands for boy dogs, the ones I've seen are washable so you get a few of them and just run them through the washing machine and reuse them.
They are easy to take on and off they just velcro so you can take it off if he wants to go potty outside in no time at all.
If you are worried about pee smell in carpets my vet put me on to mixing oxyclean with warm water and after you have soaked up the pee with a towel, splash a good dash of that over the area they pee'd leave for 10 mins or so and then soak it up by pressing with a towel. I used it on cat pee and it worked a treat, even on hard wood as the enzymes actual neutralize it.
Sorry this is so long, if you have any questions about any of this please email me. If nothing else I am more than happy to offer moral support.
Like wwax said, I also have a SIL with a westie that has to wear a belly band with a maxi pad on it because he cannot control his bladder (product of a puppy mill *sigh)
But, I also think you say it yourself when you say 'The heart failure is causing water to surround his organs and makes him look pregnant. When this happens it makes Eddie very uncomfortable. The medicine helps keep the water gain down'
Try the belly band with a maxi pad or a dog diaper for awhile, but ultimately, I think it is just asking yourself where his quality of life is and is he in pain.
Poor Eddie. He sounds like such a sweet dog. I had a horse like that once, it got a brain tumor and had trouble walking. The vet said if we gave it medicine it would help control the brain tumor and might extend its life. Right away after she was on the medicine she started walking better and seemed perkier and happier. Unfortunately she slowly deteriorated again and within 6 months could not walk at all any more. It was a struggle for her to get up after she had lay down and she spent most of her day standing or laying in the furthest corner of the field away from all the other horses. Towards the end she refused to take her medicine. I wish I would have put her down sooner for my sanity (I never could sleep at night worrying about her) and for her comfort. She obviously was not comfortable or happy at all in the end. I kept hoping I would discover a new medicine or I would find a new way to make her eat the medicine so she would get good again. It is really hard to say goodbye when they still seem OK but in the future if I had to deal with a chronic disease I would probably say goodbye a lot sooner. Of course, its up to you and what you are willing to put up with. Good luck in your decision!
Amy, I don't want to value Eddie's life any less than any other dog's, but you have to look at the futility of the situation, as well as the toll it is taking on you. You've had him for at least six months, according to your post, and you have done your absolute best for him. You're expending tremendous amounts of energy just for him, to the detriment of not only the other dogs, but, more importantly, you and your family. While I'm sure he's happy in your home, he can't be happy with the pressure of the accumulating fluid and having to pee all the time. No matter how much you do for him, he's not going to improve.
Please do not feel guilty if you make the decision to help him go over the rainbow bridge. You can take comfort knowing you've done your best, and that he won't be suffering any more.
I agree with Denise. Though he is not in obvious pain, he will be soon - he will have shortness of breath and his heart will rocket trying to push all the fluid through. You need to limit his water intake - CHF and unlimited ingestion of water are like oil and well, water. It is indeed compounding the problem not only of the peeing but his electrolyte and metabolic balance as well. In rescue as in life, we need to look at the whole picture. Eddie is loved - he knows it. He lives in the moment. If he likes your vet, will your vet make a house call to send him to heaven? Prayers are with you and Eddie.
I have a similar problem, I tried the belly bands first. They are okay but lots of washing. I just bought this "Tinkle Trousers" a Huggies sz 1 diaper fits inside.
http://www.tinkletrousers.com/
Dog pee everywhere can make you crazy. I hope everything works out.
If you are attacked with your pets it is really hard to look at them suffering from illness. Their pain is also our pain. I remember when I found my rabbit in the rabbit hutch very sick I was so uncomfortable in the office and hurried back home. Only to find out one of my bunny is dying.
Cong. H F is no life-Euthanasia is the last present u can give to your dog-just stay w/ them.
I once kept a dog alive w/ this for 6 mths. -learned to never make that mistake.
Good luck
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