I have an old Lurcher, probably coming up to 14, who recently has started messing in the house a lot.

Quite often it is over night and not always a full deposit (if you know what I mean), just a lump that ends up on his bed.   A couple of times I have been in the lounge (where his bed is) and seen what happens.  Basically he stands up to stretch and then it just seems to come out !  He isn't that aware of it at first but then he notices that he has done something he shouldn't off. 

We haven't changed his diet a lot - just added a little more fresh cooked chicken as we want to keep his weight up.

I am going to get him to the vets as no doubt it isn't a good sign (although apart from that he seems very healthy in himself) but I wondered if anyone has any experience of this and knows if there are any tablets / pills that the vet might be able to prescribe ?

Is there anything it could be apart from the fact that he is getting very old ?  Anything obvious we could do to help...hate seeing him in the mornings laying in his mess and looking sorry for himself.

Thanks

This exactly like our old Lab girl who began to experience fecal incontinence early last winter at age 13.  In our case we already knew she had a bad back; invertebral disk disease and significant spinal spondylosis (sp?).  Jet is on pain medication for her back for the rest of her life.  She gets a 2.5 mg dexamethasone every other day.  Our Vet says the fecal incontinence is due to a loss of sensation in her nether regions so that the poop is upon her before she has a chance to prepare for it.  Whether the loss of sensation is due to her back condition or to the medication is something I did not think to ask but the incontinence began sometime after the medication began.  It does seem logical to me that medication to control the sensation of pain might also dim the other sensations.  But that is a guess on my part.

Our Vet has suggested we give Jet an antidiarrheal, specifically he recommended Imodium ( I buy a generic).  The idea behind this is that it will help bulk up her stools a bit so she will be better able to feel them and it does help.  Gives her just a bit more time to react.  We only give her one half a tablet once a week.

Perhaps you could ask your Vet about your boy's back and if the Imodium might help both of you too.

Please be very careful with Imodium with dogs as it contains a derivative of Ivermectin which can kill herding breeds

Is he showing any signs of senility? I had a very old sheltie who became doubly incontinent, but she showed the full gamut of senility signs - getting stuck in corners, barking like a metronome at night, staring into space, 'missing' doors etc. Everything including the incontinence improved on Vivitonin and although there was still some cleaning up to do we got her to 18, still enjoying her food and occassionally coming for a cuddle. The signs of senility can be quite subtle at first so it might be worth thinking about.

Not really - very occassionaly he seems to be in a world of his own but thats no different from the way he was a few years ago.

Should add that he hardly every urinates in the house, twice since we have had him, its always the other type !!!