Hi. I have a 15 year old cocker spaniel who is unfortunately incontinent. She is currently taking propalin, which helps a little but not totally. I've tried a specially made dog nappy - didn't work, also tried cutting a hole out of a large childs nappy - didn't work. Tried them both together - didn't work - little monkey seems to be able to find her way out of them all!
I'm really at my wits end. My house stinks, she stinks, I'm arguing with my husband about her. I just don't know what to do anymore. I really don't want to PTS as although she does have other health issues she is quite a spritely dog and she doesn't look her age at all. She has been a fantastic companion for me over the years.
I just wondered if anyone else has the same situation, how they control it, manage the smells, manage it altogether, without it being expensive as money is an issure for us.
I also have young children, and I worry about the health implications for them too. Although I try to keep it clean, obviously it's not clean enough as I can still smell it.
I've tried vingear, which does help, but makes the house smell like a chippy, and natures miracle, but it's just too expensive to keep using on a regular basis.
Please help!! Any comments/suggestions will be most gratefully received.
Thanks

This is a difficult condition to deal with and I am sure no one would think any the worst of you if you decide to call it a day.

You could ask your vet to change her medication to something like Incurin or something containing Oestriol, that may well work better, you can get human incontinent pads that you can use on her bed. I would put the pad into an old pillowcase and place it on top of a plastic bag to protect your floor and on top of that a vet bed. Liquid will pass through the vetbed and into the incontinent pad keeping your bitch dry and both the vet bed and the pillowcase can be washed every day or even twice a day.

Trim the hair from the inside of your old girls back legs & her abdomen wash and dry her every morning and use a cream like zinc & caster oil or one of the nappy rash creams to protect her skin.

Can't help much more unless you are perhaps able to keep her in one room to avoid the soiling of all your rooms and make the situation easier to live with.

Thanks for your reply. I hadn't thought of that. I do have some pads that I have for if one of the kids has an accident at night. I'll try one of those and if they work then I could have a look at the adult version.  Thanks for your help.

What about  childs pair of tights. Cut the legs off and cut a hole for her tail. Then you could attach a pad inside and just keep changing it.  You will find that the elastic around the waist neatly hugs and yet stretches so that she probably won't mind having them on.

we've managed a similar thing with heavily in season bitches before- pair of big pants with the tail cut out. helped a bit so something similar might work here

Again, thanks everyone - some really good ideas. I'm really grateful for any advice.

Do take care if you decide to give her pants to wear that her skin is not continually wet, that would burn her and to be fair I am not sure that it is the way to go.

Try and change the drugs first to see if you can stop or reduce the problem, if not perhaps you should decide how she is going to feel wearing a wet, smelly cloth on her back end for the rest of her life and if you think she will be unhappy with that you may need to steel yourself to making the decision that the amount of happy life she has left is going to run out soon and you will need to give her the release that only you can do.

Could you use Human Tena pads, or even Pants with the other suggestions???
Lea :)

Astarte, that brought back some memories of missy's 1st season where I tried all sorts of pants - nearly cleared out my knicker drawer!  I've got pics of missy ripping off her thong, french knickers and eventually a pair of toddler sized boxers where she had her tail sticking out the fly.  In the end the duvet, throws etc were regularly washed as she prefers to go commando. ha ha

What about prissy pants? That's the bitch version of belly bands. My oldie (dog) was really incontinent for a while and belly bands made a huge difference. I've not heard of prissy pants being sold in the UK but the charity (a rescue) I ordered belly bands from in the US do a really good job. They make to order, made to measure, decent prices, take PayPal etc etc. I notice on the website due to problems they cannot take orders until June 15th, and the pictures show pants that are a bit, erm, silly, but you can chose your own fabric and pick a plainer one. Worth a go?
http://www.pekeatzurescue.com/prissypants.htm

I can see your problem though if she gets out of everything. What we found was essential with my dog was a) NO CARPETS. Ripped them all out. Floors had to be easy to wipe down. b) Clipped he fur really short in the areas on the belly that would get wet. c) Bathing 3 times a week. (That was a necessity as his skin would get sore otherwise. My vet wasn't fond of the frequent baths, but said he could understand we had no choice.)

When my bitch was in season I put on her a pair of my son's boxer shorts, and put her tail through the button up bit , she's only a small terrier but you could get adult ones for your dog.  Before this I tried my sons t-shirt (he's only 9) and made a hole for her tail, but found that boxer shorts worked better as the elasticated waist meant that they stayed on her body better.  Like the other posts have said you could put a pad inside them.

I am going through the same with my fantastic 13 yo Irish Setter - I heard that herbal remedies worked so we visited a stand at Southern Counties who recommended a remedy - think it was £13.00 for 250ml and we are using 4ml twice a day. 

Hopefully we will see an improvement in the next week or so.

We use a plug in air freshener which does help the smell and I too am constantly changing / washing bedding for her.  Like you she is happy, healthy - but constantly wet which isn't pleasant for her at all either I'm sure.  We have trimmed her 'knicker' feathering short too.

LBM Solution - http://www.hiltonherbs.com/canine/canine_specialneeds.cfm?cfid=7919&cftoken=51131377

My sister has had this problem with her bitch...the vet prescribed Propalin and then Incurin. Neither worked but after visits to the vet school they have put her bitch on both Incurin and Propalin at properly worked out intervals and it has had a 100% improvement. She has had no incontinence since this has been started...might be worth asking your vet.

I don't want to use Propalin if I can avoid it - I found it changed her mood and made her seem depressed.  So if herbal remedies work without the need for propalin and she is happier on it I will be a happy mummy!

Thanks to everyone who has replied, you've given me some really good suggestions and I'll give them a go. I'm open to any ideas!!

lol, yes, we never managed to convince them to keep them on either :(