As dogs get older, they often develop arthritis, which can cause stiffness and general creakiness. The muscle that helps them hold in their pee might weaken as they age. And they seem to sleep harder than when they were young. You might start to notice urine leaks in their bed. They might struggle to get out of bed (it’s hard to get those old bones moving!), and then it might be hard to walk because they’re so stiff. We have a dog door, but sometimes Chops can’t make it from her bed to the outside grassy area fast enough, so she pees or poops in the house. If you have smooth floors, you might find your dog slipping and sliding more as they age. Getting old is hard, but you can make life a bit easier for your pup and yourself when your dog gets to this stage. Here are a few things I have tried and how they worked or didn’t work.
Shiloh struggled with mobility in her later years (much earlier than Chops), and she had a very hard time on our hardwood floors. I tried ToeGrips and PawFriction, products you attach to the dog’s toenails or paw pads to help them gain traction. Unfortunately, neither worked. I looked into putting socks on Shiloh, but since we have a dog door, and we live in an area where is rains nine months of the year, socks really weren’t practical.
What worked: We went to a local salvage shop and bought tons of commercial carpet tiles. Our house looks ridiculous, but the carpet tiles were a brilliant, economical solution. We put them all around the house, creating a path for our pups to use. The tiles have a rubber back, so messes won’t leak onto the floor. You could tape them together (FLOR sells a nice “dot” that allows you to adhere carpet tiles to each other), but we chose to leave them unaffixed. This way, if there are any messes (and there often are), we can easily remove the messy tile and clean it in the utility sink or hose it off outside. We let it dry and then add it back to the floor path.
I know that some people use rugs or yoga mats to help their dog gain traction, and both would likely look better than the carpet tile paths, but they’re also quite expensive. The important thing to note is that there are options for making your house easier to navigate for your senior dog. I wondered if it would be better to not cover the floor with traction tiles. Would my dogs benefit from having to use their muscles to traverse the slippery floor. My vet said no. It’s better to provide them with a safe, easy way to navigate the house. To help your dog build up strength, you can try Strength Training and Stretching exercises I mentioned above.
What about the bed wetting? I tried a number of bed protectors and most don’t seem to work very well. I ended up using a multi-layered approach that has been successful. We have allowed our dogs to have access to our couch and beds in addition to their dog beds, so pretty much everything in our house needs to be covered. For the dog beds and couch cushions, I have found that the Sealy crib mattress protector works the best. It’s the only bed protector I found that truly works. For the human beds, I found that a vinyl tablecloth with felt backing works pretty well. Some tablecloths have thicker vinyl than others, so choose the sturdiest one you can find, and it should hold up pretty well to washing. I wash everything on normal but hang dry. On top of this protective foundation, I place a larger lower blanket and a smaller upper blanket. Sometimes the upper blanket is messy with a very small urine leak or butt smear, but the lower blanket is just fine. It’s nice to be able to wash only the upper blanket in this case.
Comments