—The Broken Oreo Philosophy—

It’s been a year now since Dallas scooted into our lives. Figuring out how to care for him was difficult and took months of trial and error. I would spend countless hours scouring the internet for blogs and videos for tips to help us with his care. While we still wouldn’t consider ourselves experts (by a long shot), I have learned many tips and tricks along the way that could possibly help someone else and spare them of the long hours spent digging for tips in the deepest corners of the internet. 

Today, I am doling out my best tips on how to handle incontinence in a male dog. Please understand that my experience is limited to one specific male dog. I have talked to many a person who have female incontinent dogs, dogs with partial incontinence, dogs with incontinence due to age or trauma, but MY experience is with Dallas, my husky. 

Tip #1: Observe

What kind of incontinence does your dog have? Can he urinate/defecate on his own? Can he urinate/defecate at the appropriate time/place? Does urine/feces dribble out? Is urine/feces coming out at all? These questions will help you determine how to best help your dog. Remember, there are many possible combinations of urinary and fecal incontinence.

Dallas is a year and a half old Siberian Husky, paralyzed on his back end due to a mixture of birth defects and trauma. He now has no back legs, no tail, and only one kidney. He is both urine and fecal incontinent. Dallas’s poop can come out on its own, though he has no conscious control over it. He is urine incontinent but is unable to pass urine without assistance, he needs expressed in order to empty his bladder. Expressing your dog is the term used when the urine or feces need to be manually coaxed out by a human. It’s not as bad as it sounds! You will need to a place to do this. We used puppy pads for a long time because we could express him any where by laying him down on one. Some people may also be able to express their dog outside, into a bedpan, or even over the toilet or in the tub!

Tip #2: Learn about incontinence.

Once you have identified what types of incontinence your dog has, you may choose to do some research. Here are some ways and resources I found helpful. 

-Ask your vet to show you how to express your dog.

-Search youtube for various techniques. 

-Websites like handicappedpets.com and many others have blogs that may help.

-Search social media for pets with disabilities like yours, message the owners. You’d be amazed by how willing people are to give you their best tips and advice!

In the beginning, I recall being very confused about his incontinence. Sometimes he would leak and fill diapers with urine quickly and drag piles of poop through the house, other times he wouldn’t “go” for what seemed like exceedingly long periods of time.

Tip #3: Routine and Chart

Start with a routine. We started expressing urine 4-5 times a day. I made a chart in a notebook and marked exactly what time we would express urine and exactly what time we observed a bowel movement. We also made a note of leakage. After a couple weeks, we noticed a definite pattern. Dallas needed expressed three times a day to keep his bladder from becoming too full and leaking, and he pooped immediately upon waking and then at certain intervals throughout the day. 

Once we knew his routine and needs, it became easy to identify problems. At one point Dallas became impossible to express. His urethra was blocked with sediment and was too constricted to let anything pass. I rushed him to the vet and within minutes he was stiff with immense pain. They inserted a catheter and even showed me how to do it in case of emergency. Dallas was then put on a medicine called Prazosin to help urine pass more easily and medicated food to deter bladder infections. 

Tip #4: Learn the signs of bladder infections

Bladder infections are notoriously common in dogs with incontinence. Some people say they can tell by the color or smell of their dog’s urine. Some may leak more. Either way, good routine, diet, and communication with your vet are essential to ensure your dog’s health. 

One of the best things about diapering a dog vs. diapering a baby is a dog can be trained. Anyone who has watched Dallas go through his whole cleaning, diapering, and hygiene routine is throughly impressed by how relaxed he is during the entire process. They constantly state how much they wish their dog were that calm. It’s possible and so necessary!

Tip #5: Train, Train, Train

Training your dog to stand or lay PATIENTLY will be the best thing you could ever do. They will likely need this care for the rest of your life! You don’t want the stress of struggling with them multiple times a day for life. Believe me, trying to clean and diaper an obnoxious and wiggling dog is the absolute worst! Reward your dog for remaining still and calm for the duration of the whatever it is you need to do. This is probably the best tip I could give anyone. Start training IMMEDIATELY.

Dallas’s bathroom schedule is so predictable at this point that Dallas no longer wears diapers in the house! He did for quite some time, however, and here is what I found works best for him. I quizzed the owners of many incontinent dogs to find out which diapers seemed to work best. 

Tip #6: Diapering method depends on the individual dog

Some dogs will tolerate diapers and some won’t. Some will tolerate one kind and shred the other. Dogs with tails can use diapers made for dogs, dogs without tails can use baby diapers, big dogs can use toddler or even adult diapers, male dogs can use male wraps. Again, it depends on your dog. Here are some of the diapers that work best for us:

Pampers Cruisers or target brand baby diapers- Dallas wears size 7 and these are two kinds that work best on him.

Washable wonders reusable diapers- This company was great, they even custom made diapers with amputee options!

Vets Best Disposable Male Wraps- These are specifically for males and wrap around the abdomen and penis to catch urine. We would use a wrap AND a baby diaper on Dallas when we needed to catch both pee and poo. 

Pet Parents Washable Male Wraps- These fit just like the disposable wraps, but are a little easier on the ol’ pocketbook because they can be washed reused.

Barkertime Overalls- These were a godsend for a double amputee dog. Diapers don’t stay on when you don’t have legs, but these overalls were the only thing that he couldn’t wiggle out of! The downside is that they are pricey. Almost ridiculously… So, we only had a few pairs. We would use a disposable diaper and wrap and then use the overalls, well, over it all, and ta-da! Everything stayed on and he looked adorable!

You will have messes. Poop-a-geddon. A fountain of pee. Skid marks stretching through the entire house. It will get on walls, couches, your favorite rug…. and it’s okay. Our first few months, poop was an emergency, now it’s routine. It all cleans right up, no biggie. 

Tip #7: Invest in good cleaning supplies

A good mop, or even better, steam mop. Disinfecting enzyme cleaner. Plenty of paper towels. Gloves. Poop bags. All staples in our household. My favorite hack that I discovered is that I can use our sidewalk cleaning attachment for our power washer and deep clean my area rugs right on the driveway every few months. Just rinse, fill a bucket with hot water and laundry soap, pour on and let soak, then power wash away and let dry. P.S. don’t buy super expensive rugs, what’s more important, a life or a rug?

Dallas has fairly thick, long hair, afterall, he is a husky. Hygiene is important. In Florida, it’s hot and humid. Diaper rash, urine scalding, and fecal scalding are REAL. They look like what you’d except a rash to look like, red, blotchy, irritated skin. 

Tip #8: Hygiene

When changing diapers on a dog, you have a few obstacles you don’t have with a baby, ie, hair. We found early on that trimming the hair on his stomach and around the anus and just below, helped immensely with keeping him clean. For this we used a trimmer actually meant for humans because it was more budget friendly than professional grooming tools. More specifically, a trimmer meant for the nether regions of a human male, if you catch my drift. Meaning it is made to trim nice and short with precision and very slim chances of cutting the skin. The thing is amazing, we also now use it to trim paw hair. Buy one for your dog. Heck, buy one for yourself while you’re at it. Is called the lawn mower by manscaped.

However, you still have to be vigilant to wipe the are clean ASAP after diapers are soiled. Leaving urine on the skin is painful for your dog! Unscented wipes work perfectly for this purpose. (Bonus tip: Adult wipes are larger and CHEAPER than baby wipes!) 

Slip on some gloves and wipe away any urine and/or feces. DO NOT leave the area damp after wiping with wipes. Use a towel to dry or let completely air dry before continuing. Leaving wet will cause irritation. You can also use TALC FREE baby powder sparingly if you live in a humid region.

Once clean and dry, it’s time to put on diapers! But how?

Tip #9: Put Diapers on backwards

Helpful tip, dogs wear baby diapers backwards. So the velcro part is on their back instead of their tummy. You’ll find it much easier to put them on this way!

With no legs and no tail, Dallas has poop constantly pushing out the empty leg holes of his diapers. It was super frustrating until we discovered this nifty little diaper hack.

Tip #10: Duct Tape

If you have an amputee, using duct tape to tape the open leg holes of diapers will prevent leakage and messes!

Hopefully these tips help someone else going through the super confusing times of learning how to diaper a dog. If not, maybe it will serve as a little insight into the world of having an incontinent dog. Having a dog with these issues isn’t easy, but it’s not the most difficult thing I have ever done either. I’d do whatever it takes to make my little man’s life the best life he could ever have. If you can love, you can care for an incontinent dog.

If you have any more tips, please leave them in the comments below!

*I was not paid or endorsed by any of these brands.