Chai and I went to southern Colorado for my 50th birthday. We stayed with friends in Pagosa Springs. With her intensifying symptoms, I wasn't sure how she would do, so I was prepared to leave early if need be. However, I needn't have worried - Chai had a great time! She could only stay outside for about 10 minutes at a time before she got too cold and her teeth would chatter. (Muscle wasting leads to less ability to keep warm.) But she made good use of those few minutes by rolling and barking and eating snow and demanding that I throw snowballs at her!
Chai's DM progression in the last month or so includes lots of pee pee accidents, and trembling. The urine problem is worst in the morning. Sometimes she just lets go in the middle of the night. But it's almost always an issue to get her outside for her first pee without having an accident on the way. Her harness puts pressure on her bladder when I lift her. I told our rehab vet in ABQ that I wasn't a diaper kind of person, but 2 days later I went out and found doggie diapers at Walmart. They were the largest size, but still too small. I got potty pads also. It was a good start. But on the way to Pagosa, I bought some washable diapers at Petsmart, and they are awesome. My carpet may well stay clean now (after the pre-Thanksgiving shampoo). However, I may have to throw a few pairs of shoes out that have permanent stains on them. It's really slapstick comedy some mornings - me falling down the ramp off the deck, pee dripping all over my shoes, me rolling onto the ground. Those are the few times I get upset with this whole thing.
The trembling started in the mornings, when she's excited to see my again after a long night's absence! And now it's happening when she's scared, and she didn't used to get scared very often. The rehab vet says it might be age related dementia, that she gets confused and then scared. So I have to be careful about new situations with her.
Though Chai's body is having trouble, both our spirits are good. We're still having a good time!
I didn't connect the trembling with DM, but Sierra- my dane, has been doing this more often too! Thanks for the insight. When Sierra had some night incontinence I bought adult depends and sliced a tail hole in them- they fit really well and she didn't seem to mind and I avoided scrubbing the carpet in the morning. I also put chux pads (plastic backed pads) under her doggie bed just in case. Sierra's blog is
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