Many of my readers are probably familiar with our little Bubba and his previous problems. For those who don't know, he's been blocked (bladder) twice, and had two emergency surgeries. He almost died when stones got stuck in the urethra, but he survived what many dogs don't. He gets bladder stones and even though he's on prescription food for that, they still come back. They aren't nearly as big as they once were, but they are still causing the little guy problems.
When I said in my previous post that life gets in the way, this is one of those obstacles. For the past week, he's been having off and on difficulty urinating. It breaks my heart to watch him struggle during those times. The vet had to catheterize him twice last week. I took him to work with me everyday because if he wasn't urinating, we could help him before I took him home. This is one advantage of working for his vet. Unfortunately, and of all times, Doc is out of town! We do have a substitute doctor, but he doesn't handle emergencies or surgeries. If Bubba has more problems, we might do another surgery when Doc comes back that will reroute his "plumbing." It's good answer for this type of problem and is very successful.
I bought some training pads and some special spray and I'm trying to get Bubba to pee on them but he shows no interest. Not only is this a way to keep watch on his medical problem, but I hate taking him outside, especially after dark. We have coyotes and other animals that would not make nice with my Bubba! Our winters are also pretty rough and it would be quite nice to keep him inside since I follow him in the yard in case of furry intruders.
So, I'm looking for advice. Has anyone had success using the training pads on an older dog? I'd really like for this to work for so many reasons.
