Howdy,
My wife and I have a four month old Golden named Joy who has been partially paralyzed from birth/near-birth. Her back legs hardly function, although she's learned to stand decently and hop around by stiffening. We've been very patient with house-training her, but it doesn't seem that she has any control over her bladder or bowel movements. We're constantly taking her outside our apartment to go to the bathroom, but this doesn't seem to be a timing issue.
As soon as she wakes up (and I mean within seconds), she immediately urinates and defecates, often while I'm cradling her and rushing outside; I'm doing a lot of laundry, which is beginning to be a fortune in quarters. Joy cannot squat, so she usually ends up falling in her waste, frustrating and embarrassing me (everybody in my apartment complex loves her and wants to hold her) and ruining her beautiful coat; I give her a lot of baths.
Right now, she has diarrhea, which has caused many more problems. Today, she has defecated in the apartment three times, all within half an hour or so of taking her out. I really can't have this... The carpets are a wreck, this entire place smells, and we're wasting a lot of money and time in the constant cleaning. As a double-whammy, the stress of this is really putting a damper on our marriage.
We're extremely low income, as both my wife and I are still in school, so a trip to the vet is not an option. We don't have money for medication or special dog food, either. My patience and temper are running thin, and I just don't know what to do. We really love her, and she's a good dog, although she hardly ever goes to the bathroom outside. We would like to keep this member of our family, but I don't see what we can do.
Advice, please?
Sam
PS: I'll be checking back here pretty infrequently; working full-time on a student schedule doesn't leave me many options.
My wife and I have a four month old Golden named Joy who has been partially paralyzed from birth/near-birth. Her back legs hardly function, although she's learned to stand decently and hop around by stiffening. We've been very patient with house-training her, but it doesn't seem that she has any control over her bladder or bowel movements. We're constantly taking her outside our apartment to go to the bathroom, but this doesn't seem to be a timing issue.
As soon as she wakes up (and I mean within seconds), she immediately urinates and defecates, often while I'm cradling her and rushing outside; I'm doing a lot of laundry, which is beginning to be a fortune in quarters. Joy cannot squat, so she usually ends up falling in her waste, frustrating and embarrassing me (everybody in my apartment complex loves her and wants to hold her) and ruining her beautiful coat; I give her a lot of baths.
Right now, she has diarrhea, which has caused many more problems. Today, she has defecated in the apartment three times, all within half an hour or so of taking her out. I really can't have this... The carpets are a wreck, this entire place smells, and we're wasting a lot of money and time in the constant cleaning. As a double-whammy, the stress of this is really putting a damper on our marriage.
We're extremely low income, as both my wife and I are still in school, so a trip to the vet is not an option. We don't have money for medication or special dog food, either. My patience and temper are running thin, and I just don't know what to do. We really love her, and she's a good dog, although she hardly ever goes to the bathroom outside. We would like to keep this member of our family, but I don't see what we can do.
Advice, please?
Sam
PS: I'll be checking back here pretty infrequently; working full-time on a student schedule doesn't leave me many options.