My 10 yr old greyhound keeps getting up in the night2poop!

[janiebdella]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum business....bear with me

My 10 yr old greyhound Della (not retired racer just a rescue) who I have had for 8.5 yrs has started getting me up in the night to poop. It started just on the odd occasion now its like its a habit & its almost every night.

We try to keep a food routine & walk routine but both myself & my mum have health problems & sometimes we are unable to take her out, I would say though that she gets a walk at least 5 days out of 7 a week. She's getting older now & only seems to want to go for a walk once a day any way.

We were feeding her twice a day but as she was getting me up at night to poop I started trying to feed her only in the morning & trying to take her out for a little walk in the evening as well as the day time.

She doesn't like eating in the morning! She will only eat a few mouthfuls & then gives up! Then of course she wants to eat later!

She seems to have 2 routines.....

Either......

get up, eat about 9am, poop straight after, have a walk around lunch time, doesn't poop, has a little snack about 5pm, has a walk in the evening, poops, gets up at either 2am or 4am to poop in the night.

OR......

get up, eat around 9am, doesnt poop, have a walk around lunch time, does poop, has a little snack around 5pm, has a walk in the evening, poops, gets up either 2am or 4 am to poop at night.

I'm stumped, I don't know how to change her routine to stop this, it is causing problems for both my mum & I as I have to walk through mum's bedroom to get to the back garden (don't ask! hehe) so its waking both of us up which effects our health problems.

Anyone have any suggestions???

If we only fed her at about 4pm would that work??

Is it coz she's getting older? She has Supadog greyhound & Lurcher dry biscuits food which she has always had & I make liver 'pate' which has liver, veg & pasta coked & wizzed up which she gets about 2 tablespoons of with her biscuits, she gets a denta stick a day which she gets 1/.2 at a time, last 1/2 in the evening.

Any more info anyone needs?

Please help, Im shattered! I know its only once a night but I dont get back to sleep for hours after!

Thank you all! :flowers:

 

[iloveskyebluemydog]

Eww...

poor you

must be very tiring getting up i the night 2 poop

feel sorry 4u

 

[Hula]

A lot of dogs develop a more sensitive stomach as they get older .My dogs have responded very well to Chappie tinned food as they got older .

It might be worth trying that or one of the special sensitive foods ?

 

[lurcherman]

You are the one whos in control not the dog id probobly try feeding at 12 them as late as possible say 10 pm then see if she settles through the night, to get a routine it takes time also the dogs getting older so things do change... Best of luck.

 

[chelynnah]

Also don't forget even as 'we' age ourselves we have to get up more often in the night to relieve ourselves. Your greyhound is now a senior citizen and sometimes concessions just have to be made. We had to start getting up at 4am to let our senior out. We just took her (and made the rest go too) straight out while still half asleep, let her do her business and then back to bed. For her it was mostly bladder, but old age is old age. It's inconvenient, but at least she's waking you and not hiding it off in a corner. When our girl passed last year, the others were then in the habit of the 4am 'potty run', but over a few months we finally weaned them off it, but then just as we seemed to get the young ones re-trained, the next oldest started having to go. It sucks, but it's part of aging and I would happily deal with that over losing them.

Maybe feeding her later would help. Or try really hard before you go to bed to get her to poop so that her system is cleared out. So even if she pees last thing find a new word to teach her for poop and get her to do that.

 

[smudge]

Hi, I'm new to the forum too. My nearly 13 year old retired greyhound (who we have had the pleasure of looking after for over 9 years) had a nasty fall about two months ago, and since then seems to have aged. The last few weeks she needs to do both a wee and poo in the night. We have started taking her out for a 10 minute walk, as well as her two regular walks each day, just before we go to bed. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't, we just think it is because she is an aged lady! There really is no excuse not to walk a dog a least once a day, even if it is just "around the block", our beautiful greyhound wants between two long walks a day, and two short walks depending on how her legs are on that particular day. We have started putting dog training pads down for her and generally she obliges, other times she misses. Good luck.

 

[janiebdella]

Hi, I'm new to the forum too. My nearly 13 year old retired greyhound (who we have had the pleasure of looking after for over 9 years) had a nasty fall about two months ago, and since then seems to have aged. The last few weeks she needs to do both a wee and poo in the night. We have started taking her out for a 10 minute walk, as well as her two regular walks each day, just before we go to bed. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't, we just think it is because she is an aged lady! There really is no excuse not to walk a dog a least once a day, even if it is just "around the block", our beautiful greyhound wants between two long walks a day, and two short walks depending on how her legs are on that particular day. We have started putting dog training pads down for her and generally she obliges, other times she misses. Good luck.

Thank you for your insight in this matter, I disagree with you re ''There really is no excuse not to walk a dog a least once a day'' as unfortunately I do not have a choice, I have a recently diagnosed health condition (Fibromyalgia) & work 4 days a week which nearly kills me & my mum who is at home with the dog has Chronic Fatigue so she trys to walk her every day but sometimes this is impossible & when I get back from work sometimes & I haven't even the energy to eat or get changed so taking the dog out is not an option, I feel TERRIBLY sorry for her & she is such a good dog, gets a bit whiny but thats coz she is bored but she is a good dog. Sorry if I sound 'ranty' but I can't help having this flippin awful illness that ruins my life & my mums life & my dogs life!

Thank you all others for your helpful suggestions.

 

[TTT]

Do you have a garden? If so, your dog may not need much input from yourself or your mother to 'walk' your elderly dog. Are you physically able to throw a ball for a few feet or play with a toy? You could do this while sitting on a chair.....but the dog still gets enough stimulation and time outdoors to empty itself?