Does your Dog need Diapers?

You notice a wet spot on your dog’s hip.  Then a wet spot on the floor where your dog just got up.

At first there’s denial.  Oh, she’s just not feeling well.  She accidentally peed in her sleep.  You start paying attention–noticing your dog’s smell, spots on the floor, and damp spots on your dog.

Whether due to drugs, old age, paralysis or other reasons, your dog needs diapers.

My Cassie was on a low dose of the steroid prednisone for years for leukemia, and it eventually made her leaky.  After almost three years of her wearing diapers, I learned  a few things.

Doggie Diaper Tips

• Buy washable cotton diapers, this will save you the most money in the long term.
  • Buy enough to last several days so you don’t have to do laundry so often. I found having at least 4 – 6 cotton diapers was helpful.  Some diapers come in two per pack, like the Top Paw Washable Cover-ups.
  • Buy the cheapest ones, not the $30 a pair brands.
• Use sanitary pads for the female dog diapers. I’m not sure if they’ll work for male dog diapers.  Sanitary pads are inexpensive, especially since I sometimes used four pads per day with Cassie. Don’t buy the dog diaper liners.
• Buy adjustable diapers. Over time, and after many washings, some of them may shrink, or your dog’s weight changes.  Diapers that had Velcro around the entire back stayed on better, than one’s with Velcro only at the ends.
• Allow your dog time to clean herself as needed without wearing the diaper.
• Remember to take the diaper off when you let her outside. There’s nothing worse, or more embarrassing for your dog, than when they intentionally do their business outside, but their diaper is still on!
• In a pinch, toddler swim diapers may work, and several people have written about homemade doggie diapers. I used  toddler swim diapers when my paralyzed Kaylee had a bout of diarrhea.  You may need to cut a hole in the diaper for the tail.  Toddler swim diapers will likely cost you more in the long run than washable cotton dog diapers.

Now you can find doggie diapers that are designed  to look like toddler underwear, called diaper pants.  They even have a drawstring instead of Velcro.  These may work well, just by one or two to try them out first, since they may not fit well on your dog.

But the main thing is to get your dog used to wearing clothes such as diapers.  The leave it command worked well for my dog.

Diapers are much better than the alternative, having a stinky, wet dog, or putting a dog down because she cannot control herself.