At first, Cassie seemed embarrassed when I strapped her diapers on at work, but she was a good dog and tolerated clothes, so she didn’t try to pull them off. Actually I think she preferred them to the alternative, having wet, stinky fur on her back legs as she leaked while she slept. Sometimes the urine dribbled out of her, soaking her diaper rapidly. Other times she’d go for days without leaking.
The vet said her prednisone medication caused her leakiness.
At work, she definitely needed to wear diapers. I didn’t want my boss to ‘fire’ her for wetting the carpet.
After almost three years of Cassie wearing diapers, I learned a few things:
- Buy washable cotton diapers, this will save you the most money in the long run.
- Buy the cheapest ones, not the $30/pair ones. You may need a lot of them. As Cassie’s condition changed, sometimes I would go through 2 -3 diapers each day, so I ended up buying at least a dozen. I liked diapers that came in two packs.
- Use sanitary pads for the female dog diapers. I’m not sure if they’ll work for male dog diapers. Sanitary pads are cheap. Don’t buy the diaper liners. I ended up using ~ 4 pads/day with Cassie, so we went through them quickly.
- Buy adjustable diapers. Over time, and after many washings, some of them may have shrunk, or Cassie’s weight changed, but diapers that had Velcro around the entire back end, stayed on better, than one’s with only patches at the ends (see photo).
Diaper on the right has a long Velcro strip on the bottom, making it stay on better if the dog gains weight. - 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!
Diapers are much better than the alternative, having a stinky, wet dog, or putting a dog down because she cannot control herself.
