Dog pooping in her sleep?

[CosMonster]

This is kind of a weird question, but I’ve started noticing that my really old dog (she’s probably 13 or 14, and lived outside her entire life until I took her in about two years ago so she shows her age) seems to be pooping a little while she sleeps. I’ve never seen it happen, but I’ll every so often find just one little nugget (for lack of a better word :lol:) beside her bed. It’s only right by her bed, and only ever one small little bit, but it seems like it has to be happening in her sleep or something. I’ve seen her have accidents before where she couldn’t wake me up and just couldn’t hold it and it’s quite different–away from her bed and more output.

We just were in at the vet’s about two months ago for a routine checkup and everything checked out. She’s very healthy for a farm dog of her age according to my vet. Her normal bowel movements are, well, normal–no change except this one little thing.

So, can anyone shed any light on this? Should we get back into the vet or does she just have an old lady digestive system?

[jetsmom]

Usually it’s a combination of the sphincter muscle just becoming lax due to old age, and arthritis/spinal degeneration making them have to strain a little to get up, so a piece of poop just pops out.

I had an older chow mix that had it happen when he was getting spinal degeneration. Adequan, then steroids later on (when NSAIDs and Adequan no longer worked) helped make it a little easier for him to get up so helped stop the poop “falling” out, but eventually even that no longer helped.

You might call your vet, and ask if trying something like that would help.

[Sonesta]

What jetsmom said. As they get older, things stop working properly. Old dogs often will have a hard time getting up and the straining will push out some poop - and sometimes urine.

Normal, but a signal that time is getting short for them.

When my old girl did this, she always looked so embarrassed.

Go give your girl a big hug for me.

[bdj]

It happens to my big guy (about to turn 13 yo black lab/border collie-ish guy) pretty often - usually when he goes to stand up, but sometimes if he has one of those “kicky” dreams. He definitely seems a little embarassed/worried about it, so I don’t make a big deal out of it - just pick it up and go on with our day. I spend a significant amount of time picking up poop every day (between 4 dogs, a cat and the horses) - at least this doesn’t require me going outside!

I do keep a roll of poop bags near the bedside, so it’s very simple to clean up, and I have a washable pee-pad on top of his bed, in the event that his stool isn’t quite so firm. It makes cleaning up very much easier.

[vtdobes]

Aww poor girl! I had a male Dobe who started this when he was about 12. Just clean it up and don’t make a big deal so they don’t feel bad; they really can’t help it. Just sucks getting old!

[CosMonster]

Oh don’t worry guys, I definitely don’t make her feel bad! I just pick it up quietly, no fuss. I’ve never actually caught her in the act (so to speak) but if I do I won’t do anything. She can’t help it, after all. She’s a really good old dog who used to belong to my neighbors but then decided she’d rather live with me so just…stopped going home one day. :lol: I’m glad I can make her last few years comfortable with a nice warm house and fluffy beds for her to sleep on.

I’m glad this is nothing serious by itself. She does have arthritis and it is hard for her to get up, so I’m sure that’s it. That was actually the main purpose of the checkup–get her new painkillers for her bad days and evaluate how we’re handling it. Overall she’s still pretty spry for such an old lady–she still goes riding and even scrambling with me in the canyons around here but sometimes I have to lift her up and down some of the bigger ledges. Or rather, she still would try to go up and down them, but I don’t want her to strain herself. The vet says the more activity the better though (within reason) and she really loves going.

[ShaSamour]

My older yellow lab, Coach, is going on 14 now, and we’ve been having the poo problem for quite a while now. About a year ago we started to notice that he’d leave us a “gift” during the day, so we got a dog-sitter to take him out mid-day. Then he started leaving “gifts” at night. We came to the conclusion that by the time he realized he had to go, it was too late. His hind end is getting very weak, and he’s terribly arthritic. Even watching him do his business in the yard, he poops like a horse (as he’s walking along). He’s on Cosequin and Prevacox, but we know he’s on borrowed time. His eye is still bright and his tail is still waggy, so it’s not time yet.

A little over two years ago, on the advice of our vet, we got a puppy. Puppy has been Coach’s personal trainer, and without Puppy to keep him moving, I think we’d have lost Coach a long time ago.

[ESG]

Old age. My late GSD/golden 16 year old would do that. He was crated at night (had been urine-incontinent for at least six months by then), and we’d find soaked crate mats and the occasional poo pile every other morning or so. He was bright-eyed, bushy tailed, eating well and keeping up with the two youngsters though, so I was reluctant to put him down. When he quit eating and lost a bit of weight, I knew it was time. But, like people, the oldsters’ parts just wear out before their spirit does. :sadsmile: