This really is my very favorite topic of conversation. This is the one greatest issue that impacts my life the most profoundly. And not just because of the time i spend mopping floors, cleaning up accidents, doing laundry, FLYING out of bed from a warm, wet, flood (bad Jack) Incontinence is why SAINTS is always over full, it is the number one reason why senior animals lose their homes and cannot find new ones. Incontinence is the number one reason why , families surrender their pets, pounds and shelters deem them unadoptable, and then, they have no where safe to go. Most rescues won't take them, fosters can't manage them, and the average public doesn't want them. And how sad is that?
Aging animals are incontinent for many reasons. Like humans, they have aging bladders and bowels and sphincter muscles that are not as strong as they were. They develop diseases like diabetes, hormone imbalances, and urinary/bowel infections. Their GI tracts become more sensitive, their neuro pathways become incompetent from arthritis/dysplagia and other aging neuro-muscular disorders. And inside themselves, inside their hearts, despite all of this, they are the same as they were when they were young. And that is not fair.
Incontinence can be managed. All it takes is the committment and the willingness to care for our elderly friends compassionately and respectfully as their bodies wear down. Somebody smart invented lino, and portable xpens, and pet related incontinence briefs and pads. Incontinent animals can be managed in family homes if that management includes thought and care. We can adjust our schedules and our furniture placements and our routines and our choices to meet their needs. Trust me, we do it for forty animals who live together inside a home, doing it for just one would be a breeze.
No animal deserves to die because when they reach their twilight years, their bladders start to leak. I dare some human to knock me off because I leak when I sneeze. They could go to jail for that and so they should. We are all going to leak some day, that is a sad reality of living a good long life. A good, long life deserves a better reason for becoming disposable. And the senior leaky animals here at SAINTS are so much more than just leaky bladders, there is a whole heart inside them that is way more important than that.
I wish we had room for all the leaky, homeless animals in this world, but we don't and I worry about the ones who have no place to go. Adopt a leaky animal from your local animal shelter today. Give them a hope for tomorrow.
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