Our new little puppy has been having a problem. She's totally house trained and doesn't intentionally go to the bathroom in the house. But since she was little she's been a dribbler and will occassionally leave little puddles in places after she's been sitting or lying down in a spot for a while. She doesn't notice that she does it, but we've taken to following her around with some paper towels to wipe up her little "accidents." We took her to the vet to have her checked out because she did have a pretty bad UTI infection a few months ago that may not have completely cleared up, but we wanted to double check. After her lab tests came back negative for an infection the doctor decided to put her on medication, which made me feel kind of bad for her. She'll be on medication for a year or so until she can learn to control her bladder a little bit better, but I don't know how I feel about medicating her problems all the time. Now we're not total hippies who want to cure everything with natural herbs, prayer, and sheer will. We've both been exposed to good medical care and what medicine can do for people. But I have a tendency to only really want to medicate when necessary to relieve a problem because I feel like medicine has its place and it shouldn't be expected to solve all our physical issues.
We notice this morning after we had started her on her new medication that her demeanor changed. She (thankfully!) didn't wake up super early crying to be let out. She waited until Josh got up to let her out. She then pranced around the house a bit, but not quite as enthusiastically as she's done in mornings past. It kind of freaked Josh out who had gotten used to this exuberant little puppy running around the house in the mornings. She's still curious and wants to know everything you're doing, she's just not as pushy about it. This morning on our walk she was well-behaved and still went crazy at the sight of another dog. But I wonder if some people would see that as a medical cure-all for behavior problems. I'm kind of hesitant to want to look at it that way, mostly because I think she can be good even if she weren't being drugged for an unrelated problem. We'll see how this goes long term. Other than that, we're still trying to teach both her and my sister's dog to chill out when someone comes to the door.
I think the whole "to medicate or not to medicate" depends on what you are willing to deal with or makes you happy. If you're fine with puddles, then no medication. If you're fine with a toned down puppy and no puddles, medicate. Nana had another seizure last night while we were out for Jonathan's birthday. We're not medicating her for it because it doesn't happen often enough to justify the damage the medication would do to her kidneys. Plus it has be given every day at the same time, which we know we would have a hard time doing at this moment. It's always hard to make a decision like that. Best wishes with the puppy!
Posted by: Wendy | June 06, 2009 at 08:22 PM
Have you tried a search for others who've had this situation? Maybe there's another way of dealing with it. Did the vet say this would be a side effect? Maybe a dosage adjustment? Or like Wendy said, what can you put up with more? And is it something she'll grow out of anyway? Is this a problem typical of Jack Russells or just an excited little puppy? Sorry, more questions than answers. She's such a sweetheart.
Posted by: Dad/Richard | June 17, 2009 at 03:08 PM