Last weekends move did not go well for Wrangler. He was extremely stressed. He is not comfortable in his new surroundings at all. I thought he would enjoy sitting on the couch watching people on the street, but he doesn’t like the traffic noise or the people. He doesn’t like the hardwood floors even though I have throw down rugs everywhere and he doesn’t like the elevator or the lobby. I moved everything over to the new place in one move and brought Wrangler with me. I live in a 1 bedroom so I don’t have a lot of furniture. I was completely unpacked and mostly setup by Saturday afternoon which I thought would be good for Wrangler. Having boxes laying around makes him uncomfortable as he thinks I’m leaving. He literally shook and whined most of Saturday and Sat night, I tried to comfort him as much as possible but he was very stressed.
A few times I had to run down to the parking garage to grab the remaining boxes from my car and Wrangler did not stop barking the whole time I was gone. When I got back to the apartment he was shaking and very nervous. Even when I was sitting at my desk 2 feet away he was still shaking.
On Sunday I went back to my old apartment to clean everything. I thought it might help to bring Wrangler with me since he is clearly not comfortable yet. I brought him back to the old apartment put his blanket down and started cleaning. He actually seemed to calm down quite a bit, enough that I thought I could leave him while I went around the corner to drop off some clothing donations. I was only gone 5 minutes but when I got back Wrangler peed all over himself and the blanket. I’m not sure if he was so afraid that I was leaving him that he peed or for other reasons. I drove him back to the new apartment and bathed him, and then asked someone to watch him while I went back to finish cleaning.
Monday and Tuesday didn’t go much better, my new apartment is on the 2nd floor and he’s not able to hold his pee to make it outside so he had an accident in the hallway. I get up much earlier than usual to take him out in hopes we can avoid this but so far it’s not really working. I now carry a tupperware container with me as we walk to the elevator in case he has an accident.
I happened to be talking to my mom who mentioned that maybe he has a bladder infection. I just mentioned last week that I thought the smell of his pee was off again but it was very slight so I wasn’t sure, he seemed fine otherwise and with all the commotion of moving it slipped my mind a little. I hoped that he was just stressed and would eventually calm down but it was getting really bad, we were both exhausted!! On Wed I took a urine sample into the vet to be checked, they started him on anti-biotics just in-case and told me they’d called me on Thursday with the results from the lab.
After one day on anti-biotics he was already doing much better, he finally slept most of the day Thursday which allowed me to get some work done. I got a call back from the vet that he does have a lot of bacteria in his urine and although he is probably very stressed from the move he’s also definitely not feeling well either. I already know this but the vet informed me unfortunately it’s going to be an ongoing battle with Wrangler getting bladder infections, it’s just part of the disease. Obviously I try to get him to drink lots of water and take him out as much as possible but it’s still quite challenging.
Today is his 3rd day on anti-biotics and he’s feeling much better. He’s still not completely comfortable in his new surroundings, however he hasn’t had any more accidents in the hallway, he’s atleast able to make it outside. My advice is to never move to an apartment building if your dog has DM, it’s just way too hard. A stressed DM dog makes it all that much more difficult to manage. It’s going to be a struggle to get him comfortable in his new surroundings but I’ll keep trying and hope for the best.