10 yr old Rotweiller s loss of bladder & bowel control

Question
For the past week & a half since my elderly brother moved out, my pure-bred rotweiller has been pooping and peeing wherever and whenever he likes in the house.  Even when I let him out back, he'll do the same thing on the patio.  He'll be 10 yrs. old at the end of Oct. this year and we know that he has arthritis.
Every now and then when he goes to lie down or while lying down he yelps a bit.  For the past 2 days now, he's whimpered and is in pain when he gets up to walk - once he's up and walking, he seems o.k.  Also, his testies are hanging lower now and seem to be bigger - he doesn't yelp when licking them so, I guess their o.k.  By the way, my dog has never had sex.  I'm trying to figure out why he's doing his business in the house as this is not usual for him and it seems that he has no control over it.  For example, yesterday morning, just after I had let him in from out back, he came over to the dining room table where we were having coffee and peed all over - right in front of us!  I just don't know what to do - I'm getting tired of cleaning up his messes which he knows was bad as I scold him.  What should I do?

Karen

Answer
He is probably experiencing some separation anxiety since your brother left.  I would recommend getting DAP Diffusers for the house to try to ease his anxiety.

As far as the arthritis, I would recommend giving him large doses of joint supplements as follows:

Glucosamine 2000 mg twice a day
MSM 1500 mg twice a day
Ester C 1000 mg twice a day
Choline 80 mg a day

If the problems continue, you really should take him to the vet for an examination and some testing.