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Puppy Incontinence


Langpat
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My 7 month old ridgeback puppy has become incontinent over the last couple of months. She was desexed at 4 months as recommended by our vet (and required by council for registration etc). The night we brought her home from the vet after the op she wet her bed but I just put this down to the anesthetic at the time.

She has probably done this again about 8 or so times since and also drips wee daily around the house. I saw the vet again and asked if it had anything to with the desexing. They were very quick to say no but couldn't come up with any ideas except performing an ultrasound and then referring to a specialist surgeon (I haven't had the ultrasound yet) A urine test was also done and no infection.

I have done a bit of research and found that change in hormones levels from desexing can cause incontinence and can be fixed by medications?? I'm wondering if anyone has any other suggestions or ideas and has been through this before??

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incontinence after desexing isn't uncommon in bitches but less common in dogs. Our 3.5 yo labby boy become drippy after desexing at 2 years and our vet, at the time, wouldn't take it seriously. they came up with put baking soda in his drinking water confused.gif

Anyways, it didn't fix itself and was an issue given our boy is both an inside/outside dog. We sought a new vet and he was put on propalin twice daily for life. We talked about the pros/cons and risks of the medication and he has six monthly checks to make sure he's still going fine. The propalin started working under a fortnight - we were told to expect a change within 4 to 6 weeks. He's currently on 7 ml twice a day. we have tried reducing the dose (with agreement from our vet) but his 'leak' point seems to be under 7mls.

I'm hoping like hell that when we got our girl desexed in 18 months that she won't develop a loss of sphincter muscle control too. we don't get much change from $100 for a small bottle of propalin.

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incontinence after desexing isn't uncommon in bitches but less common in dogs. Our 3.5 yo labby boy become drippy after desexing at 2 years and our vet, at the time, wouldn't take it seriously. they came up with put baking soda in his drinking water confused.gif

Slightly OT but the baking soda is actually a really good suggestion for a first port of call.

It alters the PH and acidity of wee and makes the bladder inhabitable for infection

Not so silly IMO!

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Hysterectomies can cause incontinence in women. This is not hormonal, but rather weakening of the pelvic floor muscles. Women can reverse this problem, at least partially, by doing pelvic floor exercises (Kegel). Unfortunately, there's no way to teach dogs these exercises.

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incontinence after desexing isn't uncommon in bitches but less common in dogs. Our 3.5 yo labby boy become drippy after desexing at 2 years and our vet, at the time, wouldn't take it seriously. they came up with put baking soda in his drinking water confused.gif

Slightly OT but the baking soda is actually a really good suggestion for a first port of call.

It alters the PH and acidity of wee and makes the bladder inhabitable for infection

Not so silly IMO!

Perhaps the Baking soda, as you say, is fine for a first port of call but it had been going on for months by that stage and i'd had enough of them not listening in regards to both the incontinence and skin issues my boy was having and decided we needed to move on. One of my biggest bugs about them was their lack of communication; it was a matter of 'just do this' rather than any open dialogue between us. Perhaps if they'd discussed why trying baking soda would be good the first time i brought up the incontinence, rather than saying 'just wait and see i would have been happier. But they didn't. At subsequent visits i was again told 'wait and see' and then got a call back saying try baking soda - apparently the principal vet told the junior vet to ring me with the advice. Their failure to help me create a management plan about both issues over time lead me to believe that they were no longer right for us.

On the last visit i tried to bring up dug therapy for the incontinence but the vet said there was nothing available confused.gif which i knew not to be the case.

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Thanks everyone for your comments. I took puppy to the vet today (asked to see someone else for a second opinion) he said it is most likely caused because of weakening of the pelvic floor muscles. They are still as adamant it's not caused by desexing.. Anyway we will do another urine test before commencing with some medication to be sure of no infection. I just hope it works. I miss my puppy cuddles!!

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