Old Male Foster Dog - Urinary Incontinence

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I help a rescue group in Sydney with their foster carer/new adopter issues and a very kind lady has fostered an elderly dog, he's most likely a Chi cross.

It seems that he's dripping across the house, he was taken to the vet yesterday and they said he was not incontinent however this lady has been watching him very closely and says he leaves drips all across the floor as he's walking around. She is not an inexperienced dog owner and I'm sure she is not mistaken after talking to her. It gets on his bed and all over the carpet as well as the tiles.

I cannot get there myself until next Saturday but as I've only experienced male incontinence when I had a dog with a brain tumour, I wanted to come on here and see if anyone else had.

I've had an elderly female with incontinence which was fixed by Stilboestrel tablets, once the dosage was correct.

This poor old boy is around 12 and has wobbly legs, can arthritis sometimes cause male incontinence perhaps?

Anyhow, I said I'd come onto DOL and just ask the question - any experience, what was it and did anything fix it.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Her Majesty Dogmad

[cowanbree]

I have had it with one of my elderly dogs and what worked best for him was the liquid incontinence meds. They aren't meant to work for males as they increase female hormones and are designed for females(I think, it was a long time ago) but my vet said they quite often do and worth a try. In my case it was sucessful

[Maddy]

My old guy was incontinent in his last years, caused by stenosis. It seemed to come and go (slowly getting worse) and nothing helped much. We just tried to make sure he stayed clean and dry and that he went out for regular toilet breaks to minimise the amount lost. In the end, he also had a couple of episodes of fecal incontinence (poor old man didn't even seem aware of it) and once we found out our other oldie had untreatable cancer, we made the decision to give them their wings.

That's not to say it's necessarily the same thing but it's worth looking into- even if only to rule it out. The symptoms are unfortunately pretty vague: possibly some amount of knuckling/dragging the back feet, pulling up lame after a walk or other exercise, shaky back end, muscle loss and so on.

Edited to add.. links with some general information http://www.vetstreet.com/care/lumbosacral-stenosis-in-dogs http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2084&aid=456

Edited November 30, 2014 by Maddy

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

My old guy was incontinent in his last years, caused by stenosis. It seemed to come and go (slowly getting worse) and nothing helped much. We just tried to make sure he stayed clean and dry and that he went out for regular toilet breaks to minimise the amount lost. In the end, he also had a couple of episodes of fecal incontinence (poor old man didn't even seem aware of it) and once we found out our other oldie had untreatable cancer, we made the decision to give them their wings.

That's not to say it's necessarily the same thing but it's worth looking into- even if only to rule it out. The symptoms are unfortunately pretty vague: possibly some amount of knuckling/dragging the back feet, pulling up lame after a walk or other exercise, shaky back end, muscle loss and so on.

Edited to add.. links with some general information http://www.vetstreet.com/care/lumbosacral-stenosis-in-dogs http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2084&aid=456

Thank you, I'll pass this on - he does have a wobbly back end apparently.

[RuralPug]

A belly band for indoors can catch the drips and save mopping up, as long as the pad in it is changed regularly, :)

[trifecta]

Dogmad, I would give corn silk a go..... it is beneficial for urinary problems & I see no reason why it wouldn't work on males.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/256975-older-bitch-spay-incontinence/

[Salukifan]

Herbie my old Whippet has incontinence issues.

He has early stages of renal failure and cannot concentrate his urine. It's kept under control with Propalin.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Haredown Whippets

[Shelb74]

Our old girl has incontinence while she's asleep. She is a little arthritic in her hips and we found that her incontinence would worsen when she was really sore. She responds really well with regular accupuncture and the holistic vet also prescribed some chinese medicine.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Thanks so much everyone, the foster carer is feeling a bit happier and going to give the corn silk a go. We are still trying to get to the bottom of what the vet did to test for incontinence etc - i'll get there!

[Erny]

Is it urine that he is dripping, or is it body fluid from the prepuce? If the latter, it could be a UTI, a prostate infection / tumour, or just a build up in his prepuce. Just throwing out a thought that perhaps hasn't been considered.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Thank you Ernie, I've emailed the foster carer - am going on Saturday to meet him and have a good look