Incontinence

Has anyone dealt with incontinence in their dog? Abbey has had problems with this on and off for awhile now. We've only noticed it at night, and have tried increasing how often we let her out; have made sure she's let out right before we go to bed at night, and yet once in awhile we'll wake up to her lying in a wet spot--she doesn't even know she's doing it.

I've been reading up on it, and have learned that it's pretty common in females, and often related to spaying issues. I've made an appointment with our vet, we need to get to the bottom of this. Curious if anyone has dealt with it before.

Yes i had this with one of my spayed bitches who was only 3. She wasn't puddling but was just permanently wet. You can get something from the vets called Propolin, which you give them and is usually pretty effective, but they have to stay on it for life.

I actually had an homoeopathic remedy made up from the conventional drug and use this instead - it has to be given 2-3 times a day but does also work.

Both Rupert and TedBear have had incontinence - due to the Syringomyelia for TedBear and prob the same reason for Rupert, but his could also be his age {he had tests for Prostate, stones etc - all negative}. TedBear used to wake up in a puddle - I don't think they are even aware that it is happening, as they are so clean they are really upset if they do have an accident.

Rupert was more dribbly - but this was causing infections in his penis as there was urine pooled there.

Both are now dry on the Propolin remedy.


Definitely need to get the vet to check everything out - take a sample with you, need to rule out infections etc.

It isn't uncommon in spayed bitches, but it can be managed.

I hope Abbey will be ok - thinking of you all.

My Springer has intermittent incontinence, and when it happens with her it's usually due to crystal formation. I manage it with a homeopathic remedy, but sometimes her chemistry must change because she will formulate crystals still at times. At that point I look at a sample (if you catch a sample in a pie tin and pour it into a clear container and hold it up to the light you can see the crystals) and then I adjust the remedy dose. Usually if I bump it up for a week or so the crystals resolve and she's back on track.

Of course, I've been doing this in conjunction with my vet, because infection must always be ruled out first. With Maggie, if I ignored the crystals it would progress to an infection as it did in the beginning when I didn't know what exactly was going on.

Abbey's 5, and your description of TedBear, Nicki, sounds like what we're dealing with. It's not all the time, but when it happens you can tell she had no idea and that she's upset by it. I was reading that it's common in spayed females and that another common issue is spinal-related...which with her COSM, is probably what's going on.

I've had loads of experience with this. Unfortunately every bitch I've ever had spayed suffered from spay incontinence. This is one of the reasons I will never have another bitch spayed, unless there is an immediate health reason to do so. Maybe more prevalent in Boxers than other breeds.

Some vets will suggest trying HRT (hormone replacement therapy) but it never did any good with any of our dogs, and in my mind counteracted one of the reasons people get their bitches speyed... to reduce the liklihood of mammary cancers. Grrr.

In the end, I just used washable, thick bedding for our girls, and kept the washing machine running most of the time. I sure hope you have a better result that we did. You will need to rinse off her rear end too, where she lays in her urine, because other than smelling nasty, it can cause skin burns. At least with Boxers you could wipe them over with a wet cloth, but with the Cavalier that probably won't work.

Anyway, you should get your vet to check her over, because there are also a number of other reasons for incontinence and these need to be ruled out.

Good luck.

I knew I had a link somewhere - this is a lady who produces pants for dogs and all the money raised is used to support a rescue {they also do belly bands for the boys!!}

They do ship to the UK too.

http://www.pekeatzurescue.com/prissypants.htm



Even if you just put Abbie in them at night perhaps? I suspect you are right, I have heard of other affected dogs with these issues too.


Unfortunately due to ill health it seems they are not able to accept orders until next month though...