Spay Incontinence

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I have a foster with intent that is having some bladder issues. She was in a home for a few years but her owner died in October. She's been in foster care since then. She's been at my house for 10 days now. She gets me up every night to go outside and pees when let out. In addition, we've had some pee accidents during the day. Our schedule is to leave around 9am; pet sitter walks the dogs around 1pm. I get home around 6pm. The 2 days she had free run of the house resulted in pee spots. I tried crating her yesterday and she peed in her crate. It almost seems like she just can't hold it for more than 5 hours. We took her to the Vet last week. A physical exam, full blood analysis and urine analysis showed nothing amiss. We started her on anti-biotics anyway and she's been on for 5 days now. If it was a UTI, I would have expected to see some improvement by now. Talking with the Vet, we are going to try DES to see if it's spay incontinence. From what I've read though, spay incontinence would result in "leaking" more than going to a spot to pee. I've talked with the foster who said she did get her up some nights but not every night. The foster is a night owl though and I think her husband is up early so she may have had very short nights there. I forgot to mention she is 6.5 years old.

 

Have any of you experienced spay incontinence that is not the "leaking" type?

[Batmom]

What you describe doesn't sound like incontinence, and I personally would hesitate to put her on those drugs .....

 

How much does she pee when she goes? Is it very dark, concentrated pee or light and not concentrated?

 

How much does she drink, and when? Is water added to her food (how much and when does she eat it)?

 

Is she up on her feet a lot, or couch potato all day? Where does she sleep?

 

What time is her last "out" at night? Does somebody go out with her to make sure she goes?

 

Does she ever go more than once during a turnout or walk?

[Guest gretzky]

Wonder has only been the leaking type. Sometimes if she is really out cold it will be like she peed, it's that wet. I have noticed that it happens even if she has just come home from our group walks and peed to her hearts content( all that mail to be answered). I have seen it actually leak. I lifted her tail and watched (she's very tolerant!) It was like a faucet, a drip every 10 seconds. She was now awake since I had her tail and it still didn't stop.

 

Her habit on potty breaks is usually to do one long pee initially, poop and then a short squirt before going back in the house so she's usually pretty empty.

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

Answers to the questions:

 

> What you describe doesn't sound like incontinence, and I personally would hesitate to put her on those drugs .....

 

I'm not thrilled about it but at this point I need to rule it out as a problem. If this doesn't work, we'll have to send her back to her foster home.

 

> How much does she pee when she goes? Is it very dark, concentrated pee or light and not concentrated?

 

It is light colored and she doesn't pee for a long duration. It's not a token amount, but it's not as long as my previous female. She's not a marker. She will not pee or poop when on a leash, so we make sure she goes when out in the yard. She's been good about doing her business when out in the yard.

 

> How much does she drink, and when? Is water added to her food (how much and when does she eat it)?

 

She was drinking a lot the first days. At first, I thought that was causing the problem. She was obsessively chewing bully sticks and rawhide strips. I put away the chew items and her drinking went to a normal amount. However, she still can't hold it during the days or at night. I do add a little water to her food, but it's not much; maybe half a cup.

 

> Is she up on her feet a lot, or couch potato all day? Where does she sleep?

 

The first few days she was pretty active. Since I've taken away the chew toys, she's been pretty lazy. She sleeps in a dog bed in my bedroom. She's good about waking me when she needs to go out.

 

> What time is her last "out" at night? Does somebody go out with her to make sure she goes?

 

Last time out is 11pm. We always watch to make sure she goes. She usually gets me up at 4am.

 

> Does she ever go more than once during a turnout or walk?

 

As mentioned, she won't pee during a walk. She has stopped in the yard to pee upon returning from the walk. I've only seen her pee more than once during a turnout once or twice.

 

Our schedule:

- wake at 7am and let dogs out while we put on our walking gear

- walk

- breakfast for dogs

- our breakfast and showers

- 9am: let dogs out before leaving for work

- 12-2pm: pet sitter walks dogs and make sure she has peed in the yard before going

- 6pm return from work. Let dogs out into yard while I put on my walking gear

- evening walk

- 7pm dinner

- evenings, let out as needed.

- 11pm last turnout before bed.

 

We've love to solve this problem. She's got a great personality and we'd love to keep her if possible.

 

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I should mentioned something else. I have copies of her medical records. The adoption group seemed to have trouble with her peeing in her crate. They did all sorts of testing, antibiotics, tick panels, 8 weeks of doxy (despite negative tick titre tests), hormones, etc... trying to get to the bottom of it. Nothing worked. She was then put into a foster home that didn't use a crate and the records say the problem went away. They concluded she had situational SA with the crate. Given that, I was reluctant to use the crate but had to try it since she was leaving pee spots around the house while we were gone.

[Burpdog]

Some dogs cannot be crated.

 

DES can be a nasty drug and affect platelets. To me, this does not sound like spay incontinence.

 

How old is she?

[Batmom]

Friend of mine just got a new dog (non-grey), and she did the same thing -- left several pee spots when left alone. Happened a couple times, then stopped.

 

Where are your other dogs when foster is getting up at night, etc.? Are you sure she really has to pee at night, or has this gotten to be a habit? Could she be chilly? (I'm not trying to torment you , just thinking of some of the things that have happened with Dogs I Know Personally.)

 

One thing my vet mentioned when we were discussing my Zema's urinary issues is, apparently amitriptyline is sometimes used for cases of "idiopathic cystitis." I don't know if it has better/worse side effects than DES/PPA but it might be worth discussing with your vet and researching a little.

 

(Zema's issues are different -- she has a drinking problem :lol .)

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

> Some dogs cannot be crated.

 

Agreed. In this case, she's peeing whether she's crated or not.

 

> How old is she?

 

She is 6.5 years old.

 

> Where are your other dogs when foster is getting up at night, etc.? Are you sure she really has to pee at night, or has this gotten to be a habit? Could she be chilly?

 

The first few times, my 5 year old Demon, got up and went out with her too. I was afraid of it seeming like a play session, so now she goes out alone. I usually give milk bones after coming in from outside, but not when she gets me up in the middle of the night. It's strictly business and no inadvertant reward for getting me up at night. When I let her out she gets 20 feet from the door and pees and immediately comes back to the door. It seems like it's a real need. I've thought about it being a habit given a different schedule at the foster house, but since she can't hold it during the day either, I haven't push it. I really don't think she's chilly; our bedroom isn't that cold and we've been having mild weather the last few nights.

 

> (I'm not trying to torment you lol.gif , just thinking of some of the things that have happened with Dogs I Know Personally.)

 

Not a problem. I'm trying anything I can to solve the problem.

 

Interesting about amitriptyline. I actually have some of that on-hand left over from my tripod's phantom pains.