Incontinence

[Guest hshirlow]

Our girl has had two accidents in the house in the past day. Both occurred in early evening. It seems she peed in her bed while sleeping. We took her to the vet today and they are testing her urine and the vet said she could be incontinent. This young? The vet assured us there is a medicine that will help. Needless to say, we are worried. Any suggestions? Similar experiences?

[winnie]

Two of our three girls have urinary incontienance. They were both diagnosed when they were around 7-8 years-old. Ours are both on Proin. Not every greyhound does well with Proin, but we've never had any issues with it. Our dogs have been taking Proin for years now too. It's a cheap medication and stops the leaking.

[Guest BassoonMo]

I've had two dogs who suffered from incontinence. One was diagnosed around 5 and the other at 4. Both were put on Proin and it took away all of the symptoms with no side effects. It's a really cheap medication and worked wonders with both.

[JJNg]

Incontinence is not all that unusual in spayed larger breed dogs. It's usually caused by the decreased hormones. Most respond very well to medication. For dogs that don't respond well to Proin or have side effects, there are other estrogen-replacement medications available.

[Guest greybookends]

Sheana has been on Proin for years. Controls th problem with no side affects.

[cleptogrey]

felix is in the same boat. talk to your vet, it seems more than common in greys. my other neutered dogs never had any problems. his started at 4.5yrs, he was neutered at 9months. relaxed muscles, lack of hormones.

[msjpk]

Are there any other symptoms?

 

Incontinence while sleeping can be one of the signs of Cushings.

[GreytNut]

Raven has had the same issue for a couple of years now and DES has kept it managed. She gets it twice weekly and has had no accidents since. The vet said DES is less likely to cause an allergic reaction than Proin, but that if it's given more than twice weekly it can increase the risk of cancers such as osteosarcoma. Fortunately we haven't needed a higher dose, and it's made everyone happier here.

[tbhounds]

I know many here have used Proin w/o negative side effects but, there are an awful lot of hounds that had bad reactions to it. My own girl had such a severe reaction I almost lost her after her intial dose. She was then placed on DES w/o problems. All drugs can present with negative side effects however, I guess I'm old enough to have heard enough problems with hounds and Proin where I would be very reluctant to use it. Not saying DES is w/o risk but, at the dosage and frequency it would be given for incontinence the risks are very, very low.

If you or your vet decide that Proin is the drug of choice please make sure you check your hounds blood pressure first.

[RaineysMom]

Rainey also had the same thing happen at around age 5. She started DES and managed it 100% with 1 pill a week for the rest of her life. I don't like Proin, I have heard TOO many bad things and deaths from it. I would rule out a UTI first then go from there.

[Guest azlorenz]

We just went through this Elly and she is 4 years old. We adopted her 12/31/10 and her first occurence was November 2011. At that time she did have an infection so we hoped it was related to that. The only time she would have an accident was in our bed sound asleep. We assume that she felt secure there and was able to totally relax. I wouldn't have believed it except she was laying right next to me and I witnessed it happen. We got along fine after 3 weeks of antibiotics until March 2012 when it happened again. At that time we knew something was amiss and off we went to the internist with the fancy equipment to find out what kind of a surprise we were dealing with. Turns out Elly is a psuedo hermaphrodite (i.e., she has a non-functioning boy part where a girl part should be) BUT luckily Dr. determined the boy part wasn't causing any problems and no surgery was required. Dr. did however think that the incontience was caused from a lack of estrogen and put her on DES. Like Rainey above, Elly takes .5 mg of DES once a week for the rest of her life. Elly loves taking her pill on Sundays and was sure glad to get out of her pull-ups as that was just plain embarrassing for her.

 

It has been a big relief to know that there was something out there that truly does work. I know how you are feeling -- it will get better.

Edited April 30, 2012 by azlorenz

[JJNg]

urns out Elly is a psuedo hermaphrodite (i.e., she has a non-functioning boy part where a girl part should be)

This is quite common, almost 'normal' in ex-racing greyhound females. It's caused by the testosterone they're given at the track to keep them from going into heat.

[GeorgeofNE]

Rainey also had the same thing happen at around age 5. She started DES and managed it 100% with 1 pill a week for the rest of her life. I don't like Proin, I have heard TOO many bad things and deaths from it. I would rule out a UTI first then go from there.

 

 

This.

 

I think to jump to the "incontinent" conclusion after TWO accidents is a little much. I'd treat her for a UTI regardless of the urinalysis first.

[greyhead]

Rainey also had the same thing happen at around age 5. She started DES and managed it 100% with 1 pill a week for the rest of her life. I don't like Proin, I have heard TOO many bad things and deaths from it. I would rule out a UTI first then go from there.

 

 

This.

 

I think to jump to the "incontinent" conclusion after TWO accidents is a little much. I'd treat her for a UTI regardless of the urinalysis first.

 

I would too. (Our vet misdiagnosed one of our males as incontinent at age 5. Tried Proin, didn't like the way he seemed after one dose, no more Proin. End of the story: a long-undiagnosed UTI that caused a lot of trouble before it was cured, because the vet thought the urine "looked good" and didn't culture it until he was so sick he was refusing food and hard to rouse!) I know your situation may be very different, especially since you have a female. But I'll no longer accept that diagnosis without a culture.

[Hubcitypam]

Bella had no problems with Proin. We started off one twice a day and weaned her down to 1/2 once a day before she went to the bridge just before her 11th birthday.. My vet said that there are 3 kinds of Proin cases...the ones that need a high dose all their lives, the ones that just need a high dose for a couple of weeks and the vast majority like Bella that could be weaned down.

 

He discussed DES and Proin with me and I can't remember his reason for going the Proin route, but it worked.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Hubcitypam

[SarahsBlackPack]

My female Angel has spay incontinence. She was diagnosed when she was around 7 years old and she just turned 9 about a month ago.She's been on Proin for 2 years and hasn't had any problems. I order her med from KVvet supply and they are a a whole lot cheaper that getting them form my vets office.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Did they test for a UTI, diabetes, Cushings, etc? I would rule those out first before assuming it is incontinence. If it is incontinence, Proin is a possible choice. I heard about too many bad experiences with Proin and Greyhounds (high blood pressure, stroke, etc). I talked to Sophie's vet about it and he believes DES is safer in a very vascularized breed like a Greyhound, so she's on that.

[tbhounds]

Did they test for a UTI, diabetes, Cushings, etc? I would rule those out first before assuming it is incontinence. If it is incontinence, Proin is a possible choice. I heard about too many bad experiences with Proin and Greyhounds (high blood pressure, stroke, etc). I talked to Sophie's vet about it and he believes DES is safer in a very vascularized breed like a Greyhound, so she's on that.

Agreed!

[Guest greygirls2]

Went through the same thing as Tbhounds when my then 5 yr old Diamond started leaking. The first dose of Proin almost killed her too. My vet wasn't comfortable using hormones at such a young age with so much risk for cancers. A friend suggested using 1% milk..about 1/4 - 1/2 c twice a day...I thought she was nuts! But I figured I had nothing to lose trying it. It's now been 3 years and not a drip, she loves her "milky" drink and it's cheap with no side effects. I thought maybe it was the calcium & magnesium tightening the muscles, my vet thinks it might be the trace amounts of estrogen in the milk. Worth a try.

[MaryJane]

You didn't mention how long you have had her ... if she is relatively new, the peeing could be caused by nervousness and not knowing "when she is supposed to go".

 

If you have had her for awhile (at least 6 months), I'm not sure that I would start medicating after two accidents - I would probably check the schedule for "pee trips" outside first and adjust for more trips when she is having accidents. I would (as already mentioned) bring in a urine for a UTI check.

[NeylasMom]

Is she leaking or completely emptying her bladder? Lots of things that could be causing it. I would do the urinalysis and culture to start, and then look at blood work. I don't know if anyone's mentioned kidney disease yet, but that's another possible cause. Unlikely but not impossible in a dog her age.