Incontinence Again And Now

[4My2Greys]

Well the incontinence I had resolved by eliminating fish from his diet is back after a month of no accidents . I also found out the reason for the panting he's been doing lately, it was his gut. He's had a rumbling tummy and watery poop again. Thanks tbhounds for the explanation in my other thread about his test results and my worry about heart issues. The thing is I'm not sure what is causing the gut issues now. Is it the raw beef, which he has done fairly well on, or the new kibble, one of the few that doesn't contain fish, that gave him soft poops from the start. The only way to get back to decent stools output was to do half raw and half kibble. I also wonder if there is something else in the kibble that is causing the latest round of incontinence, another ingredient he can't tolerate or is there something else going on? It really sucks when things are not right with them and your not sure which move to make anymore.

[greyhead]

Potatoes (white, not sweet) can contribute to incontinence in susceptible dogs, if that's relevant to your situation. Are you giving the raw and the kibble at separate meals? Because once they retire, many of them don't handle having the two mixed in the same meal. Lots of things can cause gurgling tummies and runny poop; some people throw metronidazole at symptoms like that to see if it helps. Others would have the poop cultured for germs if the trouble persists. I'm guessing you already ran a fecal for worms; trouble is, they don't always show up on the day the test is done.

 

Hope others show up here for you with some other ideas. I know you must be worried.

[greysmom]

Here's some thoughts.

 

If you're positive that his incontinence is due to a dietary issue, it may be time to move away completely from any comercial diets. If he's that sensitive to ingredients, it's the only way to insure he's getting *only* what he can tolerate. There are lots of recipe books ot there with advice on how to do a home-cooked diet with all the proper nutrients. I might also suggest going to all raw if he seems to do better on that - again, you can control exactly what he's eating.

 

If there's something else going on, I would mention that there have been several cases here on GT of dogs that have needed to be on a sort of "maintenance dose" of doxycicline to resolve incontinence issues. No reason why, just that that is what works.

 

One other question: Has his prostate been checked? (Do dogs have a prostate gland?) Because prostate issues can cause incontinence in humans. Just thinking.

 

{{{hugs}}} for both you and Nadir!

[tbhounds]

Is he drinking more??

[4My2Greys]

greyhead, the kibble he was eating contained sweet potatoes. I was feeding kibble for the morning meal and the raw for the evening. Metro has helped in the past I just hate time have to repeatedly use it because that is not without it's dangers. My vet has had personal experience with that. Right now I'm giving him lots of Manuka honey, that seemed to help the other day when I figured what was causing his panting. He went from cow patty stools to nicely formed in about day. Yesterday was the liquid output though .

 

Chris, I've decided at this point to go back to only raw to see if that resolves the incontinence issue. If the gut issues persist I'll have to look at home cooked diets. It's just a really bad time for that because we've gotten so busy at work right now and it won't be letting up until the end of the year, but I will do what I have to do for him. As far as something else going on I still worry about that although he's been checked several times and nothing has been found. As to prostate, yes dogs have them and his was checked, I just worry about something having been missed.

 

tbhounds, no, water intake seems about the same. I have four though that drink from the same fountain so I really can't measure it. He doesn't seems to be going to the bowl more than usual though.

[tbhounds]

Reason I ask if he was drinking more is because I'm sure you're aware that increased intake produces output- sometimes causing incontinence. For example my 10 yr old girl was having leaking accidents on and off for a few months. We ruled out a uti. I was going to place her on DES when I discovered a mass on her thyroid. Long story short after a unilateral thyroidectomy (it was thyroid carcinoma) the increased drinking and leaking stoppped.

She's has not leaked urine since. (She's doing greyt-thank you Ohio State!)

I'm not implying your hound has a thyroid tumor but, there can be so many reasons for the incontinence.

I assume you already tried imperical antibotics??

[4My2Greys]

I haven't tried the antibiotic route this time yet. If it doesn't clear up on the beef only I think that will be the next thing to try.

[tbhounds]

Definetly try antibotics. It's been found that sometimes dogs/cats will have a positive response to antibotics despite a clean urinalysis and a neg urine culture. I believe it's thought that while there may be no active bacteria in the urine there may in fact be "bugs" within the bladder wall.

It also seems antibotics have an anti inflammatory effect too.

Of course, with a rumbling tummy caution should be used when starting oral antibotics. A convenia injection may be a better option for your boy.