Is This Urinary Incontinence?

[Echobelly1]

Our 4 year old female, Gila, may be suffering from urinary incontinence, I'm not sure. Occasionally, maybe a couple times a month we've noticed her licking her privates for quite a while, and notice a large wet spot on her bed. At first we thought the wet spot was from all the licking, but I made her get up once, and she was definitely dripping. I posted here, and was told she probably had a UTI, so the next morning we were off to the vet. No UTI. The odd thing is, it doesn't smell like urine, it's completely clear with no odor. I didn't think a dog would drink their own urine, either. Neither she nor her brother seem to mind sleeping on the wet spot till I get the dog laundry done (again). In the past, none of my dogs would go near a urine stained bed. The most recent time it happened, she got sick and was throwing up that night and the next morning. Can urine ingestion do that? We couldn't think of anything else different in her diet.

I've noticed Proin being recommended for urinary incontinence, but the side effects seem worse than the problem. She doesn't really seem uncomfortable, and it happens so rarely I really don't want to medicate her. Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated!

[tbhounds]

The first thing I would do is bring in the first a.m. urine sample to your veterinarian. The first a.m. sample should be concentrated (ideally over 1.030). This would rule out dilute urine-as to why there is no strong urine smell. Have you noticed her drinking more?? Sometimes that will be the culprit of bed wetting-they don't have spay incontentence but, are just unable to hold their urine do to the excessive water consumption.

She may be licking because of the urine leaking-trying to clean herself. Monitor her water consumption.

[a_daerr]

This happened to Truman twice. The first time, he was at the doggie pool and drank a ton of pool water. He had an accident in the house a few hours later (as you said, odorless and colorless). The second time, he was just hanging out at home. He was laying on his bed, jumped up, then immediately started peeing. He obviously couldn't control it, because he tried running for the dog door and seemed surprised that it was happening. Again, the urine had no smell or color.

 

While this was happening, I did some research and found that the reason for the lack of odor/color is because the water is running through the body so fast it doesn't have time to be properly concentrated in the kidneys. So that leaves one of two things- the possibility of an underlying issue like kidneys or Diabetes inspidus... or (more likely) your dog just drinks water like a maniac and the urge presents so suddenly that she can't make it to the bathroom. How do you give her water? Free access? Filling up bowls at different times in the day? Is she very active, which results in her gulping water after hard exercise? These are all things I'd look into first before you go too crazy with testing or meds.

 

FWIW, I doubt that an otherwise healthy 4-year-old would have urinary incontinence (unless she was spayed recently, then there's a chance of spay incontinence). UTI probably unlikely if the test showed negative and this is only happening once a month.

[MaryJane]

If she is licking then she's irritated and most likely an infection. Get a first morning specimen in a sterile container (get from vet) and bring to the vet for a culture - that will take a few days to get back. If you can, clean her a bit with warm water using a face cloth before you get the urine.

[Guest johnmclaren]

Urinary incontinence is any involuntary leakage of urine. It can be a common and distressing problem, which may have a profound impact on quality of life. Urinary incontinence almost always results from an underlying treatable medical condition but is under-reported to medical practitioners. The most common types of urinary incontinence in women are stress urinary incontinence and urge urinary incontinence. Women with both problems have mixed urinary incontinence. Stress urinary incontinence is caused by loss of support of the urethra which is usually a consequence of damage to pelvic support structures as a result of childbirth. It is characterized by leaking of small amounts of urine with activities which increase abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing and lifting. Urge urinary incontinence is caused by uninhibited contractions of the detrusor muscle. It is characterized by leaking of large amounts of urine in association with insufficient warning to get to the bathroom in time.

[Echobelly1]

I haven't noticed that Gila drinks an inordinate amount of water, certainly not as much as her brother. She's also much less active. Nothing out of the ordinary seems to be going on. She's always good about letting us know when she needs to go out. I agree that she's licking to try to keep clean, I was just surprised that she would drink her own urine. It just seems to drip out slowly, not like she can't hold it and has an accident.

[tbhounds]

I would bring in her first a.m. urine sample. If in fact the urine is concentrated and the urinalysis returns with no abnormalities and she drinking normally then, she may in fact have spay incontentence. There are a few medications to treat the condition. I do not like proin-way to many hounds experience side effects from it--including death. DES or incurin are other meds that can be used and IMO are the preferred ones--you will never, ever find proin in my home cabinet. If for whatever reason you or your vet decide to go the proin route I high suggest you get a baseline blood pressure first.

[cleptogrey]

we have experienced urinary incontience w/ our male. the first time he was sleeping in my bed and peed on my foot in his sleep. i monitored it, leakage a good couple of times in his sleep within a 2 week period. initially he was put on des which toned the sphynicter muscle enough that he was fine for a good 9+months. then it started again! this time the only option was proin. he started w/ 2xs a day (12.5mg each dose) for one week, then once a day, now every other day. he weighs between 76-78#s. i have no idea of what the standard dose that other greys have have been prescribed, no side effects.

 

as to diabetes incipidus- the dog tanks up w/ water- uncontrollable thirst. then urination that is quite remarkable- then a quick refill w/ more water.

this is the easiest way to describe it. at one point my male (the one i mentioned earlier) had the signs of d.i. vasopressin tannet was administered- it sent the message needed to the adrenial gland that coordinates kidney function, it was like a switch was turned on. relief from the sympotms in less than an hour. fortunately he resonded well and only needed 2 treatments to straighten things out.we waited to administer the meds again- and are still waiting over a year later.

 

btw- the first bout of incontience started prior to the signs of d.i. i did test his urine extensively- looked for regular diabetes first. my vet,who has been practicing for over 40 years, treats the symptoms. many people do not like that approach, but it works for us.

 

as to a dog drinking it's own urine, don't be surprised. my welsh terrier(who unfortunately had dimentia) would nest, urinate after he nested and drink his urine. but this was a truely confused older dog.

Edited September 24, 2013 by cleptogrey