Jan 30 2009
Dog Spaying Incontinence
At times, we see female spaying incontinence, which is an unfortunate ad side effect to spaying some dogs at times, and most often seen in those spayed at a very young age (under 5 months) but not seen until they hit about 5-6 yrs of age. It is not common, but not extremely uncommon. I have personally seen this condition more in large breed dogs (mostly Dobies, although there is no medical reasoning behind this).
Female incontinence from spaying is treatable, in better news. Generally, a drug called PPA (phenylpropanolamine, aka Proin) is used and works wonders at controlling this urinating, increasing the muscles of the urinary bladder so it won’t release when the dog is relaxed (like when sleeping!) In the rare cases where this doesn’t help, the vet tries an estrogen hormone, and in even rarer cases, both drugs together will work. Because the urine comes out quickly after entering the bladder, it tends to be dilute and thus no smell or color to it in most cases. But it is urine. It is best to not put off treating this condition for too long, as more muscle weakness occurs the longer you wait, making the problem harder to manage.
Christine, LVT
