Incontinence, 'Bladder Strenth'

[Karen & Maple]

Last week a wet spot appeared on Maple's bed. I wasn't there but DH was confused re: what exactly it was as it was not particularly smelly, but assumed urine. So 'okay, let's watch this'. Last weekend while chilln' on couch, again, big wet spot on the pillow. This time I was there and confirmed indeed urine. No other unusual behavior. Went to the vet first thing Monday. Full urinalysis, CBC taken. Everything came back perfect- no infection, no blood in urine, no crystals, no weird #s on blood work. (With the exception of allergies) Maple is the picture of young healthy active dog, so unlikely spinal involvement. So- likely weakened bladder urethra sphincter, aka estrogen-responsive or spay incontinence. A huge fear of mine since becoming more educated on the possible side effects of early spaying. My vet immediately tried to reassure me that that this condition can happen to any female regardless. She states she's has seen it many times in females spayed later. However I'll always wonder. Regardless now we have to deal. I've been very pleased with my somewhat unconventional holistic vet who recommends first trying 'Bladder Strenth' by VetriScience. She's found many dogs respond well to it. If that doesn't do the job, then estrogen therapy. Can anyone comment on either of the above treatments?
Also- I have to call and ask the vet tomorrow but, I thought with humans urine cultures were grown over a couple days? She gave me the results by the end of the day, so...? Anyone know about that?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Any cultures take time to grow. I'm guessing the no infection was because no white cells were in the urine. I hope the Bladder Strength helps.

[Karen & Maple]

Thanks F. I did call and ask. Was told the sample was tested for white blood cells, blood. If there was any sign of infection then a culture would be in order from a sterile collection. This was caught in a clean cup. If the Bladder Strenth doesn't help then perhaps a culture would be done then as well before starting hormones

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sorry to hear this, Karen. I hope you can find a good effective treatment for Maple. 

[Karen & Maple]

Thanks Karen. I'll keep you posted.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

I had a Samoyed years ago that developed spay incontinence. She was spayed at 6 months and developed it at about age 4-5 years. We didn't have herbal preparations like Bladder Strength available at that time, or I certainly would have tried it.

For her, the estrogen replacement worked wonders. And, the cool thing was that after getting the problem under control, we didn't have to give her the estrogen on a regular basis. She was tapered off of it and went many years without accidents and meds.

Best wishes!

[Karen & Maple]

Thanks for the encouragement Lori.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna was wetting her bed for a while when she was a puppy after she was spayed.  It went away on its own and now she can hold her pee for crazy amounts of time.  We didn't do anything "special" for it - just cleaned up the mess and waited to see if she would grow out of it and she did.  That's what our vet recommended and it was fine.

If she does need treatment then I'd ask a lot of questions about both treatments.  The estrogen treatment sounds like it makes sense but I'd be worried about giving hormones to a puppy.

[Karen & Maple]

Right. She's actually 2 years old now, time flies. Normally she does hold it forever which is why this was so unexpected. Poor thing was like 'where the heck did this urine come from?' She was upset too :(

[Kate]

Our first golden doodle had incontinence issues which was very rare for a male dog. He developed his issues around 2 years old. He would sometimes wet the bed during the night if he was overly tired... but he never had issues during the day. We tried a few holistic options since we didn't want to put him on meds for the rest of his life. We used many different supplements, vitamins and natural treatments but found that Causticum worked the best for us... but it was still not perfect. We also started using a belly band at night with a wash cloth on the inside by his privates just in case he had an accident. It was the best option for us and worked pretty well. You just have to make sure to keep the private area clean if there is a big accident overnight so it doesn't irritate the skin. The causticum is pretty cheap and was available at a holistic store by our house. But you do need to use several pills each day. Eventually we stopped using the treatment and just used the belly band. We later found out his issues were from kidney failure and we lost him at 4 years old. So make sure you get her blood work done to check the kidneys and liver just in case... although that's probably not an issue with Maple.

Also, now we have a female golden doodle puppy who is 5 months old. We are debating when to get her spayed. At what age did you get Maple spayed? Thanks!

[Karen & Maple]

Thanks for the advise Kate. I will look into the Causticum. And indeed if we have to resort to doggie diapers, we will. That's a little scary about the kidney failure. I'm currently dealing with that with our geriatric kitty. We did have a CBC done and suppose we will do again in time. Maple was just 10 weeks old when spayed, before she came home to us from the breeder. That's the problem with getting an ALD. Seemingly no breeder will allow for later spay/neuter. But in hindsight I'd find an alternative. But I think 6 months is not exactly considered early spaying.

[Stella]

If all medical causes are ruled out, you might consider seeing a canine rehab specialist. Just as we would do kegels to strengthen our pelvic floor for incontinence issues, there are exercises your dog can be taught to do that facilitate and strengthen these muscles too :)

[Karen & Maple]

No way! I was just joking about that yesterday. Thanks