Jack Russell Urinary issues

Question
We have a 13 year old female jack that over the last year has started wetting the bed at night.  She has been a bed dog since birth and will not sleep any where else.  We ensure that we put her out when we go to bed and she usually is up once during the night, but sometimes (at least once a week) we will wake up to a wet spot.  Can you provide us with any suggestions on what this might be.  Last year this also happened we spent lots of $$$ for tests and medication and found nothing.

Answer
Dear Lisa,

A urinary tract infection is definitely something to rule out and your vet really should be able to get a sample and run it through the lab pretty inexpensively as well, so even though you've been through this ringer before, it's worth it to give them a call and do it, and while you're at it, ask them about phenopropanolamene (see below).

Since she's pretty much getting into her geriatric years I don't think this is a behavioral issue.  I had the same thing happen with my own dog years ago, spent a lot of money on urine and other tests and sometimes the vet would come up with a reason and other times they wouldn't.  I worked as a vet assistant for some time and recalled many older dogs getting something called PPL or phenopropanolamene (likely misspelled!) so I asked my vet about it at one point.  He prescribed it and it worked.  

At this point when my old girl has this type of a "lying down" accident I chalk it up to "old dog" incontinence and have actually had success with phenopropanolamene, an inexpensive prescription which somehow stops the problem.  My dog is not on it regularly; as a matter of fact she hasn't taken it for at least 2 years (she's 14 now) but I do recall it helped when she had her episodes.

Don't punish the dog for these accidents.  Call your vet.  I'm almost positive it's an "old dog" health issue.  Thanks for writing and good luck!

Suzanne Harris, BSc, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysUSA.com