urinary problems

Question
I have a 3 year old spayed shar pei who for the past year  has a problem peeing when she stands up. She goes outside on a regular basis and has no problem when she is awake. I have taken her to a vet to make sure she doesn't have an infection.  I was told this is normal for spayed females. Do you have any sugestions?  My daughter brought home a cat over the past year could this be part of the problem?

Answer

Hi Don,

Unfortunately, spayed female dogs can develop involuntary urine leakage, or urinary incontinence. Your daughter's cat has nothing to do with this problem.

Estrogen supplements and "alpha-adrenergic agonists" medications work by increasing the pressure of the bladder neck to help to hold urine in the bladder (called PPA) are two common medical treatments that might help your dog. Actually, approximately 70% of dogs with urinary incontinence can be helped with one or both of these medical therapies. There is also a new FDA approved, veterinary estrogen treatment option named Incurin (Estriol). You should talk to your vet about these options. You may want to do a trial dose of these medications for 3-4 weeks.

If your dog is healthy, aside from this problem, you can try withholding water after about 7pm, and take your dog outside for a chance to "go" just before you go to bed. If your dog has kidney disease withholding water could be dangerous.

Ask your vet about using Dimetapp extentabs, the over the counter the antihistamine. They are sometimes used as an inexpensive method of controlling incontinence. It might be helpful for your dog, but you'd need to get a dose recommendation.

There are special diapers are available from a number of companies for dogs with urinary incontinence. Here are some links that may help:

http://www.petdiapers.com
http://www.diapersfordogs.com
http://www.dog-diapers.net

I hope this helps!
Best of luck,

Patti