Post Surgery Incontinence

Question
My 10 year old female Bichon Frise had a cystotomy 3 weeks ago for calcium oxalate stones.  She has recovered wonderfully, but now has an occasional lose of bladder control.  We are walking her every three to four hours, but still encounter accidents. Is this normal post surgery behavior and will it correct itself once her bladder incision is totally healed or is there a possibility that her bladder was damaged during surgery?  We know that the chance of the stone reoccurring is a possibility and so we have committed to changing her diet by cooking for her.  Thank you for any assistance that you can offer.

Answer
Hi Palma,

Thank you for writing to me about your Bichon Frise.  Although a walk every 3-4 hours seems like a lot, under the circumstances, try to take her out every 2-3 hrs if possible.

Recovering from cystotomy can take quite a bit of time...the muscles and nerves in the bladder and abdominal wall must heal in order for complete urinary control to resume.

Be sure you speak with your vet about your dog's slow recovery. A veterinary surgeon would certainly want to be made aware of any problems a patient is having after surgery.

You can try giving her cranberry capsules and eliminating all grains from the diet.  Sometimes this protocol can be helpful with incontinence.

Please verify with the vet if the stones removed were struvites (magnesium-based) or calcium oxalate. The therapies used with these two stone types are quite different.

In the future, if your dog needs a repeat operation, see if you can find a state of the art center, such as a teaching college, where they have access to laser treatments where they can sometimes dissolve the stones without surgery.  

Best of luck,
Shelley Davis