incontinence in young dog

[charley's mom]

Emma is my 18 months old lab. She has been completely housetrained since at least 6 month of age. Lately we have found a few "puddles" on the floor (including one big puddle on the bed where she sleeps). We had her urine tested and she had a few small struvite crystals but no infection. She had a recent vet checkup, and appeared healthy, is an appropriate weight, and did not pee submissively in the strange environment.

This evening she was lying on the kitchen floor while my husband fixed a snack, and he looked down to see urine dribbling out from underneath her. She was totally unaware it was happening, and got up and followed my husband outside for a pee when asked to.

The other puddles have likely also occured when she was sitting or lying down, judging on their location. That, and the lack of awareness, make me think this is an incontinence issue rather than a relapse in housetraining.

Has anyone had any experience with incontinence in a dog this young? Any suggestions what it might be, or what types of tests I should request?

 

[Zoom]

Is she spayed? Sometimes dogs become incontinent after surgery, I'm not totally clear on the reasons why.

 

[filarotten]

I am not sure, but it sounds like a vet visit would be in the best interest of your dog and you.

 

[charley's mom]

She was spayed at 6 months old. This problem has only emerged in the last two months.
She was checked out by the vet, and other than the small struvite crystals, was found to be healthy.
I've heard of spay incontinence, but assumed it would begin shortly after the spay operation. Can it begin as much as a year later?

 

[smkie]

my brother has a dog that had a birth defect where her ureter was elongated and wrapped around her spin. She had this problem and it got worse as she grew. They spent a great deal on an operation that fixed her right up. Don't know it this has anything similar to do with the problem but it is something to think about. Bedwetting was their first alarm. with Megan.

 

[elegy]

usually spay incontinence is seen in older dogs, long after the spay surgery takes place. it's not unheard of in young dogs. my female pit is incontinent. she's 3.5 years old and she's been leaky pretty much since i got her. she'll leak sometimes when she's just laying there, even right after she's been out sometimes.

she takes medication for it and is leak-free when i'm actually on the ball about giving it to her regularly

i'd call your vet and let them know that she's leaking and see what they suggest.

 

[charley's mom]

Thanks for the info. The vet felt she was a little young for spay incontinence (so much for my assumption that it would begin shortly after being spayed! ), but really spay incontinence is just about a hormonal imbalance that weakens the urethral sphincter muscle apparently - and because spayed females are more likely to have hormonal deficits, it's found more among spayed females. I assumed it was related to the actual surgery to spay the animal - wrong!

So I've asked him for a prescription for stilbestrol to see if that will make a difference, and he agreed to a trial run. If that doesn't make a difference, I guess we'll have to explore the problem further.