Incontinence

[Specsy]

I think Bella has it

I can't even begin to explain just how sad I am about this. Bella is bombproof on house training, and she lies on my bed all the time in the day. Yesterday, she was lying on the bed as usual and I went about my day, when I came back into my room, there was a large wet spot on the blanket (I put a "dog" blanket on top of my normal blanket during the day, and then a protective plastic sheet underneath the dog blanket so if Bella has muddy paws or wet belly my own bed and bedding doesn't get messed, thank goodness), right by Bella's rear end, and she had not even gotten up even though her fur was visibly starting to get wet as well. Which to me means she obviously didnt even notice it? I woke her up and tossed the bedding in the wash.

This is not the first time this has happened, it happened once before about 2 months ago, but I didn't realise at the time that the wet patch was pee, or that Bella had done it because she was no longer on the bed when I discovered it. Obviously it is not a common occurance, but this scares me beyond words.

I DO NOT have money at all for a vet visit and I don't have money for meds either. My family, as well, is in a dark place financially right now, and I don't know what to do. There isn't even a cent to spare right now for anything, we are essentially living on bare minimum and even that is too much for us to afford right now. Does ANYONE have ANY advice on what I can do to help Bella at home?

 

[Barb04]

I would check to see if she as a UTI. Usually if a dog wets and is laying in it, it's not because they are not trained; this usually means there is a health issue. Maybe you could start by taking in a urine sample to be tested so you don't need to pay for a visit at first.

My first lab had bladder problems from when she was young; my dog when I was little had problems as she aged. We just knew that we had to clean up and love them all the same.

 

[javadoo]

It sounds like spay incontinence.
My younger pup Moka has it.
The meds are cheap...really cheap. I paid $11 for a 2 month supply of it (DES). She only takes it once a week and it has stopped the problem.
If you can just scrape together enough for one vet visit it will be easy to take care of.

I did hear of people using a natural remedy to help with this though...let me see if I can find it and get back to you.

 

[MericoX]

Kiba did that when she had bladder stones. At least for her, the vet said a stone would get lodged and when she was sleeping and would move it would become dislodged and making her want to pee (or something like that).

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

I thought Shamoo had incontinence as well. I went to the vet, we have the meds, and she stopped on her own before a single pill. We discovered that she's just a heavy sleeper sometimes and if she eats and drinks too much directly before bed she can have an accident. Try regulating her food and water, like a puppy, feed on a schedule and watch her for 2 weeks. If that doesn't help then go to the vet. You can also try diapers if she won't eat them but you'll need to change them regularly. The meds are inexpensive and I've heard often that using them for a while is enough, you don't have to use them for the entire life of the dog, they strengthen the urinary tract.

 

[Beanie]

Ditto the urine sample... if she has a UTI they are usually fairly easy to clear up with a round of abx. If it's not cleared up it can lead to bladder and kidney problems both, assuming she doesn't already have additional problems (by the time Auggie showed me any symptoms of a UTI he already had bladder stones.)

There's really not much to be done that doesn't involve dishing out money... Auggie is on a natural remedy right now to try and balance his pH so we don't end up with another problem, but it costs money. Plus we are monitoring his pH at the vet with urine samples because going TOO far the other direction will result in more problems too - more money...

 

[Shakou]

Charlotte has incontinence, but it's due to anxiety I think. She has to wear a diaper when we leave or else she'll pee everywhere :/ However, this is something she's had during the entire time we've had her. The fact that your dog went from being 100% house broken to suddenly having accidents makes me think bladder infection or UTI.

 

[NicoleLJ]

That is exactly how it happened with Sheena last January. She had just turned 7. Was always perfect for her house training. Then 3 times she woke up with a huge wet spot after a nap. The vet had us bring in a urine sample. After a few more tests it was determined that she had spay incontinence, which is more common then people realize. She also is on DES. She has one every 6 days. No issues for a whole year. THe pills are really cheap. $15 dollars for a 2-3 month supply.

Contact rescues. There was a few times when Sheena had a cut pad or such and needed to go to the vet and I had no money. They paid for it. Many rescues, including SPCA will help with costs or pay the whole thing. Also many vets will take payments. Ours does. There are many options when times are tight to get help for an animal to see a vet. Good luck.

 

[HayleyMarie]

You could try the herbal way. Teagan has Spay incontinence and she is on Bella Donna. It helped alot. Its easy to find and its perfectly safe in the homeopathic form.

I tried DES and it did not help Teagan at all. The vet wanted to try pronin and I said no way in hell so Im going the homeopathic route right now.

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

I know a lot of people on the pit bull forums have had a lot of luck with the pronin.

 

[Southpaw]

Juno has spay incontinence. It came about suddenly... never had an issue, and then all of a sudden, three nights in a row she peed in her sleep.

DES didn't really help. She's on Proin now and that doesn't really help. What did help, was being on a raw diet - I attribute that to the fact that, normally she drinks a RIDICULOUS amount of water, but when she was on raw she hardly drank water at all.

You do need to at least bring in a urine sample to rule out an infection. If there's no infection, and it is incontinence, then whether or not you treat it (for now) is up to you... you can manage incontinence... but you can't let an infection sit and the only way to know if there is one, is to pay for the test.

 

[thehoundgirl]

If you do not have the money, look into care credit. http://www.carecredit.com It's most likely a UTI and she needs meds for it, they aren't too expensive.

 

[kady05]

I know a lot of people on the pit bull forums have had a lot of luck with the pronin.

Not this Pit Bull person! Proin gave Piper a terrible reaction.. it was like I poisoned her.

Anyway. Piper has (..or had) spay incontinence. Started when she was around 15 months. Hers is very sporadic though; she'll go a full month with no accidents, then out of the blue have them 3 days in a row.

I will say that since switching her to raw, other than the first few weeks she was on it, she's had no accidents (knock on wood!). I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence, or if they raw has helped in some way, but I'm not changing anything at this point!